24th at th e LI Z IR By Erik Derr Ledger Contributing Writer Vol 7. No. 1 Serving the Greater Los Feliz, Silver Lake & Hollywood Hills Area | Distribution 34,500 July 2011 Ledger: What type of lead- ership do you bring to the school board? Kayser: I’m a science and health teacher… a parent, a LAUSD student, back a zil- [CIty SLEutH] Calendar: Ziggy Marley headlines Reggae Night X at the Hollywood Bowl, page 9 Community News: Slash honored at Beastly Ball, www.losfelizledger.com ly
Los Feliz Ledger Vol 7. No. 1 Serving the Greater Los Feliz, Silver Lake & Hollywood Hills Area | Distribution 34,500 July 2011 Los Feliz Ledger Calendar: Ziggy Marley headlines Reggae Night X at the Hollywood Bowl, page 9 People In My Neighborhood: Teresa Grow, page 12 Editorial: Local Stores Hit by Scammers and Illegal Dumping, page 22 School News: Pilgrim School’s Choir Serenades First Lady Obama www.losfelizledger.com Community News: Slash honored at Beastly Ball, www.losfelizledger.com LOS FELIZ— One of the great Los Feliz landmarks is about to open its storied doors to the banking public. On July 12th, Chase Bank will open a branch at 4500 Los Feliz Blvd. adjacent to Louise’s Restaurant in the structure popularly known as e Der- by or e Brown Derby. e vociferous opposi- tion of the local community in 2005, when Adler Realty Inc. proposed demolishing the landmark for condomini- ums and a supermarket, led to Historic Cultural Monument designation by the City of Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission in May of 2006. Its wood reinforced dome was protected from alteration by the terms of the Historic Cul- tural Monument ordinance. For all its restaurant his- tory, the building languished until J.P. Morgan Chase Bank leased a portion of the build- ing from Adler Realty last year. Its distinctive dome was patched and painted on the exterior while the interior un- derwent renovation. Tellers and bank officers will receive patrons in the main circular room, under the distinctive dome and ATM machines will be available in the entry hall. e structure bears no resemblance to the origi- nal Brown Derby restaurant, e legislative districts serving Los Feliz and its sur- rounding communities look to change significantly un- der boundaries proposed by the California Citizens Re- districting Commission, the 14-member panel created af- ter voters wrested control of the once-a-decade mapping process from lawmakers in 2008. Appointed by the state au- ditor’s office after an extensive candidate search that attracted about 25,000 candidates from the general electorate, the commission is composed of seven men and seven women, including five Republicans, five Democrats and four either Independent or party-unaffili- ated voters. Following guidelines in the state constitution that in- clude directives for district shape, location, population and socio-economic similari- ties, the redistricting group has until Aug. 15th to finalize maps for California’s 53 U.S. Congressional districts, 40 state senate districts, 80 state assembly districts and four Board of Equalization dis- tricts. e first of three rounds of draft maps was released in early June and caused a not- necessarily unexpected uproar among politicians and con- stituents who, among other things, complained new dis- tricts would group incongru- ent neighborhoods, therefore weakening the ability of elect- ed officials to represent their communities. ose concerns, said Cali- fornia State Assemblyman Mike Gatto, are no stronger than in his 43th District, which currently includes portions of Los Feliz, Griffith Park, Silver Lake, Glendale, Burbank and North Hollywood. Under the new proposed map Gatto’s district would cover all of Los Feliz Village, a larger swath of Griffith Park, Mount Wash- ington, Eagle Rock, Garvan- za, Cypress Park, Elysian Park, Echo Park, Edendale, Silver Lake, El Serreno, Lincoln Heights, City Terrace and East Los Angeles. “People believe the district’s new boundaries would include [CIty SLEutH] Derby to Open as Chase Branch Bank, July 12th By Diane Kanner, Ledger Contributing Writer the Puzzle Pieces of Politics Redistricting: Early Proposed Changes Cause uproar Locally By Erik Derr, Ledger Contributing Writer see DERBY page 5 see KAYSER page 17 see AUTRY page 10 see DISTRICTS page 6 Los Angeles City Councilmember Tom LaBonge serenades the crowd with a song by Elvis Presley during his swearing-in celebration atop Mt. Hollywood, June 21st, the Summer Solstice. LaBonge leads an annual hike in Griffith Park each year on the Summer Solstice. He chose to celebrate this year’s first day of summer by taking the oath of office for his 3rd term on the Los Angeles City Council. All rights reserved by councildistrictfour [Q & A] New LAuSD Board Member Bennett Kayser By Erik Derr Ledger Contributing Writer After winning a close run- off election in May against Luis Sanchez, Bennett Kayser, a soft-spoken father of two who’s lived in Silver Lake with his wife Peggy for nearly 40 years, will be sworn in July 1st as the Los Angeles Unified School District’s (LAUSD) new board member in District 5. Kayser recently sat down with the Ledger and answered a few questions about the state of education in Los Angeles. Ledger: What type of lead- ership do you bring to the school board? Kayser: I’m a science and health teacher… a parent, a LAUSD student, back a zil- City Council OKs Autry Renovations By Erik Derr Ledger Contributing Writer GRIFFItH PARK—Plans by the Autry National Center to expand its Native American ex- hibits with two dedicated gal- leries and an indigenous teach- ing garden are back on track after an affirming vote from the Los Angeles City Council. Dan Finley, the Autry’s president and CEO, said the renovated space would yield ex- hibits that teach visitors about the past, present of the state’s in- digenous culture and showcase prized artifacts from the South- west Museum of the American Indian, Los Angeles’ revered first museum, located in Mount Washington which merged with the Autry Museum of Western Heritage in 2003. See Us July 24th at the LOS FELIZ STREET FAIR
Transcript
Los Feliz LedgerVol 7. No. 1 Serving the Greater Los Feliz, Silver Lake & Hollywood Hills Area | Distribution 34,500 July 2011
Los Feliz Ledger
Calendar: Ziggy Marley headlines Reggae Night X at the Hollywood Bowl, page 9
People In My Neighborhood: Teresa Grow, page 12
Editorial: Local Stores Hit by Scammers and Illegal Dumping, page 22
School News: Pilgrim School’s Choir Serenades First Lady Obama www.losfelizledger.com
Community News: Slash honored at Beastly Ball,www.losfelizledger.com
LOS FELIZ—One of the great Los Feliz landmarks is about to open its storied doors to the
banking public. On July 12th, Chase Bank
will open a branch at 4500 Los Feliz Blvd. adjacent to Louise’s Restaurant in the structure popularly known as The Der-by or The Brown Derby.
The vociferous opposi-tion of the local community in 2005, when Adler Realty Inc. proposed demolishing the landmark for condomini-ums and a supermarket, led to Historic Cultural Monument designation by the City of Los Angeles Cultural Heritage
Commission in May of 2006. Its wood reinforced dome was protected from alteration by the terms of the Historic Cul-tural Monument ordinance.
For all its restaurant his-tory, the building languished until J.P. Morgan Chase Bank leased a portion of the build-ing from Adler Realty last year. Its distinctive dome was patched and painted on the exterior while the interior un-derwent renovation. Tellers and bank officers will receive patrons in the main circular room, under the distinctive dome and ATM machines will be available in the entry hall.
The structure bears no resemblance to the origi-nal Brown Derby restaurant,
The legislative districts serving Los Feliz and its sur-rounding communities look to change significantly un-der boundaries proposed by the California Citizens Re-districting Commission, the 14-member panel created af-ter voters wrested control of the once-a-decade mapping process from lawmakers in 2008.
Appointed by the state au-ditor’s office after an extensive candidate search that attracted about 25,000 candidates from the general electorate, the commission is composed of seven men and seven women, including five Republicans, five Democrats and four either Independent or party-unaffili-ated voters.
Following guidelines in the state constitution that in-clude directives for district shape, location, population and socio-economic similari-ties, the redistricting group has until Aug. 15th to finalize maps for California’s 53 U.S. Congressional districts, 40 state senate districts, 80 state assembly districts and four Board of Equalization dis-tricts.
The first of three rounds of draft maps was released in early June and caused a not-necessarily unexpected uproar among politicians and con-stituents who, among other things, complained new dis-tricts would group incongru-ent neighborhoods, therefore weakening the ability of elect-
ed officials to represent their communities.
Those concerns, said Cali-fornia State Assemblyman Mike Gatto, are no stronger than in his 43th District, which currently includes portions of Los Feliz, Griffith Park, Silver Lake, Glendale, Burbank and North Hollywood. Under the new proposed map Gatto’s district would cover all of Los Feliz Village, a larger swath of Griffith Park, Mount Wash-ington, Eagle Rock, Garvan-za, Cypress Park, Elysian Park, Echo Park, Edendale, Silver Lake, El Serreno, Lincoln Heights, City Terrace and East Los Angeles.
“People believe the district’s new boundaries would include
[CIty SLEutH]
Derby to Open as Chase Branch Bank, July 12thBy Diane Kanner, Ledger Contributing Writer
the Puzzle Pieces of PoliticsRedistricting: Early Proposed Changes Cause uproar LocallyBy Erik Derr, Ledger Contributing Writer
see DERBY page 5
see KAYSER page 17 see AUTRY page 10
see DISTRICTS page 6
Los Angeles City Councilmember Tom LaBonge serenades the crowd with a song by Elvis Presley during his
swearing-in celebration atop Mt. Hollywood, June 21st, the Summer Solstice. LaBonge leads an annual hike
in Griffith Park each year on the Summer Solstice. He chose to celebrate this year’s first day of summer by
taking the oath of office for his 3rd term on the Los Angeles City Council. All rights reserved by councildistrictfour
[Q & A]
New LAuSD Board Member Bennett KayserBy Erik DerrLedger Contributing Writer
After winning a close run-off election in May against Luis Sanchez, Bennett Kayser, a soft-spoken father of two who’s lived in Silver Lake with his wife Peggy for nearly 40 years, will be sworn in July 1st as the Los Angeles Unified School District’s (LAUSD) new board member in District 5.
Kayser recently sat down with the Ledger and answered a few questions about the state of education in Los Angeles.
Ledger: What type of lead-ership do you bring to the school board?
Kayser: I’m a science and health teacher… a parent, a LAUSD student, back a zil-
City Council OKs Autry RenovationsBy Erik DerrLedger Contributing Writer
GRIFFItH PARK—Plans by the Autry National Center to expand its Native American ex-hibits with two dedicated gal-leries and an indigenous teach-ing garden are back on track after an affirming vote from the Los Angeles City Council.
Dan Finley, the Autry’s president and CEO, said the renovated space would yield ex-hibits that teach visitors about the past, present of the state’s in-digenous culture and showcase prized artifacts from the South-west Museum of the American Indian, Los Angeles’ revered first museum, located in Mount Washington which merged with the Autry Museum of Western Heritage in 2003.
See Us J
uly 24
th at
the
LOS F
ELIZ S
TREET
FAIR
Los Feliz Ledger
Page 2 www.losfelizledger.com July 2011
FOuNDED 20 05 Delievered the last Thursday of each
month to 34,500 homes and businesses in
the Los Feliz, Silver Lake and Hollywood
Hills communities.
PuBLISHER /EDItOR
Allison Cohen Ferraro
ADVERtISING SALES
Betsy Hall
GR APHIC DESIGN & L AyOut
Brigid LaBongeTiffany Sims
OFFICE A SSIStANt
Griffin O. Cohen
L ABELER , StAMPER AND tE AR SHEEt MANAGER
Charles “Chunny” Cohen
Story ideas, submissions, advertising rates & inquiries contact:Allison Cohen Ferraro
4459 Avocado St. Los Angeles, CA 90027Phone: 323-667-9897 Fax: 323-667-1816
R e g a r d i n g S t e p h a n i e Vendig’s col-umn this month re-
garding pedestrian safety for seniors (see page 11), I was re-cently sitting at the stop light at Hillhurst Avenue and Sun-set Boulevard heading south. Crossing the sidewalk in front of me was an elderly woman who had dropped a handful of papers she was carrying. She tried to pick them up three or four times, but the breeze kept carrying her papers away. Even-tually, she gave up, left the pa-pers in the street and shuffled herself quickly to safety on the other side of the street in front of the Vista Theater.
When the elderly woman got to safety, she looked back
longingly at her strewn papers on the street just in time to see a speeding car making a roll-ing right turn from Sunset onto Hillhurst. The driver ran over the woman’s papers and had she not given up on her task to re-trieve her items, the driver cer-tainly would have run her over.
Driving in Los Feliz and Silver Lake is particularly chal-lenging due to our area’s den-sity and small narrow streets. Before I purchased my Prius, I was slowly pulling my large SUV out of its parked position at the corner of Commonwealth and Avocado when it was hit by a smaller car making the same kind of rolling turn while speeding. My 5,000 lb. SUV was rendered undriveable.
My son recently got his driver’s license. He is shocked at
how many times other drivers don’t obey the rules of the road: they cut him off or make an il-legal lane change, or some other infraction. I told him: drive de-fensively. And for walkers (espe-cially the elderly) and bikers out there, I’ll give the same advice.
Los Feliz Ledger
July 2011 www.losfelizledger.com Page 3COMMUNITY NEWS
Los Angeles Breakfast ClubJoin us Wednesdays at 7 – 9 am
Upcoming speakers and programs...
July 6Doug Smith, Writer - Los Angeles Times - “Grading the Teachers”July 13Taylor Whitney - Preserving The Past, LLC - “Best Practices for Preserving Your Photographs and Film”July 20Saul Jacobs & Bob Lipson - USC Emeriti College - “Salute to Yankee Doodle & Other Patriots”July 27Judith Hopkins - “Taking the Reins - An Investment in Girls Making Tomorrow Better”
Friendship Auditorium3201 Riverside Drive (1/4 mi. so. of Los Feliz Bl.)
For upcoming programs, see...www.LABreakfastClub.comor call (323) 662-1191
ECHO PARK—While some local neighborhood councils start the month of July still needing to finalize budgets for the upcoming fiscal year, members of the Greater Echo Park Elysian Neighborhood Council (GEPENC) have al-ready submitted their new budget for city approval.
Cut to an annual allot-ment of $40,500 in Mayor Antonio Villairagosa’s recent citywide budget, the GE-PENC’s submitted budget includes $16,500 for council outreach; $14,000 for commu-nity support programs and the remaining $10,000 for general expenses.
The GEPENC’s budget process is easy, said GEPENC spokeswoman Lisa Baca, as its list or funding priorities in the community has remained fair-ly stable throughout the years.
“It’s not like we had to fig-ure out where we wanted the monies to go over the next year,” she said. “All planned alloca-tions are community driven.”
The council’s submit-ted 2011-12 budget also in-cludes: $3,500 for neighbor-hood beautification projects; $1,500 for neighborhood clean-up efforts; and $1,500 for the installation of 10 pre-viously-bought bicycle racks throughout the community
and benches, trash recepta-cles and signs.
The GEPENC’s planned outreach expenditures in-clude $1,000 each for par-ticipation in Historic Fili-pinotown’s 2011 holiday parol—or, traditional lan-tern—festival; inclusion in Echo Park’s first mariachi festival and involvement during National Night Out activities, slated for August, in the Los Angeles Police Dept.’s Northeast and Ram-part divisions. The council will also pitch in $500 to support the Echo Park Farm-ers Market as well as $500 for the annual Holiday Parade.
Echo Park’s Neighborhood Council Ahead on Budgeting By Erik Derr, Ledger Contributing Writer
Silver Lake NC Last Minute BudgetingHelps Ivanhoe and Saves “Happy Hour”By Erik DerrLedger Contributing Writer
SILVER LAKE—With $11,600 in unused money remain-ing in its 2010-11 budget, the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council (SLNC) in June ap-proved three last-minute funding requests, including $2,300 for 50 polo-type uni-form shirts and 50 jackets for the Los Angeles Police Dept.’s Rampart Cadet youth train-ing program and $1,000 for a neighborhood graffiti removal operation.
The council also approved up to $3,500 in office supplies for Ivanhoe Elementary School to help Ivanhoe qualify for a free copy machine if it orders about $5,500 in related supplies through a specific distributor.
The Greater Griffith Park Neighborhood Council (GG-PNC) previously kicked in $1,500 for the cause, as about a quarter of the students at Ivan-hoe live in the Griffith Park group’s service area. About 75%—or 408 students—re-side in the SLNC’s territory.
The school’s current copi-er is about 16 years old.
The council also en-dorsed plans by Café Stella restaurant, located at 3932 W. Sunset Blvd. for a full-line liquor license and an expan-sion of business hours, from 8 a.m. until 2 a.m. The restau-rant had offered to forgo its “Happy Hour” if the board approved the hours extension. But the board voted yes to the eateries’ new business hours to keep “Happy Hour” as well.
HILLHuRSt AVENuE—Mike Eberts, author of Griffith Park: A Centennial History will speak Thursday, July 14th at the Los Feliz Public Library located at 1874 Hill-hurst Avenue.
Eberts will discuss “Griffith Park and the Great Depression,” how during the 1930s civilian conservation
corps craftsman, municipal relief workers and New Deal sculptors helped change the park including Fern Dell, the Observatory and its roads and trails.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Free. Sponsored by the Friends of Griffith Park. Info: (323) 913-4710.
Griffith Park Historian to Speak on July 14th
Los Feliz Ledger ONLINE
• Charity: Gun’s & Roses Slash Honored at the 41st Zoo’s Annual Beastly Ball
• Politics: New GGPNC Board takes action on Proposed New Scientology Building on Hillhurst and Redistricting
• A Dog’s Life: Program Raises Literacy by Having Dogs Listen to Children Read
• Good Life: White Rhone Blends for Summer
• Sark on Sports: Golfing in Griffith Park
• Schools: Marshall High
Decathalon team Honored• theater Review: Fountain
theater’s “Bakersfield Mist”
this month’s poll:What do you think of City Hall’s recent vote to approve the Autry National Center’s Renovations?
Last month’s poll:25% of readers said the economy is improving40% said the economy is worsening34% said the economy is about the same
Look for these stories online at losfelizledger.com:
Los Feliz Ledger
Page 4 www.losfelizledger.com July 2011POLITICS
[GREEtINGS FROM tOM]
Budget WinsLos Angeles City Council-member tom LaBonge
Now that the new 2011-2012 fiscal year has begun, the City has a new $6.9-bil-
lion dollar budget. This was a very difficult budget, full of tough choices for the Mayor and for my colleagues and I on the City Council. How-ever, there are positive aspects to the budget. Among them are expanded library hours, increased funding for street re-pairs and the consolidation of operations around core func-tions that will reduce overlap and redundancy. The LAPD will be maintained at current staffing levels, allowing Chief Charlie Beck to build on the crime reduction momentum we’ve seen in recent years.
There was a lot of commu-nity concern about the budget impacts on the Los Angeles Fire Dept. Chief Millage Peaks came up with a new Deploy-ment Plan that meets the May-or’s budget-cutting mandate while ensuring that not a single fire station will close and no firefighters will be laid-off.
Station 35 on Hillhurst Avenue is being downsized by one engine and its four-man crew; but that engine remains in the station on ready-reserve in case its needed in an ex-treme emergency.
The Los Angeles City Council has approved bus-on-ly lanes on Wilshire Boulevard on a 7.7-mile stretch between MacArthur Park and Centine-la Avenue. MTA officials hope to begin construction of the lanes next summer and open them in mid-2013. Wilshire Boulevard is the busiest bus corridor in the city, with tens of thousands of riders endur-ing long waits and crowded buses to make the cross-town trek. This plan is long overdue.
[ERIC GARCEttI]
Getting Rid of GraffitiBy Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti
Summertime means kids out of school, family vaca-tions, and—in my Council District —the
annual UNTAG graffiti count.The presence of graffiti
takes its toll on neighborhoods.Cleaning it up not only helps beautify our neighborhoods, it also is important to keeping communities safe. The chal-lenge is that in a city as large as Los Angeles, much graffiti goes unaddressed because no one reports it for removal.
In 2004, my office devel-oped a program called UN-TAG, which stands for Unit-ing Neighborhoods to Abolish Graffiti. UNTAG’s premise is very simple—recruit local resi-dents and business owners to volunteer to monitor one block or one hot spot for graffiti.
These block captains agree to report tagging through the city’s 3-1-1 non-emergency phone line so that crews can be dispatched to remove the graffiti.
With more than 500 block captains, UNTAG is having a big impact on our neighbor-hoods. The results are notice-able. Before UNTAG, a count of tags on every street of my district found 20,000 of them in our neighborhoods.
As of last year, our annual count showed a more than 80% reduction in graffiti since we started UNTAG. In Silver Lake, graffiti went down by 70%. In Atwater Village, we reduced it almost 90%. We are getting ready for the 2011 count, which will take place in July.
If you are willing to moni-tor one block or one hot spot, please call my district office at 323-957-4500. Learn more at www.untagla.com.
[MIKE GAttO]
Shark FinningJr. ActivistsBy California State
Assemblyman Mike Gatto
Ever thought of buying a bowl of “Shark Fin Soup” at a
local restaurant? Most people know the name, but most don’t realize that the growth in demand for the soup that can cost up to $100 a bowl has led to the increase in the practice known as “shark fin-ning,” the practice of cutting the fins and tail off a live shark, which is most often tossed back into the ocean to perish.
Despite being cruel and inhumane, a growing num-ber of fishermen take advan-tage of the market for this product, which sells at $400 per pound.
Nine activists from the 5th and 6th grades at Jordan Middle School in Burbank recently came to my district office to present their case to support AB 376, a bill that makes it unlawful for any per-son to possess, sell or trade a shark fin.
I am proud to have voted for AB 376 in committee and on the Assembly floor. But I am all the more proud to have been “schooled” by our next generation of leaders who cared enough to ask for a meeting with their State As-semblyman.
Please feel free to contact my office too, on any matter of concern to you.
Mike Gatto is the Assistant Speaker Pro Tempore of the California State Assembly. He represents the cities of Burbank, Glendale, and parts of Los An-geles, including Los Feliz, North Hollywood, Silver Lake, Toluca Lake, Valley Glen, and Van Nuys. He has served in the As-sembly since June 2010.
Los Feliz Ledger
July 2011 www.losfelizledger.com Page 5
Hollywood Hills, Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Atwater Village, Echo ParkHondaOfHollywood.com
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opened on Wilshire Blvd. across from the Ambassador Hotel in 1926 by movie producer Her-bert Somborn, screenwriter Wilson Mizner and theater owner Sid Grauman.
Film producer Cecil B. deMille got into the act when he opened the second Brown Derby on Vine Street south of Hollywood Boulevard in 1929. It was deMille who erected a restaurant building that year at 4500 Los Feliz Blvd., but it was known then as Willard’s Chicken Inn.
In 1940, Robert Cobb, who had taken over the Wilshire Boulevard Brown Derby from the original own-ers, signed an agreement with deMille to convert Willard’s into a drive-in Brown Derby. Patrons in autos were served by car hops. Cobb etched Brown Derbies into the res-taurant steps where they are still visible on a stairway on the Hillhurst Avenue side of the building. A Brown Derby sign like the one on the top of the Wilshire Derby was erect-
ed. Joan Crawford’s famous movie “Mildred Pierce” was filmed at the Derby in 1947.
Following deMille’s pass-ing in 1959, the Derby was sold to Motion Picture As-sociates, which his daughter Cecilia owned in part. The Brown Derby was closed and reopened as Michael’s Los Fe-liz restaurant. The Michael’s tenure in the structure was the longest—some 33 years. Civic organizations like the Lion’s Club held luncheons in the large back room. Families, like my own, gathered for special occasions.
In 1993, Tony and Tam-my Gower leased a portion of the building and created The Derby nightclub. Swing dancing was revitalized on the dance floor, and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy rose to promi-nence in the music world.
The movie “Swingers” at-tracted even more attention to the venue. However, the popularity of The Derby be-gan to wane and Adler Realty Inc. purchased the building in 2004 for $4.8 million.
DERBY from page 1
A new parents/kids group called MOMs Club Interna-tional has formed in the Hol-lywood area, as membership in the Los Feliz chapter is full.
The group provides activi-ties for parents to do during the day with their children like weekly playgroups and outings and offers a babysitting co-op, breastfeeding support and sub groups for single parents and
exercising groups. The group also offers
free get togethers at Dragon-fly DuLou on Hillhurst Av-enue and provides drinks and snacks for the kids, as well as an outdoor play area for them with a trampoline and more.
Dues are $30 per year. For more information www.momsclubhollywood.com.
MOMs Club International Forms in Hollywood Area
Advertise in the Los Feliz Ledger (323) 667-9897
Los Feliz Ledger
Page 6 www.losfelizledger.com July 2011
widely-disparate communities, from a socio-economic stand-point,” Gatto said. “You would see an area with one of the high-est rates of home ownership [Los Feliz] with one of the low-est home ownership areas [East Los Angeles].”
So far, said Gatto, 100% “of the phone calls we’ve got-ten have been against the changes.”
Jose Sigala, president of the Greater Echo Park Elysian Neighborhood Council (GE-
PENC), said he’s been “keeping tabs” on the redistricting effort, which has injected a “definitely new” approach to the state’s “political landscape.”
However, he said he is concerned over planned changes like those in neigh-boring Silver Lake, where the community could be split be-tween the 45th and 46th as-sembly districts.
Historic Filipinotown is another community where Si-gala suspects residents could lose some of their political clout through the re-worked districts.
“I basically understand the work the commission is doing,” he said. Redistricting officials, he said, need to keep asking themselves, “How do you best handle communities of interests and their needs?”
For those wanting to voice their opinions to the commis-sion about the new district maps, the public comment pe-riod is far from over. In fact, release of the second round of
drafts was moved back to mid July, according to Rob Wilcox, the redistricting commissions communications director, to al-low more time for public input.
“Everyone deserves the very best representation. That begins with an active and en-gaged community exercising their civic duties,” said U.S. Rep. Karen Bass, whose 33rd Congressional District would be shifted westward and lose the Los Feliz and Silver Lake areas under first-draft changes.
“The commission is hard
at work and they have a job to do,” she said, “but I encourage all Californians, especially the residents of the 33rd District living in Los Feliz and Silver Lake to participate in our de-mocracy and have your voices heard.”
Without doubt, “there are going to be people who are upset with whatever the com-mission agrees on, said the GEPENC’s Sigala. But, ulti-mately, he said: “I think those who have the strongest views” and “are willing to organize, they will make a difference in their communities.”
The redistricting commis-sion has posted a preliminary schedule of July public hear-ings at www.wedrawthelines.ca.gov. The panel is also cur-rently accepting public com-ments via their toll-free phone line, 1-866-356-5217, e-mail, [email protected], or regular mail sent to the Citi-zens Redistricting Commis-sion, 901 P Street, Suite 154-A, Sacramento, CA 95814.
DISTRICTS from page 1
“So far 100% of the phone calls we’ve gotten have been against the changes.”
— California State Assemblyman Mike Gatto
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Los Feliz Ledger
Page 8 www.losfelizledger.com July 2011COMMUNITY NEWS
I-405: Countdown To The Closure July 16-17 – Plan ahead, avoid the area, or stay home is the message from public safety o;cials for the weekend closure of the I-405 in the Sepulveda Pass.
I-405 Sepulveda Pass Improvements Project> An extended 53-hour closure of the I-405
northbound between the I-10 and US 101 and southbound between the US 101 and Getty Center Drive is scheduled for July 16-17 for demolition of the Mulholland Bridge, part of the freeway improvements project.
> The project adds a 10-mile HOV lane, realigns 27 on and o= ramps, widens 13 existing underpasses and structures and constructs 18 miles of retaining and sound walls.
For more information visit: metro.net/405.
Exposition Transit Corridor Phase 2> A $1.5 billion agreement between Metro and the
Expo Construction Authority will fund the Phase 2 project through Measure R tax revenue as well as state and local funds.
> From that, Expo awarded a $541.7 million contract to design and build Phase 2 extending the line now under construction farther west to Santa Monica.
For more information visit: buildexpo.org. Regional Connector Transit Corridor
> Metro has been conducting geotechnical tests along the planned two-mile underground route of the Regional Connector light rail line through Downtown LA.
> The route connects with the Metro Blue and future Expo lines at 7th Street/Metro Center Station and with the Metro Gold Line at Alameda Street.
For more information visit: metro.net/regionalconnector.
For more information, visit metro.net.
AtWAtER VILLAGE—Over the past decade or so, Pilates Metro has been a part of the local community developing into more of a pedestrian cen-ter with clients, differing in size, shape and ability, often walking or bicycling to the studio.
“As Pilates has become more popular there are a lot of different options meeting different needs,” said Pilates Metro co-owner and instruc-tor Allison Harter. “There are several group studios out there. We continue focus on the one-on-one experience and smaller group classes.”
The key, said Harter, is to make Pilates more accessible rather than intimidating.
Perhaps too effective to ignore, the Pilates method of exercise has found its way into the workouts of dancers, athletes, and people in vari-ous stages of rehabilitation. Its emphasis on the balanced development of the body through core strength, flex-ibility, and awareness can be modified to work for anyone.
On a typical morning at Pilates Metro three instruc-tors worked separately in the peaceful relaxed atmosphere. The studio design takes cues from the Pilates Method itself, that is, a functional, quiet, and comfortable place in which to challenge abilities. Two cli-ents there said they come here to help them be more efficient
in the work place. “I feel like Pilates is nec-
essary to be able to maintain the lifestyle that I want,” said Aubree Cudillo of Glendale, who does a lot of heavy lift-ing as a theater technical di-rector. “The instructors here are tuned into my individual needs and try to help me with my body mechanics.”
Focused on wellness, abil-ity, and personal longevity, Pilates Metro is happy to take direction from physical thera-pists and doctors who have long prescribed Pilates for their patients to build strength and flexibility. And all of their instructors have taught at the studio for more than five years.
“I’m here because [pilates] address[es] structural align-ment completely and if that’s working then everything else about my health works,” said
Ken Carlsten of Silver Lake who after six years as a Pilates Metro client looks like he’s been carved from stone.
“We’re not just a ware-house,” said instructor Elaine Rensing who credits Pilates with changing the quality of her life as a dancer. “We look at people and we say, ‘This is
what’s going on with your body right now and this is what we need to do to get you where your body is working together and you feel good’.”
New Client Introductory Special: Three Private Lessons for $165 www.pilates-metro.com.
[FOCuS ON tHE ADVERtISER]
Pilates Metro, Offering a High Quality Pilates Workout By Kimberly Gomez, Ledger Contributing Writer
Leaner, longer, firmer stronger: Pilates Metro in Atwater Village focuses on well-ness and challenging one’s limits in one-on-one and small group classes
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Los Feliz Ledger
July 2011 www.losfelizledger.com Page 9CALENDAR
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[ JuLy 2011 EVENtS CALENDAR ]
Edited by Oliver Gettell
BENEFItS Everything you Know Is PongThe writing and tutoring center 826LA holds its latest fundraiser, a 24-team ping-pong tournament. Tickets are $10 and will benefit 826LA’s programs.
Echoplex Tues., July 19th, 7:30 p.m.1154 Glendale Blvd., Echo Park. Information: (213) 413-3388; www.826la.org. twentyWonderBilled as a Carnival for the Mind, this annual event combines art, science, music and comedy while raising funds for the Down Syndrome Association of Los Angeles. Participants include the rock band Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, the actor Ed Asner, the cartoonist Lynda Barry and the L.A. Derby Dolls, whose headquarters will host the event. Tickets are $40-$100.
The Doll Factory Sat., July 9th, 8 p.m.1910 W. Temple St., Echo Park. Info: www.twentywonder.org.
BOOKS Dana SpiottaThe author of Lightning Field and the National Book Award nominee Eat the Document will read from and sign her third novel, Stone Arabia. Spiotta’s new book tells the story of two 40-something siblings with a special bond.
Skylight Books Thurs., July 28th, 7:30 p.m.1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Feliz. Information: (323) 660-1175; www.skylightbooks.com. Friends of Griffith Park Summer Lecture SeriesMike Eberts, the author of Griffith Park: A Centennial History, will deliver a lecture on Griffith Park and the Great Depression. During the 1930s, park projects provided work for the unemployed and low-cost activities for Angelenos. Eberts will explore such stories and their legacies. Admission is free.
Los Feliz Branch LibraryThurs., July 14th, 6:45 p.m.1874 Hillhurst Ave., Los Feliz. Information: (323) 913-4710; www.friendsofgriffithpark.org.
CLuBS Los Angeles Breakfast ClubFor more than 85 years, the club has gathered folks from all walks
of life to enjoy a meal and each other’s company. Guest speakers this month include Doug Smith of the Los Angeles Times and preservationist Taylor Whitney. Breakfast is $7 per person and free for first-time visitors. Annual club membership is $100.
Friendship Auditorium Wed., July 6th, 13th, 20th and 27th, 7 a.m.3201 Riverside Drive, Los Feliz. Information: (213) 665-1154; www.labreakfastclub.com.
FAMILy Summer Family SeriesOn Tuesday evenings, families can enjoy music, theater, storytelling and games at Descanso Gardens. Picnics, which are not normally permitted, are encouraged. Free with regular admission ($8 adults, $6 seniors and students, $3 children 5-12, free for children 4 and younger).
Descanso GardensTues., July 5th, 12th, 19th and 26th, 5:30 p.m.1418 Descanso Drive, La Cañada Flintridge. Info: (818) 949-4200; www.descansogardens.org.
FOOD & WINE Friday Night Wine tastingsFriday evenings at Barnsdall Art Park are filled with wine, food and fun. Silverlake Wine presents wine tastings with four artisanal selections. Proceeds go to supporting programs and projects at the park. Picnics are welcomed. General admission tickets are $25 and include a souvenir wine glass ($5 for non-drinkers, including children 3 and older).
Barnsdall Art Park Fri., July 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th, 5:30-8:30 p.m.4800 Hollywood Blvd., East Hollywood. Info: [email protected]; friday.barnsdall.org.
HEALtH
Cancer Control SocietyThe 39th Annual convention on alternative therapies and nutritional approaches to cancer and other diseases.
Sheraton Universal Labor Day Weekend, Sept. 3rd – 5th. For information call (323) 663-7801 or cancercontrolsociety.com
MOVIES Summer Movie Nights under the StarsWatching movies outdoors on the
grass has become a quintessential Los Angeles activity. This summer, the Atwater Village Neighborhood council is presenting a four-film screening series of classic movies. This month’s film is the Michael J. Fox time-traveling sci-fi comedy Back to the Future. Picnics are encouraged; dogs are not allowed. Admission is free.
Los Feliz Municipal Golf Course Fri., July 15th, 7:45 p.m.3207 Los Feliz Blvd., Atwater Village. Info: www.atwatervillage.org.
MuSIC & DANCE Big!World!Fun! Family SeriesThis family-friendly series of one-hour performances explores music and dance from around the world. This month features the Ballet Folclorico do Brasil, Axis Dance Company, Beethoven’s Wig, and the Center for Vietnamese Ethnic Culture & Art. Kid-friendly pre-show activities begin at 9 a.m. Admission is $5 for adults, free for children. Parking is $1.
Ford Amphitheater Sat., July 2nd, 9th, 23rd and 30th, 10 a.m.2580 Cahuenga Blvd. East, Hollywood Hills. Info: (323) 461-3673; www. fordamphitheater.org. Reggae Night XIn celebration of 10 years of reggae at the Bowl, Ziggy Marley headlines a star-studded musical evening. Performers include I-Threes, Toots Hibbert, Might Diamonds and Ras Michael; Jeremy Sole will host. Tickets are $12-$134.
Hollywood BowlSun., July 31, 7 p.m.2301 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood. Information: (323) 850-2000. www.hollywoodbowl.com. the Swing RiotsThe second installment of the Ash Grove Summer Series (held the third Sunday of the month through October) features the eclectic Los Angeles-based sextet the Swing Riots. Their sound incorporates gypsy, Creole, jazz, klezmer and other influences. They will be joined by Jess Basta and Christine Tavares. General admission $15, seniors and students $10.
Tropico de Nopal Gallery Sun., July 17th, 2 p.m.1665 Beverly Blvd., Echo Park. Information: (310) 391-5794. www.ashgrovemusic.com.
tHEAtER Griffith Park Free Shakespeare FestivalThe Bard returns to Griffith Park thanks to the Independent Shakespeare company, who will perform Merry Wives of Windsor and Hamlet each weekend in July (as well as Love’s Labour’s Lost in August). Select evenings will feature Players in the Park workshops to introduce families to the season’s plays. Attendees are encouraged to bring blankets or low-backed lawn chairs, and to dress warmly. Concessions will be sold. Admission is free. Dogs not allowed.
Griffith Park Old Zoo Thurs.-Sun., Fri. 1st-31st, 7 p.m.4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Griffith Park. Info: (818) 710-6306; www.independentshakespeare.com.
Friday Night Wine Tastings return to Barnsdall Art Park Fridays in July.
Photo credit: Gabriel Cifarelli
Los Feliz Ledger
Page 10 www.losfelizledger.com July 2011
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The council on June 21st voted 10-3 to support the city’s Recreation and Parks Commission’s recommenda-tions of the Autry’s proposed renovations, which were tied to $6.6-million in funds from the California State Parks’ Na-ture Education Facilities Pro-gram, otherwise known as a Proposition 84 grant.
Affirmative votes were cast by City Council President Eric Garcetti, Tom LaBonge, Ber-nard Parks, Paul Krekorian, Dennis Zine, Richard Alar-con, Jan Perry, Bill Rosendahl, Greg Smith and Tony Carde-nas. Councilors Ed Reyes, Paul Koretz and Jose Huizar opposed the measure.
Council members also de-cided 11-2 to accept the com-mission’s other findings: that the interior improvements specified in the Autry’s plans did not require further study
under the California Environ-mental Quality Act (CEQA). Reyes and Huizar cast the dis-senting votes.
The Autry project made its way to the full council after the Mount Washington Ho-meowners Alliance and area resident Charles Fisher—both members of Friends of the Southwest Museum Coali-tion, an activist group focused on re-opening the Southwest and keeping its collection of approximately 300,000 Na-tive artifacts at the Mount Washington location—filed a challenge to the CEQA waiver under a state law that directs elected officials to consider dis-puted environmental decisions by appointed entities, like the recreation and parks panel.
After museum officials said they’d have to forfeit the grant money back to the state if they didn’t get a green light for the project by July 12th,
the city council fast tracked the issue with a June 21th reso-lution deadline.
Friends of the Southwest has long advocated for the re-opening of the Southwest, insisted the Autry is contrac-tually bound to maintain the Southwest site as a functioning museum and has asserted any Autry development projects should be considered by city of-ficials within the context of the Southwest Museum’s status.
Far from abandoning the Southwest Museum, said Fin-ley, the Autry has been weigh-ing options for its storied Lummis building first opened in 1907 but is currently closed after being damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake.
The Autry has since de-termined it would be too costly—and equally destruc-tive to its historic character—
to bring the Southwest back up to contemporary code, let alone turn it into a modern, usable museum.
Finley said Autry officials have considered moving the bulk of the Southwest’s expan-sive collection of Native Amer-ican artifacts to a storage facil-ity in Burbank. There are also plans to turn the old site into a mixed-use facility, where the public and schools can learn about the local community’s history. Or, the Southwest could either be sold or leased to a third party—that has demonstrated a willingness to preserve and respect the mu-seum’s historical importance.
However, some in the community feel the Autry has not made good on its promise to maintain the Southwest as a functioning museum when the two museums merged.
Greater Griffith Park Neighborhood Council (GG-PNC member Jacqueline Kerr said at a recent GGPNC meet-ing that Jackie Autry— the Autry’s Chair Emeritus and widow of Gene Autry, the mu-seum’s namesake—had “prom-ised the Southwest Museum would be kept as a museum, operate as a museum, open to the public throughout forever and into eternity” and “if they [Autry] want to improve them-selves with this grant… it bet-ter include the Southwest.”
Mrs. Autry declined to comment for this story, ex-plaining in an e-mail that she’s “not as familiar with the day to day nitty-gritty stuff that is going on now.”
However, according to the Autry’s Finley, Ms. Autry has indicated she is in support of the Autry’s current direction.
AUTRY from page 1
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Los Feliz Ledger
July 2011 www.losfelizledger.com Page 11SENIOR MOMENTS
Griffith Park Adult Community Club Calendar
Sunset Hall - Curriculum and Advocacy
Free Computer Instruction at GPACCStarting Monday, July 11, 2011
Learn Windows 7, Microsoft Word, Excel, and/or Power Point
All ages are welcomed
The classes will be scheduled for Mondays – Thursdays, 9:00 am to 2:00 pm
Call Monty Sutherlin at (323) 644-5579 for more information
Lunch Program: Mon.-Fri., GPACC, 11:30 AM sign in, Noon lunch, Donation under 60 $4, 60+ $2
Club Info and Newsletter: Stephanie Vendig, (323) 667-3043 or [email protected].
Join GPACC: Only $15/year for trips and news. For information on trips, call Doris Slater, (323) 667-1879
Programs for free-thinking seniors
(323) 660-5277
Conversational Spanish at GPACC on Wednesdays
Choose Circle of Friends• Dedicated program coordinator and specially trained staff
• Designed specifically for MCI by a leading gerontologist
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• Physical and mental “workouts” for a balanced approach to cognitive fitness
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We all have occasional difficulty remembering things. When it persists in a loved one, it could be the sign of Mild Cognitive Impairment, or MCI. Belmont’s Circle of Friends® tackles the effects of MCI through a daily program of exercises and activities for our residents. These group “workouts” help to maintain mental alertness, are fun to do, and they work. Our residents and families report a renewed enjoyment for life and improved well-being. If you’re concerned about MCI in a friend or loved one, ask us how our Circle of Friends memory enrichment program can help.
A week of sightseeing in Washington D.C. was my latest experience. There is much to see and one week doesn’t do it justice. The trip was not done via the usual bus tour. We used our feet and public transportation. Wash-ington, D.C.’s Metro system is comprehen-sive, and for the beginner, a bit overwhelming. The number of people being transported is staggering, but the system does it very efficiently. It is much easier to estimate the time for your journey using the Metro rather than relying on a car that will more likely face a traffic jam.
But it was not only the Metro that impressed me, there were intersections with traffic signals that were timed to meet the needs of both pe-destrians and vehicles. When the signal came on indicating OK to walk, there was also a
countdown of the seconds re-maining to complete the cross-ing. It wasn’t just 10 seconds, but 23 seconds. A recent Los Angeles Times article described this new thinking in city planning to take into consid-eration the needs of the older population (65 +) whom are
outpacing all other age groups in growth. The old thinking was that you design the roads for moving traffic as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, the emphasis on cars comes at the expense of pedestrians and bi-cycles, especially for the older person who would not be as fast or agile as those from the
younger age groups.According to a report
“Dangerous by Design 2011” produced by the organization Transportation for America, older adults are 96% more likely to be killed while walk-ing than those under 65 years of age. In their study of traf-
fic fatalities from 2000 to 2009, the older adults repre-sented 22% of pedestrian deaths even though they are only 13% of the population. The report sug-gested that too often the lack of features such as sidewalks,
crosswalks, street lighting, and public bus shelters in appropri-ate places increased the risk of fatalities. And, most states use only a fraction of their Federal roadway funds for walking and bicycling safety.
There is a cost-effective-ness benefit, plus an obvious health benefit, in creating a
transportation infrastructure that is designed with pedestri-an and bicycle safety in mind. Walkable communities are becoming more a trend, and according to a survey done by the National Association of Realtors, Americans would like to live where it is easy to walk to local businesses.
And developers are dis-
covering that housing in a walkable community is com-manding a higher price than housing in less walkable areas. For seniors, if it were easier and safer to walk or to access public transportation, maybe we wouldn’t hold on to our cars so long, possibly creating a danger for others and our-selves.
[SENIOR MOMENtS]
Pedestrian Safety with Seniors In MindBy Stephanie VendigLedger Columnist
A recent Los Angeles times article
described this new thinking in city
planning to take into consideration the
needs of the older population (65 +)
whom are outpacing all other age
groups in growth.
Los Feliz Ledger
Page 12 www.losfelizledger.com July 2011COMMUNITY NEWS
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SINCE
1986SILVER LAKE—Silver Lake artist Teresa Grow spent her childhood on the beaches of Madison, Connecticut before heading to the School of Visu-al Arts in Manhattan to study Fine Art.
Painting and sculpting were her focus in school, but when Grow was paired up with an architect for a work-study project at a gallery in New York City her interests expanded.
“It just sort of opened me up to… play[ing] with that ground between fine art and design,” Grow said. She found a way to combine the two in color consulting.
“I work with homeowners or architects and select all the finish materials,” Grow said. “I create the palate.”
One of Grow’s first pro-fessional projects was a his-toric renovation of the Cal-vin Theater in Northampton, Massachusetts in 1999. Grow and architect Thomas Douglas converted the old theater into a music venue with cafes and won the Massachusetts His-torical Commission Preserva-tion Award for that year.
Grow and Douglas con-tinued to work together for the
next 10 years, until a visit to Los Angeles brought some un-expected changes to Grow’s life.
“After three days of hik-ing I called [my partner] Jamie and said we should move to L.A,” Grow said. “It’s so beau-tiful—I had no idea.”
Three months later the couple was living in Los An-geles. Grow quickly picked up work as a color consultant here, but she was ready to add something new to the mix.
“I was specifying other people’s wallpaper,” Grow said, “and I was seeing that there was a resurgence—it was becoming popular again.”
In 2008 Grow opened her own design studio, Madison and Grow, and started design-ing wallpaper.
“Everything’s local,” she said. “My studio is in Sil-ver Lake and we print in Los Angeles—it’s all hand silk screened here.”
Grow’s wallpaper has ap-peared in the West Elm cata-log and on the walls of the Greystone Mansion in a Veran-da magazine showcase room. In 2008 Grow was named one of the Best of Year (BOY) design-ers for residential wall covering by Interior Design and last April,
Page 14 www.losfelizledger.com July 2011Su Casa REAL ESTATE
BRIAN ADESTO MAKE GOOD DECISIONS YOU NEED GOOD INFORMATIONwww.brianades.com | email: [email protected] | cell: (310) 503-8080
When the Cali-fornia housing market started racking up dis-tressed homes
in 2008, Jimmy Sans began plotting how he could parlay his meager wages into a boom-ing rehab real estate operation.
The Los Feliz-area conve-nience store clerk had followed financial news reports enough to know a wave of home fore-closures was on the way. His strategy was to teach himself how to buy property, acquire as many foreclosed houses as possible and then sell the units for a profit.
Sans says flipping houses is still his ultimate strategy for success, though he hasn’t made any purchases yet and hasn’t done much more than glance over how-to real estate guides.
“I just need to find a good agent,” he said.
Rob Kallick, an agent at the Keller Williams Realty Los Feliz office, wholeheart-edly agreed an experienced market pro can provide vital insights into how “things work locally.” He said however, that consumers always “need more education.”
It’s “a great thing,” Kal-lick said, if “you can familiar-ize yourself with the terms of a transaction before entering into a contract,” particularly in this post-meltdown era.
One would be hard pressed to find a contemporary agent that doesn’t encourage their clients to study the whys and wherefores of property in-vesting, but Sans’ education-light approach is apparently embraced by a large segment of U.S. consumers, according to recent findings by Zillow, an online real estate resource.
One nationally-represen-tative poll conducted in April by Zillow’s Mortgage Market-place unit and public opinion analyst Ipsos found an esti-mated 46% of those surveyed didn’t have even a basic under-standing of how home mort-gages work. Only about 56% of all respondents said they felt confident in their knowledge of mortgage processes and products.
Perhaps not surprisingly, other research done the same month by Mortgage Market-place and analyst Harris In-teractive revealed borrowers
are generally not spending any more time researching home loans as they did before the meltdown.
Of the 2,729 adult con-sumers interviewed for the sec-ond survey, a majority indicat-ed they spent a total of about five hours researching their mortgage options, whereas slightly more than 1/3rd of respondents said they devoted only an estimated two hours to exploring loan options.
The study also showed participants who had secured
a loan within the last five years had generally collected an average of three quotes, as opposed to an average four in 2008.
Kallick, a Chicago na-tive who previously worked as a staff writer for the Chicago Tribune and then a represen-tative for an online marketing outfit, gives consumers the benefit of hectic lifestyles.
People are otherwise “so busy,” he said, market intro-ductions end up push down the priority list. “I think that’s
the biggest challenge.”Kallick does his part to
encourage more market explo-ration through the one-on-one dialogues he has with clients and also takesunset.com, the meant-to-be-easy-to-read blog site he developed with his wife, Valerie, who also sports a journalistic background.
“I meet all different kinds of people” with all different levels of knowledge, said Kal-lick. He said he crafts his mes-sage by putting “myself in my clients’ shoes, imagining what I would want to read and hear if I were starting to look for a house.” That is why, he said, “I am the way I am….it starts from the very beginning of the
process, when I first sit down with a client and am getting to know them. I tell them what the truth is, not necessarily what they want to hear.”
Kallick said he hopes his straightforward, enthusiastic way of looking at life rubs off on others and infuses them with the same desire he has to learn more about people and the housing market that breathes life into the neighbor-hood.
Also, California’s Dept. of Real Estate has launched a federally-approved financial literacy course and workshop geared toward giving consum-ers some of “the tools they
[REAL EStAtE]
Market Education: the Key to SuccessBy Erik Derr, Ledger Real Estate Reporter
see REAL ESATE page 15
Los Feliz Ledger
July 2011 www.losfelizledger.com Page 15Su Casa REAL ESTATE
I made it to age 32 with-out owning a car or using a gas pump. My first car was a 1987 Chevy Sprint—a tin can really, but it got over 40mpg, much more than my 1999 VW Beetle, which frustrating-ly only gets around 25 mpg.
In the 1980s, carmakers
had the will and the technolo-gy to build more fuel-efficient cars, but the will disappeared as political winds shifted, gas prices fell and large gas-guzzlers became the rage. My Beetle reminds me daily of our inefficient approach to gas consumption.
However, a couple of new films are giving me hope that petroleum-powered cars might become obsolete. Re-venge of the Electric Car, se-quel to Who Killed the Elec-tric Car? chronicles the global resurgence in electric cars only 5 years after the wholesale destruction of so many EVs. What is the Electric Car? dispels many myths about EVs—‘they’re unattractive,” or “they can’t go very far on one charge,” and introduces a dazzling array of new EVs, ranging from sleek and speedy sports cars to cute little town cars.
I’m not ready for a new car yet, but when I am, I’m con-
fident I’ll be able to power it with a plug and not a pump.
Sustainable Saturdays at the Silver Lake Library
Documentary Film: What is the Electric Car? – directed by Ken Grant and Scott du-Pont Saturday July 2, 11am.
Free Draw after screening – win a ZAPino Electric Scoot-er! Free. Contact www.sus-tainablesilverlake.org or call (323) 913-7451
[KEEN tO BE GREEN]
Giving up the Gas PumpBy Meher McArthurLedger Columnist
In the 1980s, carmakers had the will and the technology to build more fuel-efficient cars, but the will disappeared as political
winds shifted, gas prices fell and large gas-guzzlers became the rage.
need to make informed finan-cial decisions and avoid some of the traps of the past,” said the department’s real estate commissioner Jeff Davi.
Titled “Financial Sense to White Picket Fence,” the new program covers housing mar-ket fundamentals such as bud-geting, saving, the process of buying a home, understand-ing loan documents, mort-gage products, financing op-tions and importance of credit scores.
More information about the financial literacy initiative is available online by going to the DRE website, at www. dre.ca.gov, and clicking on the “Financial Literacy” icon.
REAL ESTATE from page 14
Los Feliz Ledger
Page 16 www.losfelizledger.com July 2011Su Casa REAL ESTATE
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Growing up in the Mid-west, it was common to have a Spring/Summer change in décor after a long, gray winter. Southern California does not have the distinct change of sea-sons, but emotionally it’s a great way to boost your mood by making subtle changes in your home. Here are inexpensive warm weather interior design ideas to freshen up your home.
Change the pillows on your sofa. If your winter pal-ate includes grays and blues, try adding some patterned and bright colors. Add four or five unmatched pillows to your plain sofa. Try polka dots and ethnic and floral prints. If your sofa has a pat-terned fabric, still add one or
two coordinating patterned pillows with a few plain ones. Resist getting matchy but co-ordinate the pillow size. If the idea of unmatched patterns jolts your inner Zen, keep it simple with plain pillows in different colors.
Store the area rugs for the warm months ahead. Enjoy your bare floors, whether wood, stone or carpet. Or, try some or-ganic cotton weaved rugs.
Add new shades to your lamps. If you’ve had white lampshades for a while, pick up a color or pattern and the whole room will change.
Light will reflect differently through the color. If you love your white lampshades, try adding a trim to the top and bottom of the shade. You can do it yourself with a glue gun or take it to a lighting store.
Have slipcovers made for your sofa or chair. It’s such an easy way to change the whole look of the room. Make sure the covers are tailored and fit well. Since it is a temporary fix, go for color or pattern. And, don’t forget those pil-lows!
Welcome the change and be a bit daring. You can al-ways go back to your comfort zone in the fall.
The Los Feliz Improve-ment Association, the oldest homeowner organization in the City of Los Angeles, cel-ebrated its 95th birthday dur-ing its Annual Membership Meeting at the Autry National Center May 16th.
Proclamations saluting the LFIA for its nine-decade-long community efforts were presented to LFIA president Don Seligman from Los An-geles City Councilmember Tom LaBonge, from Los An-geles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich and from State As-semblymember Mike Feuer.
Program co-chairs Don-na Zenor and Terry Hughes orchestrated the celebratory event. The program includ-ed presentation of the Los Fe-
liz Improvement Association Charlotte De Armond Leader-ship Award to John Marshall High School senior Jaymie Parks, and honoring the mem-bers of the JMHS Online De-cathlon Team which won first place in the nation.
An historic photo retro-spective of Los Feliz and LFIA successes over the decades was given by Seligman using im-ages from the LFIA Historic Photo Archive.
A reception preceded the program featuring food do-nated by area restaurants and merchants, including Albert-son’s Market, Chi Dynasty, Daily Donuts, Farfalla, Little Dom’s, Palermo’s, Rockwell/Vermont, Tam-O’Shanter, Tropicalia and Yuca’s.
Los Feliz Improvement Association Celebrates its 95th AnniversaryBy Lynne t. Jewell, Ledger Guest Writer
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lion years ago… a community activist… an elected official on the [L.A. City] Charter Com-mission, a reformer. I think it’s a perspective that nobody else on the school board has.
Ledger: The school district is dealing with a budget short-fall in the hundreds of millions of dollars. What are your ideas today for getting the district’s budget in line?
Kayser: I taught science and health to 7th graders and I had an annual budget per student of about $1.95… meanwhile the school district is spending its money on a half-billion dollar school cam-pus over at the old Ambassa-dor Hotel site. I have nothing against charter schools, per se, but I don’t like the fact that they are private compa-nies and have closed books… there needs to be some trans-parency on the part of the charter schools… Another good chunk from the budget is money that could be com-
ing from the Community Redevelopment Agency, the CRA… it would mean about $110 million a year to the dis-trict… if we had that money coming in, we wouldn’t have had any layoffs this year.
Ledger: What is your stand on teacher evaluations?
Kayser: I agree that there needs to be a better evaluation process [but] teachers who have been very successful in having their students moti-vated to stay in school, to do their work, to get their educa-tion… some of those teachers were listed in the Los Angeles Times as being ineffective… When you have teachers that the kids say, ‘That teacher is my favorite teacher,’ and it comes up and shows ‘ineffec-tive,’ there’s a disconnect.
Ledger: UTLA, the teach-er’s union, supported your run for the school board. What do you say to those in the commu-nity who suspect your election opens the district’s door to more union influence?
KAYSER from page 1
Americafest at the Rose BowlNow in its 85th year, Rose Bowl’s annual Fourth of July celebration offers music, food, live entertainment and a grand fireworks show (scheduled for 9:05 p.m.). Tickets are $13 (free for children 7 and under and active military members).Rose Bowl Mon., July 4th, 2 p.m.1001 Rose Bowl Dr., Pasadena Info: (626) 577-3101 rosebowlstadium.com Dodgers vs. MetsWhat better way to ring in the Fourth than with America’s pastime? After chowing down on Dodger Dogs and watch-ing the home team battle the New York Mets, baseball fans can enjoy a fireworks show from the comfort of their seats. Tickets are $12-$650.Dodger Stadium Mon., July 4th, 6:10 p.m.1000 Elysian Park Ave., Elysian Park Info: (323) 224-1507 Dodgers.com July Fourth Fireworks Spectacular at the Hollywood Bowl
The beloved pop-rock duo Hall and Oates will perform three nights of their classic hits to celebrate our nation’s 235th birthday. They will be joined by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and conduc-tor Thomas Wilkins. A bril-liant fireworks display will conclude each shows. Tickets are $12-$158.Hollywood Bowl Sat., July 2nd-Mon., July 4th, 7:30 p.m.2301 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood Hills. Info: (323) 850-2000 hollywoodbowl.com Red, White & Blues at the Queen MaryAll aboard this classic ocean liner for a day of Americana, Cajun, blues, swing and zydeco music. The fest also features strolling performers, DJs, dancing, tours, food and fireworks (at 9 p.m.). Adults $24.95, children 5-11 $12.95, military and seniors $21.95.Queen Mary Mon., July 4th, 3 p.m.1126 Queens Highway Long Beach Info: (877) 342-0738 queenmary.com
Fun for the 4thCompiled by Oliver Gettell
Open since January, the Sidewalk Grill on Vermont Ave-nue is one of several new Middle Eastern restaurants in Los Feliz, though the area has a long tradi-tion of Armenian, Lebanese and Persian restaurants.
Formerly a small Ital-ian cafe, the Sidewalk Grill
expanded the space with a spiffed-up dining room and enlarged patio.
The Sidewalk Grill is a fine spot for a quick order-at-the-counter lunch or dinner before catching a film, and could be-come more of a destination if waiter service or a few more
menu options were added. The simple menu includes
chicken, salmon or steak ka-bob plates, pita wraps and sev-eral salads that can be topped with chicken or salmon. De-spite the traffic and enthusias-tic beer drinkers from the pub next door, the patio tables are the place to be to check out the pedestrian fashion statements.
Los Feliz certainly needs more healthy, reasonably priced options, since prices in the area seem to rise ev-ery time a new place opens. At first glance, the Sidewalk Grill seems to fill that bill. But a $10 filet mignon kebab plate might leave bigger eaters hungry even with roasted po-tatoes, rice, pita and babagan-oush on the side.
Mediterranean salad with romaine and feta is a fairly healthy choice, topped with grilled salmon, though green olives seem incongruous in-
Kayser: I think it’s good for people to remember that, actually, I was UTLA’s second choice… There are going to be probably plenty of times where the union and I disagree… the union has not bought me.
Ledger: You have a couple of self-identified disabilities—Parkinson’s Disease and legal blindness. How will those chal-lenges impact or inform your job on the school board?
Kayser: I want to see char-ter schools responsible for their students with disabilities and not shuffle them off, down the block. L.A. Unified, itself, has been doing a lot more than the charter schools, but… the dis-trict still has more work to do.
Ledger: What will you do to ensure the schools and families of the Los Feliz area continue to have your attention and voice?
Kayser: I’ve lived in the district since Thanksgiving Weekend 1972… been in the same house for 39 years. [Re-garding Los Feliz] I’m well at-tached to the community.
[REStAuRANt REVIEW]
Vermont Avenue: Always ChangingBy Pat Saperstein, Ledger Restaurant Critic
stead of the usual black. Other side dishes include tomato soup, hummus or yogurt tzatziki, or combine several for a vegetar-ian plate. With the addition of more choices—roast chicken a la Zankou, or traditional Per-sian dishes like the lamb shank and cherry rice available at the family’s Shekarchi restaurant downtown—Sidewalk Grill could become a real neighbor-hood fixture.
Vermont Avenue is in constant flux, with yet another restaurant under construction next to the 1739 Public House and the new Rocco’s Italian Market and Deli a few doors down. Old-timers may recall the neighborhood’s European feel back in the 1980s and be-fore, with Sarno’s restaurant and several French, Italian and German stores and markets adding to the cosmopolitan vibe.
After dinner, stroll across
the street to another recent ad-dition, Paradis Ice Cream in the former Pinkberry location. In Denmark, Paradis is a small chain of all-natural ice cream shops, and the Danish owner has opened the only U.S. out-posts in nearby Montrose and now Los Feliz.
Flavors range from famil-iar to more creative, including caramel fig, fresh coconut, coffee chocolate chip, Ferraro Rocher—like the truffles—and dairy-free sorbets like a lightly-perfumed Elderflower. Unlike some heavier, more caloric ice creams, Paradis is light but creamy. It’s a little pricey, but the friendly owner is happy to give samples, and two flavors can be combined in a one-scoop cup.
The Sidewalk Grill, 1727 N. Vermont Ave. Paradis Ice Cream, 1726 N. Vermont Ave.
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loS feliz 1801 North hIllhurst aveNue t 323.665.1700
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operated by sotheby’s International realty, Inc.. sotheby’s International realty® is a registered trademark. the yellow house used with permission. sotheby’s International realty does not guarantee the accuracy of square footage, lot size or other information concerning the property provided by the seller or obtained from public records or other sources.
3477 BEN LOMOND PL: los Feliz.. c1927 mediterranean 3bd/4ba. Gorgeous old world character seamlessly updated to perfection. Impeccable! www.benlomondplace.com $1,279,000 Web: 0280289Rick Yohon 323.270.1725
1761 W. SILVER LAKE DR: silver lake. architectural, mark Kirkhart’s, stunning wd/glass/concrete, soaring ceiling 2bd/2ba w/fab.kit & baths, hi end finishes. $1,098,000 Web: 0284252Rosemary Low 323.660.5885 & Allen Levoff 323.671.2313
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1809 SILVERWOOD TERRACE: silver lake. stunning reservoir views, elegant updated kit & baths, large balconies that capture the views. close to shops & restaurants $999,000 Web: 0284239Joseph Lightfoot 323.665.1108
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1749 W SILVER LAKE DR: silver lake. 2 story trad. with updated baths, large eat-in kit, Fam rm. Dr to patio and terraced garden. hdwd flrs, period details$729,000 Web: 0284212Joseph Lightfoot 323.665.1108
1631 HILL DR: eagle rock. 3bd/1ba Inlaid oak flrs; bright kit, brkfst nook., sunrm, cntrl hvac. close to Pasadena, Glendale, an easy drive to la $699,000Web: 0284274Joseph Lightfoot 323.665.1108
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807 N. DILLON ST: silver lake. bright and leafy silver lake bungalow 3bd/2ba. hrdwd flrs large pvt. yard with trees. Garage converted to studio. $699,000Web: 0284276Ruben/Yohon 323.671.2310
1406 N. BENTON WAY: silver lake. 3bd/1.75ba lg lr w/vaulted clng, wd windows, hdwd flrs, French drs from mstr open to spacious yard. close to cafes, shops, studios $725,000 Web: 0284230Joseph Lightfoot 323.665.1108
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2256-2258 LAKE VIEW AVE: silver lake. character triplex. two 1bd/1ba + studio. hdwd flrs. Gd for owner-user or investor. 1 unit vacant at coe$599,000Joseph Lightfoot 323.665.1108
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Sotheby’s International Realty - Los Feliz is proud to establish Sotheby’s for Schools. Sotheby’s for School’s mission is to help our local youth realize their full potential. Our organization and agents are currently supporting various initiatives at our local learning institutions on an ongoing donation program from closed transactions. Sothebys’s for Schools raised over $1,700 in May for Micheltorena Elementary School.For SchoolS
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Los Feliz Ledger
July 2011 www.losfelizledger.com Page 19Su Casa REAL ESTATE
Organizers of the an-nual Los Angeles Hike for the Homeless are planning a celebration in Los Feliz Wed., July 20th to thank the spon-sors of the first annual hike, held April 2nd.
The inaugural hike drew over 400 participants; orga-nizers plan on making the hike an annual event, held in Griffith Park. The wine-and-cheese reception will be held at the home of Los Feliz Ledger Contributing Writer Michael
and Donna Locke beginning at 5 p.m.
With an estimated 43,000 homeless people in Los An-geles, our city has the highest homeless population of any major metropolitan area in the country.
The Los Angeles Hike for the Homeless benefits the St. Vincent’s Cardinal Manning Center that is a homeless shel-ter on Skid Row in downtown
Los Angeles. The Manning Center provides shelter and ser-vices to homeless men, women and children. For more than 50 years, the center has been a reliable presence for Los Ange-les’ homeless population. The center’s goals are to enable homeless persons to stabilize their life circumstances, regain self-sufficiency and find perma-nent housing and employment.
The reception will also kick off planning for next year’s that will take place on
April 28th 2012. Please come to see how you
can help end homeless in L.A. by lending your support. There is no charge for the event. Please RSVP by contacting Connor Johnson at St. Vincent’s Cardi-nal Manning Center (213) 229-9972 or by email [email protected] or Michael Locke (323) 644-3338. The Lockes reside at 3410 Amesbury Road in Los Feliz.
Reception in Los Feliz Benefiting Hike for the Homeless July 20thBy Michael LockeLedger Contributing Writer
Pictured are event organizers Connor Johnson, Laura Mack and Justin Mammen at the Locke Residence, “La Casa Contenta,” 3401 Amesbury Road.
LOS FELIZ—The Los Feliz Vil-lage Street Fair returns after a two-year hiatus, July 24th. This year’s event will be held on Hollywood Boulevard be-tween Vermont and Hillhurst avenues and runs from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Special attractions planned this year include: food from Village restaurants, a main stage featuring local bands, dancing, dance Les-sons, beer and wine gardens, arts and crafts, performing artists and the ‘Green Scene’
Eco Showcase Pavilion. For the kids, there’ll be
carnival rides, games, moon bounces, storytellers and more.
For information: www.LosFelizStreetFair.com
18th Annual Los Feliz Village Street Fair: Sunday, July 24th
Los Feliz Ledger
Page 20 www.losfelizledger.com July 2011FAMILY & HEALTH
Earth is far-thest from the
sun—the point in its orbit called the aphelion—on July 4th at 7:56 a.m., P.D.T. The center of our planet will then
be 94,511,927 miles from the center of the sun—3,104,649 miles farther than we were at perihelion (closest to the sun) last Jan. 2nd.
The normally shy Mer-cury makes a good showing in the evening sky for the first three weeks of July. Look for it in the west-northwest, 10 degrees above the horizon 30 minutes after sunset.
Saturn is the brightest star-like object in the south-west sky when darkness falls. The time that Saturn sets in the west changes from 1 a.m. to 11 p.m. during the course of the month.
Jupiter is eye-catching in the east after it rises by 2 a.m.
When dawn starts, its altitude doubles from 25 degrees to 52 degrees as the month proceeds. Jupiter has a cream-yellow hue and is brighter than any star.
Mars appears as a reddish
star visiting Taurus the Bull, well below and to the left of Jupiter, and will appear be-tween 10 and 17 degrees high at 4:30 a.m. this month. The planet is still too distant to show telescopic details.
Venus rises shortly before the sun. It is becoming diffi-cult to see as it gradually draws closer to the sun.
The summer’s best meteor shower will likely be the South delta Aquarid shower, around July 30th coinciding with the second new moon of July. Ten meteors per hour should be ex-pected from the south at about 3 a.m., when observed from a location free of urban light pollution.
[StAR GAZING]
July 2011By Anthony Cook, Griffith Observatory
the summer’s best meteor shower will likely be the South delta Aquarid shower,
around July 30th coinciding with the second new moon of July.
Advertise in the Los Feliz Ledger (323) 667-9897
Los Feliz Ledger
July 2011 www.losfelizledger.com Page 21FAMILY & HEALTH
ProgreEn gaInsightful
Dr. R. Scott Colglazierecognized as one of the nation’s
leading pulpit voices.
His religious leadership and optimisticspiritual work have been featured on
CNN, the Today Show, the CBS Morning
540 South Commonwealth Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90020 • tel. 213.385.1341 • www.FCCLA.orgSenior Minister Dr. R. Scott Colglazier
The Perfect Place foran Elegant Los AngelesWedding
We have a New Yorker
cartoon posted in the kitchen that’s so funny, and remains so pertinent, that it’s kept its place of honor through two moves and three different re-frigerators. In it, a child speaks to his mother, who is doing dishes at the sink:
“I don’t want to do some-thing fun for free, I want to do something fun we pay for.”
My kids are so conditioned by this cartoon that if we’re looking for a way to spend a few hours out of the house and I ask them what they’d like to do, the first thing Luke says to me is, “Does it have to be something free?”
There are plenty of things to do in Los Angeles if you’re willing to plunk down some cash. Go-karting, laser tag, “shopping,” amusement parks or even rides at the Santa Monica Pier are perennial “asks.” But there are a lot of summer days to fill, and not every one of them can include a big bucks excursion.
I thought it might be use-ful to write down my men-tal list of cheap and cheerful things to do with the kids around town this summer. There are a couple of caveats, though. First, museum en-trance fees don’t count.
We need the museums, and they need us. I highly
recommend all families with kids who are toddlers or older get memberships to MOCA, LACMA, the Huntington Botanical Gardens, the Au-try National Center and the LA Zoo. LACMA even has a NextGen program that pro-vides free admission to kids plus one adult per child. Sec-ond, “free” is relative for me; I have included some activities that come in at under $5:
• Biking, scootering or roller skating in Lacy Park
• A short hike in Griffith Park or Elysian Park
• Feeding the ducks and swans in Echo Park Lake (but hurry, because the park will be closed for dredging and rehabilitation after the Lotus Festival July 9-10)
• Swimming at the Glassell Park Recreation Center
• Mini-Golf at the Arroyo Seco Golf Course
• The California Science Center• Kite flying at the Silver Lake
Meadow• Rocket launching on the
open spaces around the Rose Bowl
• Griffith Park Observatory• A sunset picnic at the beach
If you have other fun, low-or-no cost things to do in our area, I’d love to hear them. Please share via email, or in the comments online.
[FAMILy MAttERS]
Summer Fun on a DimeBy Kristen taylor, Ledger Columnist
Before school ended, LCS celebrated its very first student Art Show June 3rd. This show was a spectacular lead into yet another event, the Annual Fi-esta, which was a grand night with exciting silent and live auctions.
Students and teach-
ers were eager to finish up any last projects and final-ize their report cards, but our high-achieving school has prepared us for whatever possible obstacles we stu-dents have to face! Now we are looking forward to the fun-filled summer.
[LARCHMONt CHARtER MIDDLE SCHOOL]
Exciting End to Another yearBy Serena Storm Jamison and Justin A. Gerber, 7th grade
I am the newly elected Student Body President here at Holy Trinity School.
The first official Student Council event is the Student Council Meeting that takes place a few days before school
starts. This event will bring to-gether the Jr. Student Council from the Academy Campus and the Sr. Student Council, from the Preparatory Campus.
I am really looking for-ward to working with such
responsible and hardworking students, as well as going to the 8th grade. I am also looking forward to the many 8th grade events such as the Museum of Tolerance fieldtrip and the field trip to Disneyland. I hope that my class’s 8th grade year will be full of great surprises and bonding during our final days as Holy Trinity Students.
[HOLy tRINIty SCHOOL]
Getting Ready for 8th GradeBy Allen Eguia
Los Feliz Ledger
Page 22 www.losfelizledger.com July 2011EDITORIAL / OPEN MIKE
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Two men have been target-ing clothing stores in Los Feliz using what appear to be stolen or illegitimate credit cards.
Popkiller was hit by the con artist duo last August. A police report including video surveil-lance footage was filed imme-diately. It is unclear when the spree started, but it is clear is that it is active once again.
Over the past six weeks, both Una Mae’s and Cherry Pick Vintage, independent-ly owned clothing stores, have each lost approximately $5,000 worth of merchandise to the scamming pair, who sometimes operate alone, in-dependently of each other. Re-cently, both X-Large and Half Off were targeted, but the mis-sions were unsuccessful
Witnesses describe both men as African American in their early 30s or late 20s. One of the men is considerably darker than the other, with a tattoo on his inner forearm. Both men are well dressed and they consistently use the same approach, conversing with
sales staff, presenting them-selves as friendly personalities, claiming to be stylists for art-ists including rapper/singer-songwriter Nicki Minaj.
They pull various clothing items from racks and hangers, but they don’t try anything on before they attempt to purchase merchandise with a credit card which either doesn’t swipe properly or is immedi-ately declined, at which point they often ask if they can talk to the credit card company on the merchant’s phone in order to try and ensure that the sale is accepted. Generally, they have been known to be-come angry and storm out of a store when their credit card was declined and the store re-fused the sale. On some occa-sions, store employees became flustered or confused and in-advertently approved the sale; or the scammers were able to convince the credit card company by phone to accept the charge on the credit card. Ultimately, though, the stores were left holding the bag when
the charge later throughout the process was deemed stolen.
The pair, who has also been spotted shopping with an African American woman, focus upon men’s clothes, but they have been known to take accessories, women’s clothing and goods including candles.The pair was last seen making a getaway in a silver colored, 4 door, Toyota Corolla.
Being a tightly knit com-munity, local Los Feliz mer-chants have joined forces, warning each other to be on the look out for future poten-tial incidents and reporting to each other about the thefts that have already taken place.
Residents and merchants who witness any suspicious ac-tivity or encounter this pair are encouraged to call the police.
Pamela Chelin is a freelance journalist who lives in Los Fe-liz. She has written for Rolling Stone, the Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly the Associated Press and Hollywood Reporter among other publications.
[EDItORIAL]
Los Feliz Stores targeted by Credit Card ScammersBy Pamela Chelin
On recent Sunday morn-ing, I was walking in my normally clean and beautiful Los Feliz neighborhood. Sud-denly, I was taken back by the amount of “unwanted items” or “junk” had been discarded sidewalks and curb.
Realizing garbage pickup is on Thursday, I realized I would have to look at this “junk” (that was even visible from my liv-ing room window) for the rest of the week. Nonetheless, I just assumed come garbage day, it would be removed.
But garbage day came and went, and the “junk” was still there. In fact, the “junk” re-mained for three weeks until I scheduled a “Bulky Item Pick Up” with the city’s Dept. of Sanitation.
I found it hard to believe, the residents responsible for discarding their unwanted “junk” did not call to sched-ule this special pick up them-selves. Did they just think the “junk” would miraculously disappear on its own?
So, the next time you put that old couch or TV on the curb or sidewalk know this: your act is punishable under California Penal Code 374.3 by a fine up to $10,000. Also, pursuant to Section 117555 of the California health and Safety Code, a person who
dumps illegally is punishable by up to six months on jail. In addition, in August 2005, the County of Los Angeles ad-opted an ordinance that would allow the Sheriff to seize a ve-hicle if it is used in the act of illegal dumping.
Tipsters can also receive $1,000 for offering informa-tion regarding illegal dump-
ing—that leads to an arrest or conviction—by the Los Ange-les Police Dept. in conjunction with the Los Angeles Bureau of Sanitation in their “Ille-gal Dumping Tip Program.” Rewards are not available for anonymous tips.
Denise Franco is a resident of Los Feliz.
[EDItORIAL]
Junk on the Curb Punishable up to $10,000By Denise Franco
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1310 MoHAWK ST. , eCHo pArK $779,000Enjoy living in a newly rehabbed bungalow w/ built-in rental $. 2-on-a-lot duplex features a newly remodeled 3BD/2BA front house, open & modern feel. Tenant-occupied 2BD/1BA back house. 1310mohawk.com
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2220 reServoir, eCHo pArK $739,000Sold in less than two weeks. Call us to find out how we can help you sell your home for top dollar and with maximum market exposure!
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4005 Monroe ST #2, SiLver LAKe $559,000Modern, Architectural 3 level townhouse near Sunset Junc-tion in Silver Lake. 2 Bedrooms, 2.5 Baths w/ bonus studio loft. 4005monroe.com
MATT MorGuS/roB KALLiCK (213) 880-6420
932 CreSTHAven dr, HiGHLAnd pArK $539,000Serene home 3 BD 2 BA up in the hill at the end of a driveway and surrounded by trees, rolling hills and open views. Located in Garvanza, a distinguished neighborhood between Highland Park and Pasadena.
pAoLo FiLippini (323) 660-4100
2500 noTTinGHAM Ave $1,949,0004BR/3BA Single story Ranch on Prime Los Feliz street. Perfect floor plan w/great entertaining spaces. Hardwood floors, top ap-pliances. French doors lead to deck, pool and lawn w/ fruit trees.
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3216 MAderA Ave, ATWATer viLLAGe $469,000Fantastic location blocks away from the heart of Atwater Village. 3 BD, 2 BA bungalow w/ huge yard. Upgraded & remodeled. Spacious master bedroom & bath. Very EZ to see. Call today.
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3614 AMeSBury rd., LoS FeLiz $1,810,0003700 sq ft of newly remodeled space on 2 levels. Head-on views, glorious master w/starlet-sized walk-in. 2 bedrooms up/2 down. Decks & yard. Best price per sq ft. north of the Blvd. www.3614AmesburyRd.com
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514 oLeAnder drive, L.A. 90042 $399,000Come home to a Lush, Tranquil Oasis. 1930’s Cottage full of Warmth & Character. 3BR/2BA. Great Condition. Easy access to York & Colorado Blvd.
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3651 HoLBoro drive, LoS FeLiz $1,575,000Romantic 1928 Mediterranean. Hrdwd flrs. City& hillside views. Very desirable hillside neighborhood. 4BR/3BA+den/office. Great flow for entertaining. Natural light, bright & beautiful. Move in ready. www.3651holboro.com
rAFiK GHAzAriAn (323) 371-1511
6100 roy ST., L.A. 90042 No cookie-cutter renovation here! Large renovated 2BR/1BA Craftsman. New: electrical, plumbing, & kitchen. Updated bath w/ claw-foot tub. Vintage hdwd floors & large yard on a great street.
ALySSA vALenTine & riCHArd WiLKinSon (323) 380-8973
4156 rAnonS Ave., GLASSeLL pArK $689,000Updated, contemporary 3 Bedroom, 2.5 Bath w/ bonus guest house in Glassell Park. 2-car garage w/ yard. Call for more info.
cel (310) 902-1564 off (323) 300-1067See you at the Los Feliz Street Fair
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(310) 927-8646WWW.G2PASS.NEt
2150 Hillhurst Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90027
323.668.7600georgeandeileen.com
4050 Garden Avenue Atwater $489,000Set behind a hedge for privacy, this lovely 2+1 Spanish home oozes w/charm & character. Living rm w/fireplace. Charming kitchen. Large formal dining room. Hardwood floors. Central AC. Copper plumb. Nice front and rear yards. Garage is being used for fabulous gym, but could also be for home office.
1739 Deloz Avenue Los Feliz Franklin Hills $795,000Nicely updated 1960’s 3+2 Mid-Century home with a great vibe. It offers stunning views from the LR, kitchen & deck. The wonderful living rm has a pitched ceiling and fireplace. Hardwood floors. Great windows. Central air & heat. Sec system.Two car garage with direct access. Franklin Elementary. Home Sweet Home.
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1950 Lucile Avenue Silver Lake Hills $1,069,000Stunning 3+2.5 2008 Mediterranean w/views of Hollywood sign & Griffith Park Observatory. LR w/gorgeous fireplace, dark flrs leads to bal¬cony to enjoy the glorious views. Cook’s kitchen Jenn Air frig, Bertazzoni range, Bosch dw. Great master suite with view patio & sumptuous bath. Lovely patio, yard & blt-in BBQ.
1815 San Jacinto Street Silver Lake Hills $795,000Great 3+2.5 Mid-Century with fabulous city views. Nice living room with fireplace & high ceilings opens to view terrace. Kitchen opens to large dining room. Large master suite with private bath and walk-in closet and city lights. Central AC & heat. Hardwood floors. Some yard & patios.
2516 Kenilworth Avenue Silver Lake Hills $1,295,000Walk to the reservoir from this beautifully renovated 5+4 in Moreno Highlands Gorgeous LR w/fireplace leads to a view patio. Updated kitchen & baths. Lovely dining room. Large family room w/great built-ins. Fabulous yard & patio with room for pool and play. Hardwd floors. Central air & heat. Ivanhoe school.
4119 Perlita Avenue #A Atwater $295,000Charming 2+1 condo in a lovely 1940’s Traditional complex surrounded by lush landscaping. Clean spacious unit with hardwood floors, subway tile in bath, formal dining room, crown molding. Two parking spaces. Walk to many great restaurants and shops. Close to public transportation and the 5 freeway.
In Escrow In 9 Days!
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In Escrow
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George & Eileen
1900 Monon Street Los Feliz $695,000Lovely 3+2 Traditional home on a lovely cul-de-sac. Spacious LR. Beautifully remodeled kitchen w/ss appl, skylights & breakfast bar. Master w/private bath. Hrdwd flrs. Central air & heat. Garage w/direct access. Open kitchen & DR leads to fabulous patio surrounded by wonderful planting & a fountain. Franklin Elem.
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4525 Cockerham Drive Los Feliz Hills $1,095,000Influenced by legendary Architect Richard Neutra, this 2+2 Mid-Century is situation on a great lot with room for pool and offers possibilities to expand. Spacious LR w/fireplace, original quality built-ins. Sunny kitchen w/breakfast nook. Large formal dining room. Generous sized rooms and great home office.
For Sale
New Price
In Escrow In 7 Days! In Escrow
3612 Crestmont Ave Silver Lake $595,000Spectacular downtown and city views from this charming 2+2 Craftsman home. Living room with fireplace. The kitchen leads to spacious deck - perfect for dining al fresco. Central air & heat. Hrdwd floors. Separate bonus room, can be perfect for a home office or studio. Street to street lot. Room for possible expansion.
In Escrow
1474 Silver Lake Boulevard Silver Lake $619,000Charming gated 3+2 bath California bungalow in great Silver Lake area close to the lake, shopping, and Sunset Junction. Kitchen with limestone flooring, tile countertops, skylight and newer stainless steel appliances. Master Bedroom & Bath. Dining room leads to enchanting patio and beautifully landscaped backyard.
3796 Griffith View Drive Atwater $559,000 Walking distance to great Atwater Village eateries & shops, A very lovely 3+3 home which was completely renovated & expanded in 2004 with a flexible floor plan that could be divided to use a section for guest quarters, home office or extended family. Nice patio. On a lovely street in beautiful Atwater neighborhood.
In Escrow in 10 Days
1756 Micheltorena Street Silver Lake Hills $499,000A very charming duplex built in 1942 on a huge 15,100 square foot lot with fabulous views. Each 1+1 apartment offers a charming kitchen, dining area, hardwood floor and laundry room. Wonderful terraced garden lot. Three car garage. Great for owner user or investor. Both units will be vacant at escrow close.
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3607 Amesbury Road Los Feliz Hills $839,000Lovingly maintained 3+2.5 Traditional w/Mid-Century feel. Large living room, wet bar, hrdwd floors & original casement windows. Charming kitchen, dining area. Fam rm & din area open out to a nice patio. Master suite w/private bath. Nice views from many rooms. Appx 2451 sq ft + large bonus rm or home office.
Coming Soon
3017 Fall Avenue Silver Lake $795,000 Gated 3+ 2.5 1920’s Spanish w/reservoir vu’s. Enter thru a courtyard into spacious living room that leads to the dining room & den w/views. Kitchen updated w/new cabinets, tops & Bosch appliances. Upstairs bedroom opens to large vu patio. Hrdwd flrs. New roof in 08. Lovely yard & patios.
