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LOOKING AHEADQuail Hill Trail offers thecounty’s best trailheadrestrooms, great trails anda cool cellphone-conductednature tour. Tuesday inSports * Outdoors

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BUSINESS

Ship shapeGwen Stefani’s No Doubtkicks off series of L.A. shows

LIFE

She’s back

NEW YORK ● Tony Stinkmet-al, a many-tattooed EastVillage artist and a fixtureat the Artists and Fleascraft bazaar in Brooklyn,would not strike most peo-ple as a Martha Stewart de-votee.

But after his businesspartner, Keith Bishop,watched a 5 a.m. rerun of a

MarthaStewartprogram onhow to turna castoffmen’s jack-et into athrow blan-ket, he de-

cided to make a similarblanket from discarded“Star Wars” sheets.

From that first blanket,the two men developed Gol-ly NYC, a brand of T-shirtsand lamps created fromvintage children’s sheets(depicting cartoons or su-perheroes) inspired byStewart’s emphasis oncraftsmanship and perfec-

tionism.“The truth is, in my own

little Alphabet City tat-tooed way, I’m uptight, too,and I like to do thingsright,” said Stinkmetal,who changed his name fromMichilini for professionalreasons.

Stewart’s company, Mar-tha Stewart Living Omni-media, has faced some diffi-cult blows lately – substan-tial financial losses and lay-offs and cutbacks at itsmagazines and televisionprograms. But Stewart, the71-year-old founder, hasemerged as something of a

THE MORNING READ

A hip-crowdsegment takes tocrafting but balksat buying, so far.

By CHRISTINE HAUGHNEY

THE NEW YORK TIMES

FRED R CONRAD, THE NEW YORK TIMES

Tony Stinkmetal, left, and Keith Bishop, who say they areinspired by Martha Stewart’s emphasis on exactingcraftsmanship, sell goods made from vintage children’ssheets at a flea-market stand in New York. SEE STEWART ● PAGE 1 0

Stewart

Tattoos meet appliqués in Martha Stewart fandom

Factoryfire killstrappedworkersFire raced through a gar-ment factory in Bangla-desh that supplies majorWestern retailers, killingat least 112 people, many ofwhom were trapped byflames because the eight-story building lackedemergency exits, an offi-cial said Sunday. News 4

STATE

SHORTENED FLIGHT • Asmall aircraft bound forJohn Wayne Airport madean emergency landing on asoccer field at Cal StateNorthridge. No serious in-juries resulted. News 9

GOVERNMENT

COMPROMISE HINT •Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said on a Sunday talkshow that “it’s fair to askmy party to put revenueon the table” as part of thesolution to avoid the loom-ing tax increases andspending cuts known asthe “fiscal cliff.” News 3

WORLD

EGYPT FALLOUT • Cracksemerged in the govern-ment of President Mo-hammed Morsi of Egyptover his decree claimingpower beyond review ofany court. News 4

POLITICS

THE BUZZ • OrangeCounty’s Asian Americansare more likely to registerRepublican than Demo-cratic but appear to havesupported President Oba-ma in the presidentialelection. Local 2

FOCUS ON TRAVEL

GETTING BETTER • Thepercentage of on-timeflights has increased sig-nificantly in recent years,a bit of good news as trav-el concerns rise. News 3

GOVERNMENT

BUS-FARE VOTE • Dou-ble-digit increases in busfares are up for a vote bythe Orange County Trans-portation Authority boardtoday. The agency says itneeds more revenue fromfares to qualify for statefunds. Local 1

EYE ON O.C.

THANKING TROOPS •The East 17th Street com-munity in Costa Mesagathered recently to col-lect supplies for OperationGratitude, a program thatsends packages to U.S.troops. Life 8

When Orange County’sschool districts want to getrid of problem teachers, the

solution isn’t always to firethem.

District officials often al-low educators to resigneven after initiating termi-

nation proceedings againstthem, and sometimes withsettlement payouts totalingthousands of dollars.

The Orange County Reg-ister reviewed 36 cases in-volving county teacherswho resigned or were firedamid misconduct probesover the past five years – in-

cluding one case that ispending – finding thatabout a third of themreached settlement agree-ments with their formeremployers.

In one case, the settle-ment payout amounted tothree-quarters of the teach-er’s annual salary. Experts

say these settlement agree-ments – released to theRegister via a records re-quest – shine a rare spot-light on the uphill legal bat-tle that districts face in fir-ing a teacher, even after dis-tricts make the toughdecision to initiate termina-tion proceedings. News 9

REGISTER INVESTIGATION:SECOND OF TWO PARTS

Problem teachers often paid offEven in cases resulting in criminalcharges, school districts sometimespay out thousands rather than fire.

THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

For many in Orange County, the week-

end after Thanksgiving marks the official

kickoff to the holiday season. Hanging

lights, picking out a tree, or braving the

malls are some of the traditions residents

say help them get into the spirit every year.

From setting up an extravagant light show

to placing wooden cutouts of more than

700 wintry bears, many O.C. residents

spent at least some of their weekend prep-

ping their homes for passers-by. Others

started the season with outings to find and

chop down the perfect tree. Some families

have long-established holiday kickoff tra-

ditions; others are starting theirs. News 10

Some homeowners cap the holiday weekend up on the rooftop.

SAM GANGWER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Amberly Lorenz wires up a line of small Christmas trees along the peak of the family roof in Lake Forest. Her parents, Jim and Shirley Lorenz,started decorating their house the day after Thanksgiving with help from their two daughters.

DECK THE … EVERYTHING!

CINDY YAMANAKA, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Easy Brangwin sets up one of his 700 bears inhis holiday display on Sunday. The monthly light-ing bill for his 30,000 lights runs from $600 to$900. In earlier years, the electricity went out,but now Brangwin has it down to a science.

Celebrating the seasonLight show: The Lorenz andNorris families have extrava-gant light displays, and specta-tors can tune in to 89.7 FM tohear the accompanying music.Those who stop by this displayat 22981 Belquest Drive in LakeForest should bring canned foodto donate for the Second Har-vest Food Bank. Bear display: The Brangwinfamily’s Coca-Cola polar beardisplay features about 700wood cutouts and 30,000 lights.See the extravaganza at 12812Wheeler Place in Santa Ana. Tree farm: Peltzer Pines hasthree locations in Orange Coun-ty where residents can picktheir tree and cut it fresh. TheBrea location is on Rose Drive,just north of Imperial Highway.There are also farms at 7851Blackstar Canyon Road in Silve-rado Canyon and 9000 IrvineCenter Drive in Irvine.

By JAIMEE LYNN FLETCHER

THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

SEC: News DT: 11-26-2012 ZN: 1 ED: 1 PG #: 1 PG: Cover_A BY: wfawthrop TI: 11-25-2012 22:31 CLR: CMYK

News 10 Monday, Nov. 26, 2012 The Orange County Register1

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patron saint for entrepre-neurial hipsters, twenty-and thirtysomethings who,in a post-recessionaryworld, have begun theirown pickling, cupcake andletterpress businesses andare selling crafty goods onsites like Etsy.com.

Pilar Guzman, the editor-in-chief of Martha StewartLiving magazine, said themagazine’s readership hadbecome “the intersectionbetween Colonial Williams-burg and Williamsburg,Brooklyn.”

Many of these newer fansare even skipping the printmagazine entirely. Mar-thaStewart.com, the com-pany’s primary website,counted a 40 percent jumpin traffic among 18- to 34-year-olds every month, yearover year, since January.

The number of women inthat same age group whowatched Martha Stewartvideos rose 172 percent inthe past six months, ac-cording to comScore data.This same demographic ofwomen who viewed MarthaStewart content on smart-phones grew 168.3 percentin the past six months.

In and around the trendyWilliamsburg neighbor-hood of Brooklyn, MarthaStewart has spawned meet-up groups for people whowant to work on crafting,triggered blog items about

her sighting at the BrooklynBowl rock club, ignitedsales of her books at theBrooklyn Kitchen cookshop and inspired displaysin the shop window of Ur-ban Rustic, a market andcafe.

Beyond Williamsburg,Stewart has drawn craftingand baking fans from Sara-toga Springs to San Fran-cisco who have made Mar-thaStewart.com the most-shared site among its com-petitors on the social sitePinterest.

While some MarthaStewart fans abandonedtheir magazine subscrip-tions and Stewart’s high-thread-count sheets aftershe went to prison in 2004for lying to federal investi-gators about a stock sale,this new generation of Mar-tha Stewart fans say herprison time only gives hermore street credibility.

“She’s such a Suzy home-maker and also did sometime in the joint,” said LuisIllades, an owner of UrbanRustic, where some ofStewart’s store-boughtdecorations appeared.“That has helped cementher iconic image. Before,she was someone yourmother would follow.”

Stewart has respondedto this growing fan base byfeaturing more of these en-trepreneurs in her maga-zine, like the custom Ma-niac Pumpkin Carvers from

Brooklyn and the Bee ManCandle Co. from Canastota,N.Y. Last month, she hosteda conference at Grand Cen-tral Terminal called Ameri-can Made to honor youngentrepreneurs, and shesponsored a contest for stu-dents from the School of Vi-sual Arts to promote theirbusinesses.

The winner, designer of a

portable pierogi stand, re-ceived a $5,000 cash prizeand one year of mentoringfrom her company’s chiefexecutive, Lisa Gersh.Stewart also collaboratedon the event with Etsy, thee-commerce site for craftentrepreneurs, and invitedits artisans to sell wares ather conference.

“I hope that I’m a teacher

and encourager and men-tor,” Stewart said about herrelationships with theseyounger fans. “Small busi-nesses need boosting.”

David Bank, an equity re-search analyst with RBCCapital Markets, comparesStewart’s business withthat of Hugh Hefner, whowas able to revive the pop-ularity of Playboy withyounger readers. “Is shelike the hipster women’sHef?” asked Bank. “It de-fines an entirely new audi-ence with a new life cycle.”

Despite all of this encour-aging news, Stewart’s com-pany still has not figuredout how to make these loyalfans lift her company out ofits deep financial troubles,no matter how many costsare cut. In advance of itsthird-quarter earnings,Martha Stewart Living Om-nimedia announced that itwould cut back two of itsfour magazines and lay offabout 70 employees, or 12percent of the nearly 600-person company.

This year, the companycut $12.5 million in broad-casting costs by not renew-ing its daily programmingdeal with the HallmarkChannel, breaking its leaseon its production studio andending its live audience for“The Martha StewartShow.” Bank said that thecompany must figure outhow to sell to the trendy, notjust inspire them.

“The real opportunity is,‘Will they go to Macy’s orJ.C. Penney and buy herbed sheets and her flat-ware?’ You’ve got to useflatware, even in Williams-burg. That’s where themoney is really made,”Bank said. “Who cares ifshe’s popular if you can’tmonetize it?”

Julia B. Farill, owner ofthe letterpress companyRed Bird Ink who was sell-ing her stationery at Stew-art’s conference last month,said that while women ofStewart’s generation, likeHillary Rodham Clintonand Madeleine Albright,have succeeded in the pub-lic sector, Stewart was oneof the few successful busi-nesswomen of her time.

“She’s an example of astrong woman who hasdone amazing things withher life. That’s kind of rarefor her generation,” Farillsaid.

But there’s still a gap be-tween Stewart and heryounger, tattooed, craft-loving crowd. When askedwhether she would evershare her fans’ love of tat-toos – some of which depictStewart – she bristled andwarned how bad they lookas people grow older.

“I don’t think they haveto go quite that far,” shesaid. “They could put em-broidery on their jacket.They could silk-screen a T-shirt.”

STEWART: Young adults behind icon’s booming Web trafficFROM PAG E 1

ANDREW BURTON, THE NEW YORK TIMES

Martha Stewart is shown hosting a conference to honoryoung entrepreneurs at Grand Central Terminal in NewYork on Oct. 18. Stewart’s focus on artisanal productshas attracted a cult following among young adults.

Decorating the home,shopping the sales andpicking the perfect tree areall signs the holidays are infull swing, and, for many inOrange County, the week-end after Thanksgivingmarks the season’s officialkickoff.

Around the county Sun-day, trees were strapped tothe top of SUVs, and someresidents were in theiryards untangling lights andplacing cutouts of Christ-mas figurines on theirlawns.

While some may wait un-til the turkey is fully diges-ted before setting theirsights on Christmas, othershave been planning theirdisplays nearly all yearlong.

Jim Lorenz of Lake For-est is one of those year-round planners.

He starts tending tothose parts of his displaythat need repairs or newadditions in the summer.

“We try to spread it outthroughout the year,” hesaid. “It’s work putting itup, but it’s not too hard.”

His extravagant blink-ing-light display takesabout a week to set up, andSunday he was putting onthe finishing touches. The

display features a PreciousMoments Nativity scene,several Christmas treesmade of lights and a rooftopcovered with blinking lightsset in perfect rows.

This is the sixth year Lo-renz has created the dis-play. He used to decoratewith a simple strand oflights lining his roof, but ex-panded to something moreextravagant to start a holi-day tradition with his wife,Shirley, and his daughtersAmberly, 22, and Felicity, 17.

“This is a family projectfor us so we can share ourfaith and the birth ofChrist,” he said.

His neighbor, Bob Norris,had a display the Lorenzfamily admired, and the twopartnered to create a lightshow that blinks in sync to

holiday songs including“Sleigh Ride” and “Carol ofthe Bells.”

The Lorenz family asksthose who see their lights todonate to the Second Har-vest Food Bank. They alsopass out candy to childrenwho stand on the sidewalkand watch the display.

Every year, dozens ofpeople park in their cars towatch the 20-minute show.

Easy Brangwin in SantaAna also puts up a displaythat draws a crowd.

His features wood cut-outs of the Coca-Cola polarbear – about 700 of themaccented with 30,000lights.

Bears hang from trees,skate on a pond made ofblue lights and plywood,and huddle on his roof

above a “Merry Christmas”sign.

Brangwin, a general con-tractor, said his displaystarted 15 years ago withfive bears. It was, he said, away to tease his sister-in-law, a Pepsi devotee. Her ir-ritation at the initial Coca-Cola display promptedBrangwin to do more.

The following year, 20bears welcomed his sister-in-law to their home.

“I guess you could say Igot obsessed,” Brangwinsaid. “Every year I try toadd something major.”

This year’s addition isabout 60 new bears, includ-ing some playing basket-ball.

Brangwin spends nearlyall year cutting and paint-ing the bears white. He

carves wood that he recy-cles from cabinets, roofs,countertops and fences.

Each bear is a unique,and every one wears a hat.The faces are painted byneighborhood children sothey all have individualcharacter.

“If some of them look likethe face was painted on by a5-year-old, that’s because itwas,” he said.

Brangwin’s display takesabout 10 days to set up, andhe hopes to have it ready bySunday.

“All year long I think ofnew bears,” he said. “Itreally brings a lot of enjoy-ment to the neighborhood.”

Not everyone in OrangeCounty embarks on week-long lighting projects intheir yards. Many focus onthe interior of their homeand on finding the perfectcenterpiece – the holidaytree.

Peltzer Pines in Brea wasabuzz Sunday morningwith families browsingthrough the maze of pinetrees.

Here customers can cut4-year-old trees, fresh. TheBrea site is one of three sim-ilar locations in OrangeCounty owned by the Peltz-er family.

The Sansone family ofFullerton said they havebeen coming to the farm onthe weekend after Thanks-giving for 10 years.

Abby, 9, and Matt, 11,darted away from their par-ents’ view, grabbing atbranches and circling pro-spective trees to be surethey’d be good for decorat-ing.

Every few minutes, Jill

Sansone called out to findher children.

“It’s easier now thatthey’re older,” she said. “Be-fore, when they were little,we’d lose them in here.”

The Ochsner family alsocame from Fullerton to pickout a tree.

“We’ve been coming tothis farm for a few years,”said Ron Ochsner. “We ac-tually came out a little earli-er this year to maximize theenjoyment of the holidays.”Ochsner said that cuttingtheir own tree reminds hisfamily of where they used tolive in Washington state,minus the biting temper-atures and gusty winds.

“We used to do this in theNorthwest,” he said. “Welike getting a fresh tree be-cause they last longer, andwe like to support the localcommunity.”

Owner Chuck Peltzersaid nostalgia might be partof what makes his farm pop-ular.

“You’re coming to a farmand doing it the traditionalway,” he said.

The Chan family of ChinoHills will buy their very firstreal tree this year and wantto get it from the farm.They said they want to starta holiday tradition withtheir 3-year-old son, Kai.

“We’re in a new house,and now we have the spacefor a tree,” Sherri Chansaid.

“We’ve always had smallartificial trees placedthroughout our condo. Thisis a big year for us.”

Lights, action: It’s Christmastime in O.C.Outside, intricate

displays serve as neighborhood

attractions;inside, a perfect

tree sets the tone.By JAIMEE LYNN

FLETCHER

THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

EUGENE GARCIA, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTERKai Chan perches on the shoulders of his dad, John, as they search for the family’sfirst real Christmas tree at Peltzer Pines in Brea on Sunday.

CONTACT THE WRITER:

7 1 4-796-7953 or

jfletcher@ocregister.com

SEC: News DT: 11-26-2012 ZN: 1 ED: 1 PG #: 10 PG: Cal_A BY: wfawthrop TI: 11-25-2012 20:39 CLR: CMYK