2018 Year In Review

January 4
At the start of 2018—about 200 days before the opening of Caruso’s Palisades Village—a drone shot revealed the progress at the development, including the walls of the Bay Theatre by Cinépolis Luxury Cinemas and the underground parking structure. As the New Year arrived, two single-story blocks were standing in metal form. Until that point, around 200 workers had been on site, with that number doubling to around 400 in the next few weeks.

January 25
The first baby of Pacific Palisades—a local tradition honored by the Palisadian-Post since 1954—arrived on January 11 at 6:01 p.m. The Sampson family welcomed a new daughter, Hadley Rosalind, in their Marquez Knolls home.

On Saturday, January 20, past honorary mayors gathered to inaugurate Pacific Palisades’ first pair of Honorary Co-Mayors Janice and Billy Crystal, taking over for Kevin Nealon. Billy, a resident of the Palisades since 1979, explained that they had been considering the role for a while: “We knew it was the best place to raise kids, but it was not until I was cornered by [Chamber member] Brett Bjornson in Gelson’s—I was looking at the $7 apples—that I realized that, with so many things happening, like the Caruso development, it was time to take it on.” Crystal said.

February 1
Campaigner Patrick hart holds up a bedraggled doll found during the homeless count at dawn on Thursday, January 25. The initial impression of the 2018 count is that while the number of homeless people living in the canyons continues to fall, the “mobile homeless” living in their cars and parking on Pacific Coast Highway continue to rise.

February 15
The Palisadian off-leash dog park dream put another paw forward in the decades-long process of becoming a reality on February 7, when the Pacific Palisades Dog Park Working Group checked another item from its 13-step to-do list before officially beginning construction: getting a unanimous vote from 120 Palisadians at a meeting at the Palisades Recreation Center.

February 22
Palisadian Mark William Gibello was killed in a fatal accident on Chautauqua Boulevard when his Ferrari clipped a vehicle in front of him, forcing him to collide into a BMW SUV driving the opposite direction. In the passenger seat of the dark red Ferrari was professional golfer Bill Haas, who Gibello was hosting at his home during the Genesis Open golf tournament. “I believe the cause [of death] was a high rate of speed and the individual lost control, colliding into several vehicles,” Officer Mike Lopez of the Los Angeles Police Department told the Palisadian-Post.

March 22
Students from Palisades Charter High School, Archer School for Girls, Paul Revere Charter Middle School and Seven Arrows Elementary School joined a nationwide walkout on Wednesday, March 14, in honor of the victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting that left 17 dead and many more injured. They made signs, chanted in demand of gun law reform and showed the world the power of their voices.

April 5
Data revealed that students at Palisades Charter High School were traveling up to 120 miles per day to get to school—up to a five-hour commute. Students are traveling to the Palisades from Palmdale, Fillmore, Port Hueneme and San Pedro.

Wolfgang Puck, the celebrity chef, won the support of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in his bid to replace Gladstones at Will Rogers State Beach. The Austrian-born restaurateur has teamed up with Frank Gehry, the architect behind the Walt Disney Concert Hall and other world-famous public buildings, to re-imagine the popular beachside restaurant as a cluster of different eateries. It was reported that it could take up to five years to complete the transition from the current management and structures, as Gladstones remains open today.

May 10
Four months out from the grand opening of Palisades Village, Peter Garland, referred to as the “Mayor of Canon Drive,” announced that he would open Porta Via Palisades in the project. Other tenants to share news of their businesses around the same time were Sephora, The Draycott and Hank’s.

May 17
Throughout the May 17 edition, the Palisadian-Post celebrated its 90th birthday with a look into the archives. In its nine-decade lifespan, the newspaper has only been owned by five families.

May 24
After weeks of rumors, the building that housed Norris Hardware for 38 years went up for lease through Westside Retail. In 2007 Grant Sears told the Palisadian-Post that Norris Hardware had survived the Depression and he had high hopes it would survive after the lease on the building, itself owned by the Ford family of the Alphabet Streets, expired in 2018. As 2018 comes to a close, there is no official word on who will take over the 10,500-square-foot building, but community members continue to speculate who will move in.

The buyer of most expensive house ever sold in Pacific Palisades has been identified as Bui Simon, a former Miss Universe winner turned philanthropist. The sale of The Riviera mansion, recorded on MLS at $33.8 million, suggests that extraordinary house prices and “museum” quality once associated with Holmby Hills and Bel-Air mansions has moved west to the Palisades, the seller’s Realtor, Elizabeth Halsted of Berkshire Hathaway, told the
Palisadian-Post.

May 31
Close to 60 Palisadians gathered in the auditorium of Canyon Charter Elementary School on Thursday, May 24, to hear a proposed renovation of the campus by the Los Angeles Unified School District. In a project that is expected to take close to two years to complete and cost over $3 million, the school is set to undergo a major renovation that would eliminate nine temporary classrooms and replace them with a permanent two-story building, leaving the historic schoolhouse untouched.

June 14
On Thursday, June 7, hundreds of families gathered at Palisades Charter High School to see their students graduate at Stadium by the Sea.  The school’s prominent figures, including principal Dr. Pam Magee and Los Angeles Unified School District Board Member Nick Melvoin, opened the ceremony, congratulating the leaders of tomorrow. Out of the 701 students graduating, some committed to colleges in 25 states throughout the country and eight will study abroad, according to Magee. Six have enrolled in the armed forces and three have been accepted into military academies. Over 100 finished with a 4.0 GPA.

June 21
George Wolfberg was elected chair of the Pacific Palisades Community Council in a 15-8 victory on Thursday, June 14, after 23 PPCC representatives elected new leadership for the 2018-19 year. Wolfberg, who served as chair from 2002 to 2004, replaced outgoing president Maryam Zar and was joined by current Highlands representative Peter Culhane as vice-chair, Richard Cohen as treasurer and Chris Spitz as secretary. Both Cohen and Spitz have also served as PPCC chairs in the past.

July 5
In a presentation before the Pacific Palisades Land Use Committee, attorney Michael Gonzales and Ira Handelman, a longtime city hall lobbyist, presented a new 29,355-square-foot building that has been proposed to take over the Jack in the Box lot at 17346 Sunset Blvd. for their client Masoud Michael Aminpour. The proposed 40-unit dwelling will not have a drive-thru, according to Gonzales, and instead will host 3,000 square feet of retail space on the first floor, with three stories of residential space above it. One underground floor will also be built for parking.

July 12
The Palisades Parade made its way through town on July 4, celebrating “70 Years of Cheers!” Members of Carey Peck Skydiving Team, led by Tom Falzone, touched down at Sunset Boulevard and Swarthmore Avenue, signaling the start of the parade. Honorary Co-Mayors Billy and Janice Crystal shared with the Post that they hope that the parade grows each year with more homemade floats. 

July 19
On Wednesday, July 11, the California Coastal Commission denied an appeal to the proposed eldercare facility at 1525 Palisades Drive in The Highlands at a hearing in Santa Cruz—marking the latest development in a months-long debacle that has taken social media and Palisadian community meetings by storm. At the hearing, attorneys for developer Rony Shram and the appellants, Pacific Palisades Residents Association, were given five minutes for a final statement before a decision was given.

August 16
Bringing decades of experience running a business in Pacific Palisades with him, Bob Benton was elected president of the Pacific Palisades Chamber of Commerce. His presidency became effective September 1 and has included the first-ever Chamber Christmas Stroll, which took place on Friday, Nov. 30. “We’re going to be more retail-oriented,” Benton told the Palisadian-Post after his election, “because we have 40 to 50 new retailers coming to town.”

September 6
After a contentious race, Steve Cron and Alan Goldsmith were announced winners of the Area 2 and at-large representative positions, respectively, by the Pacific Palisades Community Council. Candidates began their terms on October 11.

September 13
The number of students who ride the bus at Palisades Charter High School took a sharp decrease after the Board of Trustees voted to increase bus fees at the end of last semester, according to a report by Don Parcell, the school’s director of operations. The vote to increase the price to $215 a month was made along with a provision to install a more thorough screening process of families that receive transportation aid from the school.

September 27
After two years of construction and four years in the making, Caruso’s Palisades Village opened to much fanfare Saturday morning, September 22, in the heart of Pacific Palisades. The grand opening weekend included a Black Tie Gala on Thursday, September 20, followed by preview parties on Friday and the ribbon-cutting on Saturday.

October 18
Documents obtained by the Post suggest Caruso filed a legal suit against restaurateurs Gianni and Nicole Vietina who were creating “F dei M by Madeo,” an Italian concept restaurant—a spinoff from their famous Madeo restaurant in Beverly Hills—for breach of contract and breach of guaranty on June 22. On September 4, the Vietinas filed a lawsuit of their own, with strong allegations of fraud and unfair business practice. As 2018 came to a close, both parties were working on coming to an agreement, with the next court date scheduled for April 2019.

October 25
In mid-October it was revealed that renters interested in living in one of eight one- to three-bedroom apartments at Palisades Village would pay up to $38,000 per month. Alternatively, a three-bedroom, three-bathroom home in the Alphabet Streets was available full furnished for $10,000 per month.

November 1
Efforts by residents of Marquette Street looking to enlist the help of community leaders to stop or delay an incoming development of eight homes with swimming pools were thwarted at the Pacific Palisades Community Council meeting on Thursday, October 25. On November 8, developer Cosimo Pizzulli attended the meeting to answer questions from the council, which decided to ask the city of LA to “to seriously consider detailed concerns of the project’s neighbors and for the developer to provide all plans to the community, including sewer and sewer ejector plans.”

November 8
The Veterans’ Gardens project at the Palisades Recreation Center—with Jimmy Dunne and Bob Harter at the helm—took another step toward approval after passing with a unanimous vote. With close to $600,000 allocated toward the project, the gardens will feature five separate “living rooms in the park” with “comfortable seating and dining arrangements” surrounded by gardens as well as bocce ball courts.

The Pacific Palisades Farmers Market is reportedly looking to return to the Village from Palisades Charter High School—but instead of heading back to Swarthmore Avenue, the market is looking at the possibility of operating on Antioch Street, Pacific Palisades Chamber of Commerce President Bob Benton confirmed. Community members and vendors are hoping the plan to return is finalized in the beginning of 2019.

November 15
Beginning on November 8, the Woolsey fire ripped through neighboring cities, burning through more than 96,000 acres across Malibu, Thousand Oaks, Calabasas and Agoura Hills. Though the Palisades remained out of the fire’s path, events like the Home Tour had to be rescheduled due to smoke, and a portion of Pacific Coast Highway was shut down.

Roughly six weeks after the grand opening of Palisades Village, the Bay Theatre by Cinépolis Luxury Cinemas opened on Swarthmore to the public on November 9. “Our goal was always to absolutely respect the Pacific Palisades coastal neighborhood,” Cinépolis representative Jonathan Lopez said.

December 6
On Friday, Nov. 30, the holiday season kicked into high gear with low temperatures, festive lights glowing—and Palisadians filling the streets for the Pacific Palisades Chamber of Commerce’s first-ever Christmas Stroll. Wanting to try something new, the Chamber planned an evening that was different than their past signature event: the Holiday Ho!Ho!Ho!

December 20
The Pacific Palisades Community Council Holiday Dinner & Awards Gala at Gladstones honored five Palisadians—Arnie Wishnick, Jimmy Dunne, Bob Harter, John Steadman and Dede Vliestra—for their commitment and work for the community.