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By Erik Derr Ledger Contributing Writer By Erik Derr Ledger Contributing Writer The committee’s decision came after GGPNC President Ron Ostrow had the grievances reviewed by the city attorney who determined none posed a legal liability for the GGPNC. August 2011 of professionals,” said John Forrester, who along with Community News: Marian Dodge honored at HPOZ Dedication Ceremony, page 4 Vol 7. No. 2 School News: OMGC’s New Principal, Allison Essman, page 19 see STREET FAIR page 13TRANSCRIPT
Vol 7. No. 2 August 2011
Los Feliz LedgerRead by 100,000+ Residents and Business Owners in Los Feliz, Silver Lake,
Atwater Village & Hollywood Hills
THE PLEASURE OF A COOL FOUNTAIN ON A HOT DAY: An unidentified woman and a child enjoy cooling off at the Mulholland Fountain on Los Feliz Boulevard. Photo credit: Alex Pinon.
Los Feliz Ledger
People In My Neighborhood: Amy Craik (right) forms club to help homeless teens, page 10
Community News: Marian Dodge honored at HPOZ Dedication Ceremony, page 4
School News: OMGC’s New Principal, Allison Essman, page 19
Eastside Eye: Miranda July’s “The Future” is explained, page 17
Focus on the Advertiser: Belmont Village featured, page 7
Recent College Tuition Hikes Hurt But Not a DeterrentBy Erik DerrLedger Contributing Writer
Recent tuition hikes at the University of California and California State University campuses are not enough to discourage some of this year’s incoming freshmen, but have created more financial hard-ship, so say students and edu-cators in the Los Feliz area.
In July, the UC Board of Regents approved a 9.6% tu-ition hike effective this fall, on top of an 8% hike approved last November. The Califor-nia State University Board of Trustees also in July, approved a 12% tuition increase, also on top of an already approved
see TUITION page 22
see STREET FAIR page 13
see GGPNC page 18
Vol 7. No. 2 August 2011Read by 100,000+ Residents and Business Owners in Los Feliz, Silver Lake,
Atwater Village, Echo Park & Hollywood Hills
GGPNC Executive BoardDismisses GrievancesBy Erik DerrLedger Contributing Writer
GRIFFITH PARK—The execu-tive committee for the Greater Griffith Park Neighborhood Council (GGPNC) voted unanimously in July to dis-miss three grievances lodged against the council for alleg-edly violating state open meet-ings laws, saying the com-plaints lacked “merit.”
The committee’s decision came after GGPNC President Ron Ostrow had the griev-ances reviewed by the city at-torney who determined none posed a legal liability for the GGPNC.
Only one grievance, deal-ing with an outdated public notice posting, according to Ostrow, was found in viola-tion of the Brown Act.
In response to the dis-missal, Tor Hyams, who au-thored two of the grievances and is the council’s former vice-president of administra-tion, said he may appeal the decision to the city’s Depart-ment of Neighborhood Em-powerment, which oversees all neighborhood councils.
The executive committee’s findings, said Hyams, is “what I expected… That’s for me a real shame.”
The one issue that was found in violation dealt with an accidental posting of a year-old meeting notice, for
SILVER LAKE—The Sun-set Junction Street Fair still owes the city of Los Angeles $267,683 for their 2010 event, and this month’s event—scheduled for Aug. 27th and 28th—is in jeopardy of being cancelled if event organizers cannot pay their outstanding balance, according to Julie Wong, communications direc-tor for Los Angeles City Coun-cil President Eric Garcetti. Ac-cording to Wong, she expects Garcetti will try and block this year’s event until organiz-ers have settled last year’s bill.
Karen Sundell, a spokes-person for the street fair, said the front office declined to comment on the debt issue. She added, however that the event’s organizer, Micheal McKinley, has staged the fair “for the last
31 years and has a lot of pas-sion” for the fair, which has, in turn, developed extensive goodwill in the community.
“It would be a real shame,” Sundell said, if the street fair were “kept from going for-ward.”
The Silver Lake Neigh-borhood Council (SLNC) ap-proved a motion at their July meeting to indeed ask city of-ficials to withhold issuing any permits to Sunset Junction or-ganizers for this year’s event un-til the bill was paid and it had proof it had enough money to fund this year’s projected costs.
“I think it’s now officially disgusting if [Sunset Junction Street Fair’s owner] is allowed to do this,” without paying, said SLNC councilmember Paul Neuman.
Sunset Junction Owes $260K to City for 2010 Festival2011 Festival in JeopardyBy Erik Derr, Ledger Contributing Writer
The committee’s decision came after GGPNC President Ron Ostrow had the grievances reviewed by the city attorney who determined none posed a legal liability for the GGPNC.
HOLLYWOOD BLVD—The 18th annual Los Feliz Village Street Fair was a success July 24th after can-cellation in 2009 and being nearly insignificant in 2010, due to lack of vendors and at-tendees.
Some 20,000 attended this year’s festival, held for the first time on Holly-wood Boulevard. Another 200 vendors were on hand, as well as schools, commu-nity organizations and about a dozen food vendors.
“We were humbled to have worked with such an incredible team
of professionals,” said John Forrester, who along with
Street Fair Judged A Success By Erik Derr, Ledger Contributing Writer
Rob Crites of Hollywood entertains the thousands that attended the annual Los Feliz Village Street Fair, Sunday, July 24th.
Phot
o cre
dit:
Alex
Pin
on.
Los Feliz Ledger
Page 2 www.losfelizledger.com August 2011
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[LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER]
Contrary to reports that n e w s p a p e r readership is declining, a
report from 2010 on Media-PostNews suggests that the number of readers-per-copy of newspapers has actually been increasing in recent years.
According to a study con-ducted by the Scarborough Research and the Newspaper National Network, over the past three years, the number of readers-per-copy has ris-en 7.5% to an average of 3.3
adults per household. What this means is that
more and more, a newspaper is passed along among multiple members of one household. This is certainly the case in my own household as we all read the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, and of course, the Los Feliz Ledger.
While we print and dis-tribute 34,500 copies of the Ledger each month, this means we have potentially 100,000+ readers. We have reflected this change in our nameplate.
Corrections & AmplificationsDue to editing errors, a number of typos were introduced into our August 2011 editorial “Junk on the Curbside Punishable up to $10,000,” by Los Feliz resident Denise Franco.
We regret these errors.
Los Feliz Ledger
August 2011 www.losfelizledger.com Page 3COMMUNITY NEWS
Echo Park NCConsiders Forum on Proposed DWP Rate HikesBy Erik DerrLedger Contributing Writer
ECHO PARK—Another pub-lic storm over proposed rate increases by the Los Angeles Dept. of Water and Power (DWP) is expected to pass over the city soon and hit the Greater Echo Park Elysian Neighborhood Council (GE-PENC) this month.
The council last month tabled a discussion of the util-ity’s recently-announced rate increase plans and said topic would likely be taken up at its regular meeting in August.
GEPENC president Jose Sigala said the council is con-sidering organizing a commu-nity forum on the issue, in-cluding presentations from the DWP and city representatives.
DWP officials want an overall water rate boost, for residential and business cus-tomers, of an average 5.1% annually, for a total of 15.3% over three years. Energy would see an average 5.6% rise annu-ally, or about 16.8% over the next three years.
The increases would mean an average consumer would pay about $2.24 more annu-ally for water, $4.04 annually for power—or, over the pro-posed three-year term, a total of about $6.72 and $12.12 re-spectively.
eltres_jan_ledger_121610
The Atwater Village Neighbor-hood Council has scheduled its annual Fall Festival—when local businesses open their doors to school-aged, costumed visitors and their families—for Oct. 28th, from 4 to 6 p.m.
Early October is also when the council will landscape with drought-resistant plants, the Glendale Drive medians. The
project won $2,500 in funding through “Clean and Connect-ed Communities,” a beautifi-cation initiative administered through L.A. City Council President Eric Garcetti’s office.
Also the council has re-ceived a $2,500 grant for a community clean-up spear-headed by the Friends of At-water Village, also for this fall.
During the council’s July meeting, members were up-dated on the California High Speed Rail Project, for which planners have proposed using existing tracks that run along-side I-5, through Atwater Vil-lage. When fully functional, the electric-propelled line between Los Angeles and San Francisco will reach speeds up to 220 mph and take an estimated two hours and 40 minutes one way.
“I want the AVNC to be
a part of the decision-making process,” said council member Alex Ventura.
Currently in the develop-ment stage of its environmen-tal impact review, the rail proj-ect is expected to accept input from government officials, community representatives and individual stakeholders before plans are finalized and construction—expected to be at least $45 billion—starts in August of next year.
AVNC Plans Fall Projects By Erik Derr, Ledger Contributing Writer
DWP Said It Will Rethink Pipeline Displacing Grassy KnollBy Erik DerrLedger Contributing Writer
SILVER LAKE—Weeks after red paint marks suddenly ap-peared on several sycamore trees next to the Silver Lake Reservoir and alarmed resi-dents started an effort to save the trees from removal, the Los Angeles Dept. of Water and Power (LADWP) said it’s rethinking the water-routing project that would jeopardize the trees.
Before the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council’s Res-ervoir Complex Committee and 60 or so other members of the public, Glenn Singley, the utility’s director of water en-gineering, unveiled a second, more tree-friendly proposal for the water pipeline and
see GRASSY KNOLL page 20
Los Feliz Ledger
Page 4 www.losfelizledger.com August 2011COMMUNITY NEWS
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A Birthday Present for Marian Dodge By Michael Locke, Ledger Contributing Writer
A surprise birthday party was held for Los Feliz commu-nity activist Marian Dodge as part of the celebration mark-ing the Hollywood Grove as one of Los Angeles’ newest historic preservation overlay zone (HPOZ) districts.
Dodge became active in
the Los Feliz Historic Survey and History Committee, iden-tifying the Hollywood Grove as a potential HPOZ around 1990. Her willingness to act upon the many follow through efforts, such as getting the sur-vey printed, never let up. A retired Marshall High School teacher, Dodge rose through the ranks of leadership in the Los Feliz Improvement Asso-ciation (LFIA), becoming the organization’s president.
Through the years, she has been an advocate for issues affecting Griffith Park, and helped to establish Friends of Griffith Park; she is currently president of the Hillside Fed-eration representing neighbor-hood groups in lobbying City Hall. Five years ago, Dodge met Scott Larson, Homeown-er Representative of Holly-wood United Neighborhood Council (HUNC) to review the larger HPOZ proposed for Los Feliz. The two moved for-
ward with the neighborhood most directly threatened by development in Hollywood—hence Hollywood Grove.
With support from the neighborhood, HUNC, the LFIA, the Oaks Homeowners Association and Los Angeles City Councilmember Tom LaBonge, success was finally achieved. The group acknowl-edged Dodge’s leadership at the Hollywood Grove Dedica-tion Ceremony held on Satur-day, July 16th.
LOS FELIZ—The Greater Griffith Park Neighborhood Council approved up to $950 for biodegradable balloons and other supplies to be used at this year’s Los Feliz Village Street Fair, even though the topic set off a debate amongst board members that the give-away item was not environ-mentally friendly.
Tomas O’Grady, one of Los Feliz’s more outspoken green living activists, said he couldn’t fathom how the council could spend time, energy and funding on other green initiatives, but then buy something so ecologically un-friendly as balloons.
“If we aren’t really com-mitted to being green, then just tell me now,” he said. “I’m insulted. I really am.”
Also opposed to the bal-loon giveaway was Leslie Van Keuren Campbell, a mem-ber of the GGPNC’s “Green Committee.”
“A balloon is going to fly in the air, going to burst, it becomes a danger to fish and birds,” she said.
The balloons, ordered by the newly installed chair of the GGPNC’s outreach com-mittee, Dan McCarthy, said the balloons were the most ex-pedient way the GGPNC had to offer outreach at the fair.
The council, at the same meeting, also voted to support state Senate Bill 568, calling for a ban on polystyrene food containers; another that di-rects the GGPNC to only use 100% post-consumer recycled paper when printing agendas
and supplemental materials; and one that supports an ordi-nance restricting the distribu-tion of single-use plastic bags in the City or Los Angeles.
“There will be millions of dog owners wondering… what they’re going to do now,” said council member Nelson Bae.
Balloon Giveaway Sparks GGPNC DebateBy Erik Derr, Ledger Contributing Writer
Los Feliz Ledger
August 2011 www.losfelizledger.com Page 5COMMUNITY NEWS
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Atwater History Now In Print
The Friends of Atwater Village (FAV), along with Arcadia Publishing, have announced the publication of Images of America Atwater Village.
There will be a fund-raiser and book signing event for the publication on Aug. 25th, hosted by Alias Books, 3163 Glendale Blvd., during summer Atwater’s “Summer Nights on the Boulevard,” 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Other events include a book signing at Pot-Ted, 3158 Los Feliz Blvd. Sept. 15th, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. and on Sept. 27th, a presentation, fundraiser and book signing at the Atwater Village Branch Library, 3379 Glendale Blvd., 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Books are also available at Luis Lopez Automotive, 2751 Fletcher Dr.; Speed Co Fax & Pack, 3371 Glendale Blvd. and Vince’s Market, 3250 Silver Lake Blvd.
The book is also available by mail order for a donation of $21.99 per book plus $5 (up to five books) shipping & han-dling.
Info: (323) 913-2999 or [email protected]
Atwater’s LastSummer Night on the Blvd. Set for Aug. 25th
The Atwater Village Neighbor-hood Council (AVNC) and the Atwater Village Cham-ber of Commerce will pres-ent their last “Summer Nights on the Boulevard,” Aug. 25th from 5-10pm.
During the event—which has been held the last Thurs-day of the month since June—businesses on Glendale Blvd. stay open later. Art and music are also available.
Earlier during the summer series, the “Art on the Bou-levard Art” competition was hosted by Santosha Space and Hypnotiq Solutions and show-cased works created in the Hyp-noArt Workshops and artwork by Los Angeles-based artists.
The July competition was judged by Betsy M. Hall of the Los Feliz Ledger, Kumbi Butler of Heartbeat House, Kyle Mc-Gough and Alex Ventura of Ventura and Sons Masonry.
“Art on the Boulevard” is accepting submissions for the August competition www.ar-tontheblvd.com.
Info: www.summernight-sontheboulevard.com
9-4 GGPNC Supports New Scientology Center on HillhurstBy Erik DerrLedger Contributing Writer
Despite voting to reject the project a month before, the Greater Griffith Park Neigh-borhood Council (GGPNC) agreed, 9-4 in July to support a proposed Church of Scientol-ogy center at the corner of Hill-hurst Ave. and Avocado Street after designers shifted the de-velopment’s vehicle access from Avocado to Hillhurst.
The proposed two-story, 5,143 square-foot building at 2131 N. Hillhurst Ave. that would serve as a new center for the church—will replace the ex-isting Scientology Mission loca-tion at 1934 N. Hillhurst Ave.
The church will need a conditional use permit for the project, as the long-vacant site of the planned center includes one parcel zoned for commer-cial use and two for residential.
Local Scientology leaders sought the blessing of the ad-visory neighborhood council before appearing before city zoning officials.
Los Feliz Ledger
Page 6 www.losfelizledger.com August 2011COMMUNITY NEWS
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“What a relief!” Carla DeGovia of North Gramercy Place admitted when she gath-ered with neighbors July 16th to celebrate acceptance by the Los Angeles City Council of her neighborhood as a historic district. “No more demolished bungalows!”
In the new Hollywood Grove HPOZ, between Can-yon Drive and Western Av-enue, from Franklin Avenue north to Foothill Drive, the good life of a single family home neighborhood appears secured. Block after block, one relatively flat street after the other, Hollywood Grove seems frozen in time.
There was reason for doubt that it would remain so. Redevelopment is un-derway on the south side of Franklin, and commercial development around Bron-son and Canyon Drives was at the back door. Five years ago, when the Holly-wood United Neighborhood Council suggested a historic preservation overlay zone to allow review of residents’ proposed structural altera-tions, Scott Larson of Can-yon Drive, and the Neigh-borhood Council, took the lead. Reviewing HPOZ “how to” manuals provided by Los Feliz Improvement Association representative Marian Dodge, Larson con-tacted the City of Los Ange-les’ Dept. of City Planning.
“One hurdle after an-other presented itself,” he told the neighborhood gath-ering, which took place in
the back yard of the home he shares with his wife Gwyn and their daughter Johanna. Because of shrinking bud-gets, he was told that years would pass before a historic district proposal could reach the City Council. To Larson, with a background in law, public relations and hospital administration, the situation called for action.
“He reminded me of a ferocious defensive back,” City Councilmember Tom LaBonge said in his remarks to the neighborhood group. Larson brought allies in the community to LaBonge’s City Hall office and Larson’s deter-mination resonated.
“Tom [LaBonge] walked us through the appropriate city departments,” Larson said. “’Make it happen’ he told them.” The councilmember found a portion of the fund-ing needed within city coffers to contract with historic sur-vey consultants ICF Jones & Stokes, and Hollywood Grove neighbors pitched in with the remainder.
In the end, 139 properties were profiled. Of those, over three-fourths had the attri-butes of the era in which they were built. Seventy percent of homeowners signed petitions supporting the HPOZ. With research and public support behind them, Larson and LaBonge had the ammuni-tion needed to alert the once reluctant Planning Depart-ment. The motion to create the district sailed through the City Council.
[CITY SLEUTH]
New Historic District UnveiledBy Diane Kanner, Ledger Columnist
Los Feliz Ledger
August 2011 www.losfelizledger.com Page 7COMMUNITY NEWS
HOLLYWOOD—Belmont Vil-lage is a senior living facility centrally located adjacent to the Hollywood Bowl. The fa-cility was built in 2001 with every comfort for seniors and visiting families in mind.
“I lived in Park La Brea, but I was still kind of lone-some,” said Joy Gray, 82. “Here, there’s always some-thing going on. . .physical ex-ercises every day, and the food is incredible.”
Some current and former residents of Belmont Village are honored in “American Heroes Portraits of Service,” a gallery of portraits at the center.
From women who served in the USO—to men who battled in the Pacific and Europe—the World War II veterans, each holding a time-honored artifact or photo of themselves present their indi-vidual story of valor and ac-complishment. It’s the kind of spirit at Belmont Village that draws in and brings comfort to residents.
“I didn’t expect to be here after being very active
throughout my life in the act-ing and teaching world, but I’m getting more into it,” said Freddie Sands Salerno, 84. “I love the people here and get-ting to know friends and painting, which is something I didn’t know I could do.”
Along with a myriad of activities and services, Bel-mont Village offers the “Circle of Friends” program tailored to meet the needs of those ex-periencing mild cognitive im-pairment.
Residents in the program enjoy mental and physical fitness exercises along with ability-centered activities in a group setting. The program promotes mind and body fit-ness, and strengthens self-es-teem and confidence.
“Knowing that she has ac-tivity during the day is much nicer for me,” said Darcy Vebber of Hancock Park who helped her mother, Ann Evans, 95, move into Belmont Vil-lage about a year ago. “Once she settled into the routine I find she is so much calmer and happier and definitely less lonely now.”
[FOCUS ON THE ADVERTISER]
Belmont Village: Bringing Out the Best By Kimberly Gomez, Ledger Contributing Writer
Belmont Village Tai Chi class.
SUNSET BOULEVARD—Af-ter months of training and preparation, doctors, nurses and staff at Childrens Hospi-tal Los Angeles moved more than 200 inpatients into its new $636 million Marion & John E. Anderson Pavilion July 17th.
All patients that were cur-rently admitted to the hospi-
tal—from the babies in the Newborn & Infant Critical Care Unit (NICCU) to teen-agers in the Center for Cancer and Blood Diseases—were transferred to their new rooms.
Also moved was the Emer-gency Department, which closed its existing location while opening its new location in the Anderson Pavilion.
Patients Moved to New Childrens Hospital Building
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Los Feliz Ledger
Page 8 www.losfelizledger.com August 2011POLITICS
[MIKE GATTO]
Reform to Ballot Box BudgetingBy Assemblymember Mike Gatto
Voters of-ten must rely on 15-second sound bites as they consider ballot measures
that make fundamental chang-es to the state constitution.
I have amended my AB 65 to require disclosure when a ballot initiative seeks to irrevo-cably dedicate taxpayer dollars to one program forever.
Imagine a monthly house-hold budget of $3,000: $1,500 goes to rent, $500 to car insur-ance and gas, $500 on food, and $500 on entertainment. Now imagine living with a rule that the $500 entertainment budget could never, ever, be spent on anything else. It would be pretty upsetting if someone broke their leg during the month and could only go to the movies, not the hospital!
This is no way to run a household and or govern-ment. When large percentages of our taxpayer dollars are “spo-ken for,” there is little flexibility during tough budget times.
We need flexibility to adeptly configure our budget spending for an imminent crisis, a current need, or a future technology. And it is important voters are warned when they are about to vote on spending tax dollars for a bal-lot initiative that could very well exist forever.
Mike Gatto is the Assistant Speaker Pro Tempore of the California State Assembly. He represents the cities of Burbank, Glendale, and parts of Los Angeles, including Los Feliz, North Hollywood, Silver Lake, Toluca Lake, Valley Glen, and Van Nuys. He has served in the Assembly since June 2010.
[ERIC GARCETTI]
New Plaza Coming to Sunset JunctionBy Eric GarcettiLA City Council President
The Silver Lake com-munity has selected the local “All That is Solid” design team
as the winner of the Sunset Junction Streetscape Compe-tition. The team’s design for a permanent art installation will be built as part of the new $1.5 million community plaza, located at Sunset and Santa Monica boulevards—that will begin construction in 2012.
The Silver Lake Neighbor-hood Council and other Silver Lake organizations and com-munity leaders appointed a competition jury of architects, artists and local stakeholders who reviewed more than 50 design submissions. The jury selected five finalists who were invited to present their ideas at a meeting for Silver Lake stakeholders. At the end of the meeting, stakeholders voted and selected “All That is Solid,” a team comprised of Danielle Wagner, Alex Chew, Max Kuo, and Heather McGinn.
Criteria for the designs included sustainability, ease of maintenance, pedestrian circulation, bicycle racks, seating, use of shade trees, and the design’s relevance to Silver Lake and Sunset Junc-tion’s culture and history. Construction on the project was originally slated to begin at the end of this year, but the process was temporarily halted to accommodate the commu-nity’s interest in adding a com-munity-driven installation as part of the improvements. Preparations for construction are now back on track and we will likely break ground early next spring.
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[GREETINGS FROM TOM]
18 Goals for Griffith ParkBy LA City Councilmember Tom LaBonge
August heat means we’re entering the wildfire sea-son. Make sure you’re in
compliance with city brush clearance regulations. A wet-ter rainy season means more growth and more fuel for wildfires. Find out more about preventing wildfires at www.lafd.org/brush.
Work continues on the Lower Reach of the Dept. of Water and Power’s River Sup-ply Conduit Improvement Project in the Silver Lake area. Crews will begin working on Glendale Boulevard and West Silver Lake Drive. For infor-mation: date at www.ladwp.com/rcs4.
My colleagues and I on the City Council have ap-proved construction of a $29 million dollar LAPD station in Atwater that will replace a temporary station. The new 45,000 square-foot facility will serve as headquarters for the Northeast Divsion, patrol-ling a 29 square-mile area and serving about a quarter mil-lion residents, including Los Feliz and Silver Lake. Con-struction begins next summer.
At a recent meeting of the Griffith Park Resource Board, where we discussed all things relating to Griffith Park, I shared my objectives for Griffith Park over the next few years. I laid-out 18 goals for the park that you can see on my website www.tomlabonge.com.
The Los Angeles Public Li-brary system has now restored Monday hours to all libraries in the City. Many thanks to the voters of Los Angeles, who approved Measure L, which guarantees more money from the city’s General Fund to pay for library services.
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Los Feliz Ledger
Page 10 www.losfelizledger.com August 2011COMMUNITY NEWS
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NOURMAND & ASSOCIATES6525 Sunset Boulevard, 8th floorLos Angeles, Cal i fornia 90028tel: 323.462.6262www.Nourmand.comThree Off ices. One Respected Name.
Howard LoreyBrokerage Manager
direct:
323-462-6262
email:
Local ly owned and operated s ince 1976.
2460 Meadow Valley Ter. - $1,549,000
Silver Lake. Restored & preserved w/au-thenticity, 1930’s Spanish 3BR/3BA, 3900 sf., FDR, library, media rm, grmt kit, 2 FP’s. more photos at www.elenajovis.com.
Elena Jovis 310.866.7385
ACTIVE
2 East 55th St. - $300,000
Manhattan, NY. Deluxe suite, 1BR/1BA, 1/12 fractional ownership. Close to Central Park, Broadway & museums.
Robert Mobley 323.462.6262 917.549.8767
ACTIVE
2661 Aberdeen Ave. - $2,495,000
Los Feliz. Mid-Century modern renovat-ed by Stephen Moore. 4500 sf. home, 5BR/4.5BA. Indoor/outdoor living area and pool. Large private master.
Judy Feder 310.888.3345
LOOKING FOR BACKUP
5747 Briarcliff Rd. - $1,099,000
Los Feliz Oaks. Modern 3BR, 3BA + fam-ily rm. 2 FP’s. Updated kitchen, living rm, dining rm. Terrace and flat grassy yard. more photos at www.elenajovis.com.
Elena Jovis 310.866.7385
IN ESCROW
1508 W. Fair Park Ave. - $399,000
Eagle Rock. Amazing opportunity, Cosmetic fixer. 2BR + den, 2BA, plus huge family rm w/fireplace. Hrdwd flrs, 2-car detached garage, and a pool.
Erika Chaumontet 323.447.1984
ACTIVE
118 & 124 N. Bonnie Brae St. - $769,000
Echo Park. 4-plex. Rare opportunity to own a one of kind compound. Crafts-man & Mid-Century, 3 units w/2+1 & 1 unit w/1+1. 3 units vacant at COE.
Linda Chamberlain 323.828.7269
ACTIVE
4303 Ambrose Ave. - $749,000
Los Feliz. 1930’s Spanish w/character galore! Renovated kitchen & baths, barrel ceilings, French windows & drs, FP, decks & California desert garden oasis.Howard Lorey 323.251.4553
LOOKING FOR BACKUP
3335 Glenhurst - $499,000
Atwater Village. Turn key Spanish 2BR/1BA + rec rm. Central A/C, yard, detached garage, updtd kit & bath.
Courtney Smith 323.899.8509Kurt Wisner 323.841.3839
ACTIVE
Los Feliz - $999,000
Unspoiled 4 bedroom, 3 bath home in prime Los Feliz. Call us for additional details!
Courtney Smith 323.899.8509Kurt Wisner 323.841.3839
COMING SOON
434 S. Canon Dr. #202 - $434,000
Beverly Hills. Huge 1BR/1.5BA in need of a light make-over. Formal LR and DR, nice sized balcony, abundant natural light and excellent floor plan.
Denny Rabineau 310.488.6288
ACTIVE
LOS FELIZ—Fifteen-year-old Amy Craik was taking a class at Los Angeles Valley College when she read a book that prompted her to take action.
The book, Girlbomb: a Halfway Homeless Memoir by Janice Erlbaum, changed Craik’s vision of homelessness from the proverbial “man on the corner” to a more realistic view of those who are forced to live on the streets.
“Someone in my school could be homeless,” Craik said, “and I wouldn’t even know.”
Last March when “form a new club day” came around at the Zoo Magnet Center where she attends school, Craik put the word out that a new club was forming. The club, “Teens for Teens,” would be dedicated to helping the homeless youth of Los Angeles.
Within a week, club mem-bers were washing cars at a fundraiser coordinated by the residents of Hollywood’s Cov-enant House, a shelter that serves homeless youth from ages 18 to 21.
“That’s the most vulnerable age for homeless youth,” Craik
said, “because they’re just com-ing out of foster care and they have no one to help them.”
Craik and her fellow club members coordinated a “Home-less Youth Awareness Week” on the Zoo Magnet and invited Sister Margaret Farrell of the Covenant House and some of the shelter residents to share their stories at an assembly.
“I think it really touched people,” Craik said.
The week ended with a fundraiser and clothing drive, which brought in $360 and a dozen trash bags full of clothes. Another $100 was added to that from a school bake sale.
Craik hopes that the club will continue to raise funds and awareness.
“I want people to under-stand what’s going on in the world,” Craik said. “I want…people to be enlightened and inspired to help out.”
Send donations to “Teens for Teens” care of Zoo Magnet Center, 5336 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90027.
[PEOPLE IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD]
Amy Craik: Founder of “Teens for Teens”By Colleen Paeff, Ledger Columnist
Advertise in the Los Feliz Ledger (323) 667-9897
Los Feliz Ledger
August 2011 www.losfelizledger.com Page 11Su Casa REAL ESTATE
2409 Edgewater Terrace
SOLD
Thinking of selling ?Want maximum exposure
in the marketplace? Text me, I’m in the
neighborhood. Tracy Do
323-842-4001
1415 Winmar Drive
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tracy doPrudential California Realty
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1409 Murray DriveSilver Lake Triplex
2290 Silver Ridge Ave.3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms
2207 Elsinore Street3 bds, 2 ba, den, sunroom
3953-3955 Cumberland Ave.
SALE PENDING
700-702 Imogen Avenue
SALE PENDING3718 Glendon Ave. Unit A
SALE PENDING
Los Feliz Ledger
Page 12 www.losfelizledger.com August 2011Su Casa REAL ESTATE
Amid the re-cent announce-ment that Frank Lloyd Wright’s Mayan-inspired, 6,000-sq. ft. En-
nis House has sold for just un-der $4.5 million, the Los Feliz/Silver Lake /Echo Park housing market otherwise shows few signs of positive momentum in single-family sales.
Locally, only Los Feliz has seen a recent uptick, accord-ing to Trulia.com. Median sales prices for a single fam-ily home in Los Feliz has in-creased 3.8%, or $27,500, and the number of sales increased 24.4% over the same time pe-riod last year.
However, in Silver Lake, the median sales price dropped 2.1%, or $11,000, compared to 2010 and the number of sales decreased 8.3%.
Echo Park saw a mixed bag. While the median sales price for homes there increased 4.3%, or $16,000, sales de-creased 20.4%.
The local numbers seem to mirror those of the wider Southland market, which in-cludes Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Ventura, San Ber-nardino and Orange coun-ties and posted a 14.0% drop when comparing new and re-sale single-family houses and condos sold between June 2010 and June of this year, ac-cording to San Diego-based analyst DataQuick.
“The housing market re-mains dysfunctional and lop-sided, just somewhat less so than it was a few months or a year ago,” said DataQuick President John Walsh. “The
market mix indicates that a lot of potential buyers are ei-ther stuck, for lack of equity, or spooked and are waiting things out.
Another large, lingering problem is the fussy mort-gage market. Qualifying for a mortgage remains difficult for many.
Locally, Clint Lukens of Silver Lake-based Clint Lukens Realty, said he sees signs of a “false stabilization of the multi-family market. Rates are in-credibly low but jobs are still missing in a major way.”
Conversely, according to Lukens, who provides sales and brokerage services for apartment and commercial properties, “we’re definitely seeing rents stabilize and grow a little bit in the Silver Lake area and surrounding neigh-borhoods which is a great sign.” Rents, he said, are down about 15 to 20% from their peak in 2007, but afford-able rates and low inventory are driving multiple offers on deals that end up trading at 2005-2007 prices.
“I believe we’re going to see a little uptick and then down tick and a zigzag for at least the next five to seven years,” said Lukens.
A study by the UCLA Anderson Forecast shows de-mand for California homes will indeed increase—but the demand will be for multi-fam-ily product.
The forecast also suggests a rebound in construction and sale of detached single-family homes isn’t anywhere on the horizon, as slow economic growth will continue.
[REAL ESTATE]
Frank Lloyd Wright Home SoldBut Rest of Market LaggingBy Erik Derr, Ledger Contributing Writer
Los Feliz Ledger
August 2011 www.losfelizledger.com Page 13Su Casa REAL ESTATE
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Lovely curb appeal here from this 1922 Country English home on a quiet, tree-lined street of classic beauty in a much-desired Los Feliz neighborhood. A great, gnarled oak guards one corner of the deep front garden with expansive lawn and tidy hedges. Inside, newer finishes glow. Immaculately-main-tained throughout. Newer appliances in the remod-eled kitchen. Move-in crisp. Original, lower floor plan has been reworked to maximize an easy flow for entertaining, while a large master suite lies upstairs with two additional bedrooms that could be used as a second bedroom suite. Huge, open and covered decks. Large, flat rear garden is perfect for kids and dogs. Mature landscaping. Central A/C. Also for lease for $6000/mo.
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#1 agent, Coldwell Banker - Los Feliz, [email protected]
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©2011 Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. Coldwell Banker is a registered trademark licensed to Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC. An Equal Opportunity Company. Equal Housing Op-portunity. Owned and operated by NRT LLC. All rights reserved. If your property is listed with
another broker, this is not intended as a solicitation.
Designing a child’s bed-room requires function, good storage, whimsy, color and durability. Our design team spends time interviewing the parents and the children. Then, we work to find com-mon ground so all are happy.
An oversized window seat is a great feature for a child’s bedroom. It can be a cozy read-ing area and a place to play. It can also double as an extra bed for sleepovers. Space can be carved out for storage, or a desk can be inserted instead of a bed.
We recently designed a baby girl’s room for a couple who wanted a Coco Chanel feel. We used soft pink, paired with black and white, flocked paper inside white moldings.
We used bold striped fabric on the windows. Vintage light fixtures completed the look. The outcome was gorgeous.
Most recently we designed a playroom with “stations.” We included a library, pup-pet theater and dollhouse. The children were ecstatic traveling from one activity to another.
Another playroom re-cently completed had an art area, equipped with tables and a sink for paintbrushes and dirty hands. It also had a loft for lounging or performing musicals on a mirrored stage. We included a make-up area with a secret passage to the stage. We added a sofa on cast-ers so it could be moved where needed.
For young brothers we
flanked two walls with a low, two-tiered bookshelf. In the corner we added a reading bench and created 48” round chairs with comfy pillows for lounging and videogame play-ing. The computer desk is du-rable, fun and provides ample space for storage.
Keep in mind for children: lead-free paint is a must. We install safety locks on doors and cover outlets throughout the house. For those with al-lergies, we prefer wood floors, use faux down comforters and eliminate window treatments made from fabrics. If allergies are not a concern, we use out-door fabrics for durability.
Finally, our personal bias is to keep televisions out of the bedroom. We always add a large magnetic or grease board to encourage creativity and spare the walls from budding graffiti artists.
Susann Tunick can be reached at [email protected]
[INTERIOR MOTIVES]
Designing for KidsBy Susann Thomason Tunick Ledger Columnist
As we sit on the beach and
gaze out over the sparkling waters of the Pacific, it is easy to be entranced by the vast and powerful beauty of our oceans and forget about our daily cares. However, it is be-coming increasingly clear that our daily lives are seriously impacting these magnificent oceans. Not only do we over-consume fish and generate oil spills, but we have also turned large sections of our oceans into garbage patches.
In the North Pacific alone,
midway between San Francis-co and Hawai’i, an area larger than Texas is covered with floating plastic debris includ-ing bottles, bags, toys, shoes and fishing nets, trash that has floated out to sea from drains and beaches and dumped out of ships (see www.greatgar-bagepatch.org).
Tragically, sea birds, fish, turtles and other sea creatures, mistake some of the plastic for food, swallow it and die. Plastic has been one of the great inven-tions of our age, but we discard it in frightening quantities.
“If we consume less plastic, recycle what we can, and vol-unteer for beach cleanups, we can help prevent the growth of these garbage patches and heal our precious oceans,” said Dave Weeshoff of the Algalita Ma-rine Research Foundation and Senior Ambassador for Heal the Bay (www.healthebay.org).
Weeshoff will be giving a free talk on the subject at Sus-tainable Saturdays at the Silver Lake Library on Saturday Aug. 6th, 11 a.m. (Participants will have another chance to win a new ZAPino scooter (valued at $3,500) in a free raffle.)
Contact www.sustainable-silverlake.org or call (323) 913-7451 for more info.
[KEEN TO BE GREEN]
Trashing our SeasBy Meher McArthur, Ledger Columnist
BRIAN ADESTO MAKE GOOD DECISIONS YOU NEED GOOD INFORMATIONwww.brianades.com | email: [email protected] | cell: (310) 503-8080
Denise Saker produced the event for the Los Feliz Vil-lage Business Improvement District (LFVBID). “We deeply appreciate our staff, our sponsors, the Los Ange-les media corps, the perform-ing artists, and the commu-nity visitors for whom we produced this fair.”
The last street fair was staged along Vermont Avenue. Several local businesses after-wards complained the event cannibalized their own sales that day.
Cesar Jimenez, of Di Car-lo Pizzeria, along Hollywood Boulevard, said his business during this year’s fair—which
was from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.—was however, better than most Sundays.
Elsa Wong, manager of Maya Jewelry, at Hollywood Boulevard and Vermont Av-enue felt similarly.
“We’re seeing a lot more customers today,” she said.
Despite many food booths available, lines along the boulevard at places such as Umami Burger and Yuca’s were healthy.
The wider Hollywood Boulevard, according to many, also provided easier flow for pedestrians.
Forrester said he won’t know for a while how the fair fared financially.
STREET FAIR from page 1
Southern California BrokerageS I sothebyshomes.com/socal I uSe the WeB numBerS provided to find out more information on a property through our WeBSite
loS feliz 1801 North hIllhurst aveNue t 323.665.1700
SeleCted propertieS
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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.
5121 FRANKLIN AVENUE $4,200,000 Listing Agent: Andrew Morrison Selling Agent: Troy Gregory
www.sowdenlosFeliz.com
PRIME 3 UNITS: los Feliz/silver lake. arch/design redone 3 units, 2 units w/ 2bd+1.5 ba townhouse style +fpl+ wash/dryer + terraces & 1unit w/ 1 bd/1ba 1 story. central a/c. $978,000 Web :0284304Rosemary Low 323.660.5885
3115 ETTRICK ST: los Feliz. Incomparable modern new dream home. 4bd/3ba. huge open plan, chef’s kitch, yard and views.Ivanhoe school. www.ettrickmodern.com $1,579,000 Web: 0284303Rick Yohon 323.270.1725
2264 MORENO DR: silver lake. chic & stylish. redone stunning slick 3bd/3.5ba, den, decks, gorgeous mstr suite w/sitting rm/terr, spect. lake/city/mtn views.$1,398,000 Web: 0284299Rosemary Low 323.660.5885
1809 SILVERWOOD TERRACE: silver lake. stunning reservoir views, elegant updated kit & baths, large balconies that capture the views. close to shops & restaurants $875,000 Web: 0284239Joseph Lightfoot 323.665.1108
2476-2478 LAKE VIEW AVE: silver lake. original charm, hdwd flrs, each unit 2bd/1ba, light-filled office/studio below, beautiful mtn vus, close to everything$725,000 Web: 0284187 Joseph Lightfoot 323.665.1108
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$699,000 Web: 0284212Joseph Lightfoot 323.665.1108
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
HOME W/ LAKE VIEWS: silver lake. Pretty contemporary home w/ fabulous lake views. Wood beamed hi ceiling rooms. secluded. Ivanhoe school district. $873,000 Web: 0284138 Gail Crosby & Manvel Tabakian 323.428.2864
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: 0284276 Ruben/Yohon 323.671.2310
5620 TUXEDO TERR: los Feliz. one of the last great lots in the los Feliz oaks. spectacular 180 degree city & canyon views. unique architectural opportunity.$299,000 Web: 0284219Rick Yohon 323.270.1725
2305EFFIE.COM: silver lake. Gated artsy, secluded, vus, romantic country setting, loft-like, w/dark hwd flrs, hi-beamed ceilings, nu Kit $698,000 Web: 0284281Rosemary Low 323.660.5885
309 STOWE TERRACE: highland Park. mt angelus ca bungalow, 3bd/1.75ba updated kit., deck w/hillside vus, secluded yard, updated baths, wd flrs, bonus studio$425,000 Web: 0284261Joseph Lightfoot 323.665.1108
NeW exclusIve
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 Micheltorena Elementary School on an ongoing donation program from closed transactions. For SchoolS
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los Feliz Properties...
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2630 VERMONT AVENUE $4,875,000 Listing Agent: Patricia Ruben
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Los Feliz Ledger
August 2011 www.losfelizledger.com Page 15SENIOR MOMENTS
Los Angeles Breakfast ClubJoin us Wednesdays at 7 – 9 am
Upcoming speakers and programs...August 3Diane Jamieson - L.A. Zoo - “Great Apes - Gorillas, Orangutans and Chimpanzees”August 10Christal Smith, Founder - Emergency Kits 4 All - “What You Really Need to Know about Disaster Preparedness”August 17Bill Faith - USC Emeriti College - “Damage Control: Managing Reputations in Gov’t, Business & Entertainment”August 24Detective Shawn Milligan - Glendale Police Department - “Identity Theft and Related Issues”August 31Jack Barron - UCLA People-Animal Connection - “Animal-Assisted Therapy and How It Helps People”
Friendship Auditorium3201 Riverside Drive (1/4 mi. so. of Los Feliz Bl.)
For upcoming programs, see...www.LABreakfastClub.com or call (323) 662-1191
Griffith Park Adult Community Club Calendar
Sunset Hall - Curriculum and Advocacy
Through December, ALL AGES9:30 – 11:30 Class instruction11:30 – 1:30 Individual Help
1:00 – 4:00 GPACC coaches available
•Mondays–BasicsofComputers&Internet•Tuesdays–ExploringtheInternetwithsearchengines&Email
•Wednesdays–IntrotoMicrosoftWord2010•Thursdays–IntrotoMicrosoftExcel2010Forreservations,callGPACC(323)644-5579.
Lunch Program:Mon.-Fri.,GPACC,11:30AMsignin,Noonlunch,Donationunder60$4,60+$2
Club Info and Newsletter:StephanieVendig,(323)[email protected].
Join GPACC: Only $15/year for trips and news. Forinformationontrips,callDorisSlater,(323)667-1879
Programsforfree-thinkingseniors
(323)660-5277
ConversationalSpanishatGPACConWednesdays
How do we thrive as we age? How can we avoid
memory loss and maintain brain health?
USC researchers seek people from ages 18-100 to participate
in brief (a few hours or less) studies on aging, cognition
and emotion.
For more information, go to:
healthyminds.matherlab.com
or call 213-740-9543.
Lucie Jones began her 204th chapter of her life story by declaring the following: “My 94th birthday has come and gone. It had some unusual as-pects, one being that I spent it in my nightgown. I remember having whooping cough one birthday in my childhood, but I can’t remember any birthday before the 94th when I didn’t get dressed. Not a difference worth noting.” The chapter goes on to describe the plea-sure of seeing and hearing from friends on her birthday.
In 2006, Lucie joined a weekly Life Story Writing class that was first formed at the Silver Lake Recreation Cen-ter and now continues at the
Griffith Park Adult Commu-nity Center (GPACC). Dur-ing those years with due diligence, Lucie wrote her chapters and shared her life and philosophy with the group.
R e c o g n i z i n g she can’t carry on the same lifestyle of her past, she accepts help in areas where she was once self-sufficient. Because she has emphysema, a direct result of many years of smok-ing, she must use oxygen sup-port. She stopped driving be-cause of macular degeneration and cataracts. But her friends in the writing group and
her Scrabble game partners make sure that she can get to GPACC.
Her advice is “don’t spend time fretting about what you can’t control, pay attention to what you can control,” and “being optimistic doesn’t take any more energy than being
pessimistic, and it’s a lot more comfortable.”
Longevity is indeed a re-ality with many more Lucies among us. The 2010 census confirmed that America has a growing older population, with the 85 year old and older being the fastest growing age
group. In the U. S. since the year 2000, this group has in-creased 29.6%. In California, the increase is 41.2%.
With this reality, many of us can easily say, we might make it to 100, why not? More people are living in a healthier environment, and our medi-
cal achievements succeeded in controlling in-fectious diseases that plagued us in the past. How-ever, living longer has made chronic conditions more prevalent and ac-
counts for three-fourths of our
health care spending accord-ing to Elizabeth Blackburn, a biologist at University of California at San Francisco in a recent article in The Atlantic Magazine.
More often, one hears that these chronic conditions are connected to how we live and cope. Thus, our lives may be lengthened more by our behavior than by solely relying on our genetics and traditional medical care for solutions. So with a Lucie in mind and the other special 90+ people I know, we fortu-nately have pioneers who are showing the rest of us how to really age gracefully.
[SENIOR MOMENTS]
On the Way to 100By Stephanie Vendig Ledger Columnist
“We choose Belmont Village.”•Licensed nurse on-site around the clock •Chef-prepared, restaurant-style dining •Free scheduled transportation daily•Fitness and social activities •Medication management•Housekeeping and laundry•Assistance with daily living•Award-winning Circle of Friends®
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LozFeliz_7_29_BV.indd 1 7/19/11 8:52 PM
The 2010 census confirmed that America has a growing older
population, with the 85 year old and older being the fastest growing
age group.
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Los Feliz Ledger
Page 16 www.losfelizledger.com August 2011ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
August is for r e l a x a t i o n and fun, and what better way to beat the heat than to take in a
light-hearted musical. There are two very different shows in the area that fit the ticket and are amenable for all ages.
As You Like It, The Musi-cal is a lively, free production presented by the City of West Hollywood and Classical The-ater Lab at Kings Road Park in West Hollywood. Written and directed by Tony Tanner, who has been twice nomi-nated for the Tony Award as director and choreographer, the story retains the tradition-al elements of Shakespeare’s comedy paired with charming original songs and lyrics that add modern references.
Of particular note is the adaptation of the famous monologue, “All the world’s a stage” describing the seven stages of man sung by the mel-ancholy character Jacques.
The story is a romance with comic gender reversals and mistaken identities. The central character, Rosalind, takes refuge with her cous-in Celia and the court fool Touchstone after she has been banished by her uncle. To avoid detection, she disguises herself as a young man named Ganymede.
The story unfolds with love manifested through vari-ous forms. Orlando who has fallen in love with Rosalind cannot see through her dis-guise. Meanwhile, Phoebe, a
rustic shepherdess, claims she is in love with Rosalind’s dis-guised male character Gany-mede. In the end love prevails.
1776 at the Glendale Centre Theatre is a different theater experience. Winner of the Tony award for best musi-cal, the story focuses on John Adams’ efforts to convince his colleagues at the Second Con-tinental Congress to vote for American independence. The play breathes life into the his-torical figures. There is some license with historical fact.
Of note are the charac-terizations of Adams, ably performed by Peter Hus-mann; Thomas Jefferson, por-trayed by Jeff Drushal; and John Butz as Benjamin Frank-lin. Jason W. Webb is great as the intensely conservative John Dickinson who balked at rejecting British rule.
Performing theater in the round presents special chal-lenges, and director Todd Nielsen ably moves his cast to create the ambience of Inde-pendence Hall.
As You Like It, the Musical
at Kings Road Park, 1000 N. Kings Rd., West Hollywood, Sat. Aug, 6th at 4 p.m.; Sunday August 7th at 11:30 a.m.; Sat. Aug. 13th at 4 p.m.; Sunday Aug. 14th at 4 p.m. Free ad-mission. Reservations advised. (323) 960-5691 or [email protected].
1776 runs through Au-gust 13th at the Glendale Centre Theatre, 324 N. Or-ange St., Glendale on Thurs-days through Sundays. $23 to $26. (818) 244-8481.
[THEATER REVIEW]
Two Musicals to Help Beat August’s Heatby Marilyn Tower Oliver, Ledger Theater Critic
Los Feliz Ledger
August 2011 www.losfelizledger.com Page 17ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
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All romantic relationships evolve. When there’s a crisis, there’s also drama. Perfor-mance artist, author, screen-writer and director Miranda July’s second film The Future investigates one of those piv-otal moments couple’s face: when the future seems pre-destined and mapped out. Her approach, mixing abstract and literal, with sci-fi elements and a very engaging talking cat that narrates throughout, re-sults in an original film that’s hard to summarize but emo-tionally true.
The Future is based on a performance piece first per-formed at Los Feliz’s Center for Inquiry. July refined the script and eventually did her initial script read-through also at the Center. Over time, she found herself relating to the characters, including her own, quite differently.
“The script turned into other questions, how real adults start taking the long view on things,” she said in a recent phone interview.
Although some of the film’s pivotal scenes were filmed just south of Sunset on Parkman Avenue, July does not try to make the Silver Lake location or the city a character in the film. Rather, The Future stays internalized and focused on character.
“I’m never a huge place person,” she said. “I can barely find my way around and I’ve been here for seven years,” said July, who lives in Silver Lake. She finds it telling that when the film’s location changes to Tarzana, “it could seem like another planet. And that’s so L.A., and is so different.”
Inspiration for the film came from a sudden break-up and the utter devastation of being broken up with. The de-sire to stop time was a feeling that July wanted to address.
“While nothing in the movie is literally true, I was trying to capture the anxiety of those new feelings and the finiteness of time,” she said.
Perhaps the most fantas-tical element to the film is a talking cat named Paw Paw, whose predicament weaves the film together. Paw Paw is quite the memorable feline. Pro-tected by her own enthusiasm, July felt pretty bold about her talking cat.
“You can’t hide it or downplay it,” she surmises. “And now we have the cat in the trailer.”
The Future premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Fes-tival and played at the Berlin, SXSW and Los Angeles Film Festivals. It opens in Los An-geles on August 5th. and
[EASTSIDE EYE PICKS FOR AUGUST]
Senna. Opening August 12th, this story of charismatic Brazilian race car driver Ayr-ton Senna, a three-time world Formula One circuit champi-on, goes far beyond the typical sports-themed documentary. Remarkably, the archival foot-age covers many of the most important events in Senna’s all-too-brief life. Expert tech-nique and dramatic footage combine in this compelling non-fiction film that won the World Cinema Audience Award at Sundance 2011.
[EASTSIDE EYE]
Miranda July’s The Future Considers LifeBy Kathy A. McDonald, Ledger Columnist
Pronou nc e d k a - S H A - s a ,
this rum-like spirit is na-tive to Brazil and was the first liquor produced in the Americas, dating back to the 1500s. The main difference between rum and cachaca is rum is typically made from molasses, while cachaca comes from sugar cane juice. Cachaca makes for a great base in refreshing summer cocktails—perfect for the hot August nights ahead.
While there are limit-less libation combinations, the most popular and most authentically Brazilian is the caipirinha (kai-pur-EEN-ya)—very similar to a Cuban mojito, minus the mint. It’s most basic form consists of sugar or simple syrup togeth-er with lime, topped off with cachaca and lots of ice.
Leblon is perhaps the best-known brand in Los An-geles, and the No. 1 selling boutique-style cachaca in Bra-zil. It’s only distilled one time, which helps the spirit retain the flavors of its sugar cane base. It’s also aged in cognac casks to help smooth it out. The result is high quality and fruit-forward, with woodsy notes.
Cabana is another super-premium spirit, in this case double-distilled in copper pots and utilizing only hand-
cut cane that is then freshly pressed, all at its Sao Paulo facility. The taste is crisp and lean, with less of a grassy nose than many others.
Cuca Fresca comes a fourth-generation family of cachaca producers in Brazil. Only organically grown sugar cane is used, and the estate-bottled Pura Gold cachaca is typically aged in oak for three years, resulting in a ripe and
[THE GOOD LIFE]
Cachaca: Great for Summer CocktailsBy Tara de Lis, Ledger Columnist
full-bodied flavor. Boca Loca (“crazy lips”
in Portuguese) was one of the first cachacas targeted for the U.S. market, and comes from a single plantation in Brazil. It’s distilled several times yet retains trademark grassy aro-mas, along with serious sugar cane.
Tara de Lis is a freelance writer who lives in Hollywood.
Los Feliz Ledger
Page 18 www.losfelizledger.com August 2011
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the GGPNC’s Rules and Elec-tions committee. The pub-lic notice posted listed June 9, 2010 as the meeting date, when in fact, the meeting was held June 9, 2011. The public notice also erroneously listed members of the GGPNC that are no longer on the board.
“There was no harm, no foul,” in the June 9th posting, said newly-appointed GG-PNC treasurer Nelson Bae. It was not an intentional effort to misinform the public, he said, just an oversight.
The other grievances not found in violation by the city attorney included Hyams’ as-sertion that same June 9th 2011 meeting—a Rules and Elections meeting—was im-properly called as the com-mittee did not have a chair at the time.
Hyams asserts a chair
should have been put in place for any meeting to occur.
Additionally, in a second grievance, Hyams asserted that the council’s Parks, River & Open Space (PROS) com-mittee and its Business and Transportation committee failed to meet quarterly, as is in the GGPNC’s bylaws, and provide a report to the Gov-erning Board and Finance committee.
According to Ostrow, any two committee members can call a meeting when the chair fails to do so.
Upon evaluation of Hy-ams’ assertion that quarterly committee meetings had been missed, Ostrow said the board did discover those and pos-sibly other committees may have not meet regularly and the issue has been referred to the Rules and Elections com-mittee, where a future tighten-
ing of committee guidelines is expected.
John F. John, chair of the council’s Transporta-tion Committee, also lodged a grievance on a number of fronts regarding the GGPNC’s May 17th meeting to appoint new members to its board.
Most pointed in John’s complaint is his allegation that votes cast that day by elected board members for appoint-ments were done in secret, as the individual ballots were counted, not before the group, but by a few members of the board at a nearby table. He also alleged the votes were not made public.
John also raised some pro-cedural issues by the board in his complaint, including a lack of proper public notification of the May 17th meeting and that the public was not given adequate opportunity to offer comments on specific agenda items at that meeting.
According to Ostrow, he provided to the city attorney sufficient evidence that the May 17th balloting was not run in secret and that anyone who asked could have reviewed the council’s vote tallies at anytime. Additionally, he said, results were announced at the meeting immediately after the
ballots were counted and a final tally was posted on the GGPNC’s website.
Hyams devoted much of his two years on the council to developing a set of bylaws and meeting guidelines he intend-ed the council use when con-sidering challenges like his.
The executive committee,
GGPNC from page 1
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he said, in their deliberation over the council’s legal liabili-ty in his complaints proves, he said, the council’s officers ei-ther don’t understand or don’t care about the importance of following the panel’s ascribed meeting procedures.
“That’s the first step on the way to fascism,” he said.
Los Feliz Ledger
August 2011 www.losfelizledger.com Page 19SCHOOL NEWS
CAMELOT IS EXPANDINGWE ARE EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE
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LOS FELIZ—Allison Essman will take over as principal at Our Mother of Good Coun-sel, August 1st, replacing An-drea Deebs who retired earlier this summer.
Essman is a graduate of Loyola Marymount University
with multiple degrees. Ms. Essman has ten
years experience in both teaching and administration work at St. Bernard’s High School and Corpus Christ Elementary in Pacific Pali-sades.
New Principal at OMGC
Last June, at the end of the school year, my fel-low 5th grade students and I were given an
amazing “promotion” party by our parents to send us off into our summer vacation and then middle school. The party was at a park in Malibu. There was a pool, karaoke, music, BBQ ribs and a grassy hill for everyone to play on.
At the end of June my classmates and I were given a list of books to choose from to read and take notes on over the summer. I decided to read The Conch Bearer and The Red Pyramid.
I love summer and all it’s freedom and fun. Between
going to an awesome sum-mer camp at Marlborough, running around like a psy-chopathic maniac in my back-yard, and seeing friends, there is still time for me to think about this upcoming school year. Even my little sister is excited.
I think what really makes me excited about going into 6th grade at Pilgrim are all the differences middle school will bring. I’m looking forward to getting my own locker, having a homeroom, moving from class to class and choosing electives.
No offense to summer but I can’t wait for school to start, because 6th grade is going to be great, judging by the excit-ing things that I have heard about!
[PILGRIM SCHOOL]
Can’t Wait for 6th Grade!By Lily Kachikis
Los Feliz Ledger
Page 20 www.losfelizledger.com August 2011LIFESTYLES
a result, the Silver Lake and Ivanhoe reservoirs will be de-commissioned but left as open recreational areas.
Singley’s second option
would push the new connect-ing pipe directly beneath West Silver Lake Drive, potentially saving the biggest and old-est sycamores, although the project would likely still cut into at least a portion of the tree root balls. A few younger trees would likely have to be removed, to be replaced later.
According to Singley, this option, however, would likely leave West Silver Lake Drive so narrow, it would only be able to handle one-way traffic.
Nonetheless, a vote at the end of the meeting ended up supporting the second option,
flow regulation station slated for the grassy area, otherwise known as “the grassy knoll,” just southwest of the reservoir.
The project is part of a $40-million plan that will be-gin construction in 2012 and by 2014 is expected to divert water from the San Fernando Valley down into the Los An-geles Basin, via Silver Lake. As
with more than 60 commit-tee and members of the public voting in its favor and one vot-ing against it.
Singley agreed to have
his staff consider any new options—including bypass-ing the “grassy knoll” com-pletely by moving the line elsewhere—and said he will go forward with preliminary traffic and logistical studies for the second option and then report back to the Reservoir Complex Committee within 30 days.
The recent meeting was in stark contrast to a heated gath-ering held at the “grassy knoll” just days earlier, where com-munity members questioned Singley over the project, some-times in anger.
GRASSY KNOLL from page 3
The Silver Lake Neigh-borhood Council voted in July to support a conditional use permit for The Thirsty Crow, located at 2939 W. Sunset Blvd., which would allow the bar-lounge to extend its full alcohol sale and consumption license and also add a still-to-be-approved patio that will in-clude 50 additional seats.
The business will also be permitted to provide live in-
door entertainment, as long as the Crow’s owner agrees the entertainment will end at 1:30 a.m. and will not exceed two nights a week and will crease if residents complain about noise.
The owner will also stream clean the sidewalk in front of the bar at least twice a year, install a bike rack on the sidewalk in front of the estab-lishment, as well as plant a tree on the sidewalk area.
SLNC Votes to Support Thirsty Crow Use PermitBy Erik Derr, Ledger Contributing Writer
SILVER LAKE—The Silver Lake Neighborhood Council (SLNC) in July approved a let-ter urging Los Angeles city of-ficials to adopt the provisions of California State Senate Bill 568, which would go in effect in 2017, prohibiting the use and distribution of polysty-rene foam food containers.
“I love this,” said SLNC councilmember Leonardo Ch-alupowicz.
But SLNC councilmem-ber Paul Neuman wondered if supporting such a costly
change for local businesses, the council was losing sight of its main responsibility to pro-mote the community.
“I think we’re failing to be helpful to the public,” he said.
If passed Senate Bill 568 would need to wait to be im-plemented in 2017—a date agreed to by lawmakers—as the Los Angeles Unified School District had noted it has“millions of polystyrene containers in storage that can’t be used by the bills original 2013-2014 target date.
SLNC Urges City To Adopt Bill Eliminating Polystyrene ContainersBy Erik Derr, Ledger Contributing Writer
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the San Fernando Valley down into the Los Angeles Basin, via Silver Lake.
Los Feliz Ledger
August 2011 www.losfelizledger.com Page 21LIFESTYLES
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This is the last month this year to get a good view of the planet Saturn in the evening sky. The planet, in Virgo the Maiden, drops from 17 degrees to only 3 de-grees high in the west when darkness falls during August. The waxing crescent moon appears 8 degrees below Sat-urn on the 3rd.
Jupiter is the planet that best placed for viewing in the early morning. The brilliant, light yellow planet, in Aries the Ram, becomes visible in the east at about midnight, and appears two-thirds of the way between the southern horizon and overhead when dawn starts. Binoculars are sufficient to reveal Jupiter’s for largest moons as a cluster of star-like spots close to the disk of the planet. The moon passes close to Jupiter in the early hours of the 20th.
Orange Mars can be spot-ted low in the east-northeast at the start of dawn. It moves from Taurus the Bull to Gem-ini the Twins on the 3rd. On the morning of the 6th, bin-oculars can be used to see it in front of Gemini’s star cluster M35.
The moon reaches first
quarter phase on the 6th, full on the 13th, last quarter on the 21st, and is new on the 28th. The timing of the full moon means that its light will spoil the annual Persied meteor shower. Because of the moon’s illumination, the maximum of the shower on the morning of the 13th will fall short of the one or two meteors per minute that t normally produces under ideal conditions. Those hop-ing to see the brightest Perse-ids should recline with their gaze directed high and to the northeast, between midnight and dawn (4:40 a.m., P.D.T.).
Binocular comet Gar-radd (C/2009 P1) sails through Pegasus the Fly-ing Horse, Delphinus the Dolphin, Sagitta the Arrow, and Vulpecula the Fox this month. It will be at its best, high in the sky, close to mid-night during the moon free periods at the beginning and end of the month. It should be observed from wilder-ness conditions, far from urban light pollution. Based on its promising appearance in July, the comet may be a good sight in binoculars and small telescopes over the next
13 months. Additional information
will be available weekly on Griffith Observatory’s Sky Report, available by follow-ing the links under “Sky In-formation” on the Griffith Observatory Web page (www. griffithobservatory.org) or as a recorded phone message at (213) 473-0836.
[STAR GAZING]
Star Gazing August 2011By Anthony CookGriffith Observatory
Los Feliz Ledger
Page 22 www.losfelizledger.com August 2011
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10% increase. This means for Cal State
students tuition this fall will be $5,472, not including room, board or campus fees. For UC, the two tuition hikes bring the cost for an under-graduate California resident to nearly $12,200 a year, also not including room, board and general campus fees.
Colin Hirshland, 18, a recent Marshall High School graduate—who was 5th in his class and is headed for UCLA in the fall—said he and his family are very aware of the UC price boosts, but between grants and scholarships, he expects he’ll have the needed funds to “cover the increases.”
The recent tuition hike at both systems was due to fund-ing reductions in the recently released state budget: for UC,
the state shortfall this year is $650 million for the 10-cam-pus system. For the 23-cam-pus Cal State system, the re-duction in funding was 20% with another $100 million shortfall possible.
“The main rule in Califor-nia is that the cost of educa-tion is getting more and more expensive,” said Brandon Teigh of Silver Lake, a 2011 high school graduate who moved to the area last month and is planning on applying to the Cal State system.
“But, if you know that, and you’re serious about going, then you make plans ahead of time,” he said.
Such planning is part of the “proactive” counseling program each student at Im-maculate Heart High School begins in their junior year, ac-cording to Elsa Heydenreich
Clark, the school’s director of college counseling.
“We look at the colleges that best fit the students… their goals, personality, fi-nances… and then we look at the more realistic schools, what we call ‘safety schools,’ where they would have a better chance of being accepted and meeting their [family] budget issues,” she said.
Despite racking up no-table tuition and fee increases over the last several years, both the CSU and UC systems have historically been considered ‘safety schools,’ as their costs have continued to be reason-able, Clark said.
But now, “for some of our families,” keeping up the con-stant rate increases “is a defi-nite hardship,” said Clark.
Out of Immaculate Heart’s 110 graduating seniors
this year, 86% are headed to four-year schools and 13% will begin study at two-year com-munity colleges. Ca l i forn ia , said Clark, used to have the best in higher education, but it’s become clear, she said, that the UC and CSU systems “are poorly managed,” and “educa-tion has ended up “at the low end of anybody’s focus.”
State leaders, she said, need to make drastic changes and stop the bleeding at the universities, or else “we are go-ing to start losing students and professors to other schools… private schools in other states,” she said. “This is a really bad trend,” Clark said.
A decade ago, undergrad-uate tuition for a UC campus was about $3,700. The recent tuition hikes at Cal State rep-resent an increase three-fold from a decade ago.
TUITION from page 1
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EDITORIAL / OPEN MIKE LETTERSSUBMISSION GUIDELINES
To submit a letter for Open Mike, send to
[email protected] or to
4459 Avocado St., LA, CA 90027.
Include your name, area in which you live
and contact information.
Letters become property of the Los Feliz Ledger
and may be edited for clarity or space for reprinting.
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4354 ruSSeLL AVe., LoS FeLiz $599,000Another Happy Seller! Charming 3BD/1.5BA, lg. LR, DR, bright kitchen, service porch, storage, patio. For seasoned profes-sional assistance with your Sale, please call me for a free, initial interview.dAn orTegA (323) 839-3936
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1023 MyrA AVe., LoS FeLiz $579,000Amazing duplex close to Sunset Junction in Silver Lake. 1 Bed, 1 Bath units. Check out www.LAAwesome.com for more info.
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631 n. rAMPArT AVe, SiLVer LAKe $488,000S i l v e r L a k e T r i p l e x . c o m - Great CASH FLOW -> 9.6 GRM - Spanish style duplex in front 2Br, 1Ba each + 2Br, 2Ba house in back. Great for owner-occupant. Updated systems, $50K/yearly GRI.Henry PLASCenCiA (310) 995-6273
2500 noTTingHAM AVe. $1,949,000Beautiful 4BD + 3BA single story home on large corner lot on one of Los Feliz’ best streets. Large open spaces lead to ex-pansive deck overlooking sparkling pool, great for entertaining.
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1739 Deloz Avenue Los Feliz Franklin Hills $775,000Nicely 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.
1950 Lucile Avenue Silver Lake Hills $1,030,000Stunning 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.
2516 Kenilworth Avenue Silver Lake Hills $1,350,000Walk 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 $210,000Charming 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.
Just Listed & Now In Escrow
Just Listed
Just Listed & Now In Escrow
Just Listed
4525 Cockerham Drive Los Feliz Hills $995,000Influenced 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
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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.
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.
Just Listed
3017 Fall Avenue Silver Lake $810,000 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.
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.
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.
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972 North Los Robles Pasadena $1,395,000Impressive, gated & beautifully restored 4+ 5 1911 Colonial Revival Estate with Craftsman touches on a 16,736 lot. Stunning LR w/Batchelder fireplace. Large gourmet kitchen w/custom cabinets & top quality blt-in appl w/views of the incredible expansive grounds. 4151 square feet + basement & attic. Incredible.
3223 Ettrick Street Los Feliz $995,000This wonderful 1948 built home has been expanded and beautifully renovated by the current owner. This 3 + 2 home, has a great LR w/fireplace that leads to the formal DR. Cook’s kitchen & breakfast leads to a charming den. Huge yard with room for pool. Master suite with private bath. Home office area. Ivanhoe!
2953 Effie Street Silver Lake $995,000Classic 1950s Mid-Century 6 unit apartment building in prime Silver Lake locale. Cited in 1954 by A.I.A. Approximately 4080 square foot building. Annual Income $89,376. Excellent owner user or investment property. Walk to great shops, restaurants & the reservoir. Minutes to downtown. Very special property.
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.
Thank You George & Eileen...for the great job you did in selling my home. All of the great suggestions you gave me in getting my home ready for sale really made all of thedifference. The entire process could not have gone smoother. Thanks for all your help. Denise Ip, 3017 Fall Avenue
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