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PALIHI BASEBALL PREVIEW

Charging Towards a Championship

Infielders (left to right) Andy Megee, Dylan Cohen, David Bromberg, Matt Skolnik and Frederick Douglas will turn their share of double plays at George Robert Field this spring.
Infielders (left to right) Andy Megee, Dylan Cohen, David Bromberg, Matt Skolnik and Frederick Douglas will turn their share of double plays at George Robert Field this spring.
Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer

How do you top a near-perfect season? That’s the unanswered question in the dugout of the Palisades High varsity baseball team, which came within two outs of finishing undefeated in the Western League last spring. To at least one player, the answer to that lingering question is simple. “Obviously, the way you top that is to be perfect, to go undefeated,” says junior second baseman Matt Skolnik. “This team is better than last year’s. We’ve got better pitching, better pitching and we’re going into the season better prepared.” Part of that preparation was an arduous off-season program instituted by new speed and conditioning coach and ex-PaliHi player Greg Strausberg. Several players have benefited from the extra reps in the weight room and long-distance running implemented into the Dolphins’ training regimen. “There’s a huge difference from where I was at the start of last season to where I am now,” senior pitcher David Bromberg says. “I’m in much better shape, I feel a lot stronger and that has really improved the velocity on my fastball. I’m throwing my fastball 88 to 90 miles an hour.” To duplicate or even improve upon last season’s 14-1 league record, Palisades will favor consistency–playing “small ball” rather than relying on one or two big plays–to win games. The team’s motto is inscribed on the back of every player’s practice jersey: “Get to the yard early… leave late.” “Pitching and defense are the backbone of our team,” says Tom Seyler, who will share the head coaching duties with Kelly Loftus as they did last year when they took over for Russ Howard. “With David [Skolnik] and Dylan [Cohen] up the middle, we’ve got a great double play combination. We’re not fast enough to do a lot of straight steals but you can bet we’ll play hit-and-run and lay down sacrifice bunts all day long.” Lost to graduation are the aces of last year’s pitching staff, Geoff Schwartz and Andrew Strassner. In their place will be right-handers Bromberg and Folse, both second-team All-League selections in 2004. Bromberg will double as the Dolphins’ starting first baseman and Folse will patrol center field. “We’re going to rely on our starters to pitch five or six innings and hope we can bring in Mitchell [Schwartz] or Cole [Cook] to squash out any late rallies,” Seyler says. “And Matt [Skolnik] will be our closer. He’s not afraid to throw strikes, he has a good curve, a good change up, and he proved last year he can handle pressure situations.” Bromberg, who is being scouted by several major league teams, including the Twins, Padres and Yankees, says he feels less urgency to strike out every batter knowing he has a solid defense behind him: “I really trust my infield. I don’t have to be afraid when I’m down in the count because I know my guys can make the play.” A key to Pali’s success could be the progress behind the plate of junior Tim Sunderland, who will try to fill the shoes of graduated catcher Adam Franks, last year’s league most valuable player. Sunderland was the backstop last season for the junior varsity squad, which did go undefeated’its only blemish a tie with Hamilton. “We have to be smarter and play better fundamentally than our opponents,” senior Frederick Douglas says. “Our coaches do a great job coming up with a strategy for each team and its our job to execute it.” Douglas and sophomore Andy Megee are still competing for the starting spot at third base. Senior Monte Doebel-Hickock will start in left field, sophomore Austin Jones in right. Rounding out the squad are junior outfielders Jeff Dauber, Seri Kattan-Wright, Bobby Hicks and Alex Pekelis. “First we want to win league again, but beyond that we want to go deep into the playoffs,” says Cohen, who earned first-team All-League honors with Skolnik last spring. “Our lineup should be pretty good, especially the top five guys in the order. We’re all pretty tough outs.” The Dolphins enter the season with three objectives: defend their league title, qualify for the City’s upper division playoffs and win a postseason game. “We exceeded expectations last year but I’m disappointed we couldn’t win that playoff game,” Seyler says, referring to Pali’s first-round loss to San Fernando. “It’s important to beat the good [San Fernando Valley] schools because that’s how you earn respect for your team and your league.” Palisades holds its annual alumni fundraiser Saturday, February 26, then opens the season with an intersectional game March 4 at Oxnard. Three days later, the Dolphins will travel to San Fernando with a chance to prove they are better than the team the Tigers beat in June. League play begins March 28 against University. Cohen started alongside Skolnik at Dodger Stadium when Palisades won the City Invitational playoffs two years ago, and he relishes the thought of going back. “That was a great experience, but nothing would compare with playing for the City championship.” Junior Varsity Preparing his players for varsity will be the primary goal for second-year coach David Kloser, who guided the JV to a 14-0-1 league record last spring. Kloser is also an author and he visits Village Books tonight to discuss and sign copies of his new book, “Stepping Up to the Plate: Inspiring Interviews with Major Leaguers.” The Dolphins’ JV squad features a mix of talented underclassmen. Freshmen include first baseman Zach Dauber, second basemen Jared Sklar and Alex Meadow, outfielders Jonathan Kramer, Brian Hanson, Riley Evans, Elliott Engelmann and Michael Latt, and catchers Lucas Berry, Alejandro Medrano and Garrett Champion. Sophomores are short stop Adam Greene, third baseman/pitcher William Buckner, first basemen/pitchers Johnny Bromberg and Robert Rosenberg and outfielders Alexander Hubbs, Jack Eller and Jake Jesson.

Breaking New Ground

View of Hill House from Chautauqua Blvd., south of Sunset. Photo by Eric Staudenmaier, courtesy of Johnston Marklee & Associates
View of Hill House from Chautauqua Blvd., south of Sunset. Photo by Eric Staudenmaier, courtesy of Johnston Marklee & Associates

For Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee, partners in the L.A. architectural firm of Johnston Marklee, necessity truly is the mother of invention. Faced with the challenge of a severely sloped, uneven hillside lot in the Palisades’and a profusion of building codes and restrictions’the husband-and-wife architectural team hatched an award-winning design by embracing the restraints. Indeed, Hill House, the strikingly spare and elegant residence at 338 Chautauqua, is a study in how to recast classic modernism to conform to current codes. In Los Angeles, hillside ordinances are increasingly restrictive in terms of height and massing and more stringent in regard to structural supports. Iconic works of the 1950s, including many hillside-perched Case Study houses, would be difficult to recreate given today’s mandates. They would look like Case Study houses on steroids, Lee notes with a laugh. ‘We saw the constraints as having generative possibilities,’ says Lee, who refers to Hill House, completed last October, as the firm’s most complex project to date. Tackling the puzzle of how to maximize square footage while limiting height and minimizing contact with the terrain had a seductive payoff: the site’s panoramic view from Rustic and Sullivan Canyons to Santa Monica Bay. Hill House’s sculptural shape, a confluence of connecting planes, evolved specifically from the building restrictions, with a computer used to synthesize the setback, height and other requirements to arrive at a maximum building envelope. Structure normally accounts for about 20 percent of a building’s budget. For Hill House, it was closer to half of the total cost, with 23 caissons supporting a house that, ironically, hides all external expression of support. Instead, the three-story structure seems to hang effortlessly on the hillside, with the canyon face of the house having the appearance of a suspended prow. It’s no accident that the jutting-out-into-the-canyon feature is reminiscent of Pierre Koenig’s classic Case Study House #22. Johnston Marklee inserted Julius Shulman’s famous photograph of that house into one of their computer-generated schematics of Hill House. When they approached Shulman for permission to use the photo, a friendship ensued, along with Shulman’s enthusiastically agreeing to document Hill House, photographs that will soon be auctioned for charity. The architects also had the nearby Eames House in mind when designing the 3,300 square foot Hill House, conscious of contributing their link to the Case Study House experimentation chain. Contribute they have, with Hill House earning a NextLA Honor award and garnering accolades for its precedent-setting and inspiration for new projects. The sculptural quality of the house is enhanced by a lavender-tinged exterior coating that stretches over the structure uniformly like a skin. An imposing cantilevered second floor floats over the entry, setting the stage for the major drama within: two glass walls that slide open to invite a breathtaking indoor/outdoor relationship with the canyon. ‘Our style is set by circumstance,’ says Johnston. Lee echoes this sentiment, stating: ‘We don’t impose a look. Rather the look evolves.’ Since establishing their firm in 1998, the couple has applied their ‘form follows function’ philosophy to a wide range of projects, from residences in Malibu to Marfa,Texas’where a current commission is that city’s public library’to exhibition spaces at LACMA. Johnston grew up in Malibu; Lee is originally from Hong Kong. The couple met at Harvard, where they earned their architectural degrees, and both are faculty members at UCLA. While Johnston Marklee may have played by the rules with the building of Hill House, they are provocatively breaking the rules in other areas, turning a recently completed modernist bungalow in Venice into an art installation (with the blessing of the then absentee owners; the residence is now occupied). The main event was a party that attracted hundreds to see wall drawings by abstract artist Jeff Elrod, hear a sound installation by Howard Goldkrand and M. Singe and experience environments created by painter Jack Pierson. Another project was by Livia Corona, who engaged actors to appear in a series of photographs, using the house as the main character in a surrealistic narrative. ‘Residential architecture is L.A.’s greatest legacy,’ Johnston says. ‘It was fun to turn this legacy on its side by making residential very non-residential.’ ‘For Mark and me, humor is important,’ continues Sharon, who is expecting the couple’s first child this month. ‘There are multiple ways to look at architecture. It doesn’t have to be so serious.’ What the couple did take seriously was the historical context of the Venice residence, known as Sale House, which was commissioned to complement the 2-4-6-8 Studio, one of the first structures designed in 1978 by Morphosis, a renowned firm revered by both Johnston and Lee. As a child, Lee visited Los Angeles and remembers knowing then that he eventually wanted to live here. ‘This city is filled with optimism. There’s a sense that anything’s possible.’

Palisades Actors Hit Big Time

Actor Is Discovered at Kay n Daves

Riley Kershaw, a fifth grader at Palisades Elementary, was discovered for the leading role in the short film ‘Pee Shy’ while dining at his favorite local restaurant, Kay ‘n’ Dave’s. Riley, who has bright red hair and a charismatic personality, was still in costume as Conrad Birdie, whom he was playing in ‘Bye Bye Birdie’ for the Brat Pack Players production last summer, directed by Nancy Cassaro Fracchiolla. He noticed that a couple of women were staring at him. Finally one of the women approached him and asked if he had done any acting. He said yes, and they asked if he could come to audition for their movie. Director Deb Hagan and producer Leslie Evers decided to cast him as the lead boy, Bobby, in ‘Pee Shy.’ The film premiered January 11 at the American Film Institute and is just starting the festival circuit. The movie is a clever story by Kathy Hepinstall about how a scout gets revenge on a sadistic troop leader. Riley splits his time with mother Paige Kamin and step-dad Doug Kamin in the Palisades and with his father Chris Kershaw in the Hollywood area. ‘The experience was really great,’ said Riley. ‘I got to do some things I’d never thought I’d get to do until I was at least 20 or 30. I thought I’d be much older before I got to do movies like that.’ Riley celebrated his 11th birthday during the four-day shoot last July. ‘I didn’t know there would be so many kids and my chances would be so slim,’ he said. ‘I felt really great getting my part.’ Riley wants to pursue a career in acting after college. ‘I’m sure I’ll have to get some other job, settle for something else for a little while.’ His first acting job was at 2 years old for The Broadway Department Stores television commercial jumping up and down on mattresses. He sang his first solo at The Gardner School in Hollywood at age 5 before moving to the Palisades. He has studied acting with Jay McAdams, since kindergarten in the afterschool STAR program and performed two seasons with Kids on Stage in ‘West Side Story’ and ‘My Fair Lady.’ Riley will be appearing in TP Kids’ ‘Seussical,’ opening this weekend. ‘To anyone who wants to be an actor or actress, just be yourself and do the best that you can. Just go for it all the way even if you don’t get the part,’ said Riley, who is also interested in poetry and drums. Young Actor Has Lead Role in Sundance Short Film Young actor Chad Ceccola, 13, has a starring role in ‘Eating,’ a short film that was screened at the Sundance Film Festival. An eighth grader at Paul Revere, Chad has been acting since age 5 and has been studying most recently with Taylor Sheridan. In the film, Chad plays Young Dave, featured prominently in flashback sequences, when Dave, an obese man in his 30s, remembers the traumatic event that triggered his struggle with food. Chad plays Dave as a thin 12-year-old, who turns to food for comfort after a troubling incident. ‘It was really fun. It was a great experience,’ said Chad. ‘The cast and crew were great to joke around with.’ What he likes about acting is ‘being someone I’m not for a day, a minute or an hour and not really having to change my whole life.’ Chad attended the Sundance Festival along with his mother Catherine, also an actress. ‘It was the best vacation I ever had,’ said Chad, who was asked to stand up after the screening. Chad also studies Italian after school as his father Vince is Italian. ‘Schoolwork comes first,’ says the 13-year-old, who has appeared in plays around Los Angeles and in the independent films ‘Insanity’ and ‘Joan of Arc.’ He is continuing to audition for parts. ‘I’m having a lot of fun with it and I just want to be doing it for a long time.’ ‘Eating,’ directed by Rebecca Cutter, was one of 82 short films selected from 3,887 submissions to Sundance.

‘As You Like It’ Speaks to the Soul

Theater Review

What would a Shakespearean comedy be without a forest where characters could run and hide or lose themselves between here and there? There would be no transformative journey, no place for unlikely characters and lovers to unite. Shakespeare’s 16th-century classic ‘As You Like It’ is similar in structure to his other festive comedies”Much Ado about Nothing’ and ‘Twelfth Night”but its pastoral setting, the Forest of Arden, is more disorienting. The characters who come together in the forest are jilted out of their ordinary lives, forced to reevaluate their situations and explore a new existence. Director Sir Peter Hall captures the play’s essential spirit of discovery and renewal in memorable back-to-back scenes performed by a sensational cast, now playing at the Ahmanson Theatre through March 27. The production originated in England’s Theatre Royal Bath and has been touring since 2003. The Forest of Arden is not the mythical ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ idyll except in its charming aura of freedom and equality. It’s a place where men must survive as brothers and embrace a communal way of living. It’s here that a virtuous Duke and his loyal followers retreat when the Duke’s usurping younger brother, Frederick, banishes him. James Laurenson plays both Dukes, which is initially confusing if you don’t follow the costume/role change. The forest challenges the exiled courtiers’ mental and physical strength, and they frequently refer to it as ‘a desert place’ to emphasize its harsh natural conditions. Yet we are reminded of the more unbearable society life they left behind through the juxtaposition of scenes of the exiles listening to sweet-sounding, live folk music/caroling in the forest with Duke Frederick giving orders in his rigid, unfeeling court. The projected forest, designed by John Gunter, transforms more naturally than magically from a bone-stark winterscape to a lacy lime- and moss-green pastoral setting during the course of the play, a metaphor for the characters’ inner transformation and rebirth. The courtiers and shepherds who meet in the forest are played by a British cast that seems equally moved by the play’s emotional soul-searching. Running the show is Rebecca Hall, the director’s daughter, in the role of Rosalind. At times playfully girlish (or tomboyish), Hall maintains an underlying sense of seriousness concerning matters of love and romance. Rosalind is the daughter of the banished Duke, and flees to the forest in search of him when she can no longer stand her evil uncle’s temper. But before leaving, she meets the boyish-looking but strong Orlando, who wins a wrestling match that his own evil brother Oliver has organized to destroy him. Rosalind sympathizes with his situation and falls in love with the tongue-tied Orlando, played by Dan Stevens, who evokes all the moral strength, passion and lovesick awkwardness of this character. When Rosalind learns that he is the youngest son of Sir Rowland de Boys, whom her father loved dearly, she acknowledges in typical Shakespearean fashion that it makes sense that she should then love Orlando. They meet again in the forest, but this time Rosalind and her devoted cousin Celia are dressed as a shepherd boy called Ganymede and his sister Aliena, so that they can travel safely. When Rosalind realizes that Orlando has been carving her name on trees posted with his love poems about her, she offers to give him good counsel to cure him of his love. Thus begins the comical mock courtship in which Orlando woos Ganymede as though ‘he’ were Rosalind. In the role of Celia, Rebecca Callard gives a strong performance alongside the leading lady, with her sarcastic, eye-rolling responses to Rosalind’s playful scheming. Callard also evokes Celia’s sense of liberation in the forest through her dance-like movements and ability to appear comfortably at home against the trunk of a tree. The development of the love affair between Rosalind and Orlando is a rather simple story since we see them get to know each other, scene by scene, but there are multiple subplots that make the play difficult to follow at times. One that we do follow is the shaky relationship between Silvius and Phoebe, the doting shepherd and quirky shepherdess whom Rosalind tries to unite despite Phoebe’s kicking and screaming. ‘Sell when you can!’ she tells the not-so-lovely Phoebe. ‘You are not for all markets.’ But when Phoebe falls for Ganymede instead, Rosalind knows she must set everything straight. Charlotte Parry plays a hysterical Phoebe, who can evade a man’s grasp, mock him, throw a girlish tantrum and fall sheepishly in love with another. Hall delivers her many speeches on love and romance with deep sincerity and passion, although her voice trembles at times in a way that makes it difficult to understand some of her words. The play as a whole feels more like a journey of the soul with all of the emotional ups and downs of real life than a comedy through and through, but Rosalind’s comedic matchmaking at the end leaves us on a high note. Of course, all the loose ends, including the Phoebe and Silvius debacle, are quickly tied in perfect bows in the last 10 minutes of the three-hour performance. The Ahmanson Theatre is located at 135 N. Grand Ave. in Downtown Los Angeles. Contact: (213) 628-2772.

Renaissance, Landlord Settle; School to Vacate Site June 30

With only four months remaining on its lease, Renaissance Academy signed a settlement agreement last Thursday with Village Real Estate, owner of the 881 Alma Real building where the school is located. As part of the agreement, both parties dropped their lawsuits against each other, and the school will remain in the building until June 30. Scott Adler, the school’s contractor and a board member, told the Palisadian-Post Tuesday that Renaissance had agreed to the settlement because ‘although we thought we had an excellent case against them [owners of the building], focusing on the school is much more important than how much money we get.’ Renaissance, which has an enrollment of 320 students in grades 9 through 12, filed a civil lawsuit against Village Real Estate November 12 in an attempt to gain more use of its renovated 13,600 sq. ft. of space through June. The battle between the school and owners began last September, after the school had only been in session for three days, when Greg Schem, a managing partner of the building, gave Renaissance a notice of termination of the lease effective June 2005. Schem, who leases the school a suite on the ground level (suite 114, restricted to office use) and terrace-level suites T-8 and T-9, told the Post in an e-mail that according to the settlement agreement, ‘RA has the option to give back about half of its space on the first [ground-level] floor and will complete the build-out of about 1,000 sq. ft. in suite T-9, which was originally part of its premises.’ Construction in T-9 was halted last August when black mold was discovered. After the mold was removed, Schem questioned the school’s plans for the space, which became a subject of the lawsuit Renaissance filed against Village Real Estate. The owners responded to the lawsuit January 5 with a countersuit, but also gave Renaissance a settlement option. Work on T-9 began last Saturday, according to Adler, who said, ‘We’re adding two rooms’production studios A and B.’ He expects the space to be finished by this weekend. Adler, who is also an RA parent, said that the school intends to give back about 2,500 to 3,000 sq. ft. of space in suite 114, approximately half of its leased ground-level space. This would then give Schem the right to re-lease the space, after tearing out most of the school’s improvements. ‘We’d have to pretty much gut it because we’re not going to put a school back there,’ Schem said, explaining that most of his tenants require small, individual office spaces. Schem also wrote in his e-mail letter that the owners ‘have also agreed to notify Fancy Feet, Gerry Blanck Karate, Kumon, and any other terrace-level tenants that we would [now] consent to a proposed sublease on the terrace level, provided they do not extend beyond June 30.’ Adler confirmed that the school is subleasing the one-room space from Kumon as well as another room on the terrace level, where Renaissance will pick up about 1,700 sq. ft. to use as classrooms. The school will continue to hold some classes at Aldersgate Retreat Center, and occasionally at the YMCA and Mort’s Oak Room. Other parts of the settlement include a Student Traffic and Building Impact Plan submitted by Renaissance and a revised Student Conduct Policy which Schem said ‘will seek to reduce any detrimental impact to other building tenants and the community’ while the school continues to occupy the space. He added that the owners have also ‘agreed to release any remaining tenant improvement allowances owed,’ referring to the $75,000 promised for tenant improvements as part of the lease. ‘Overall, we are pleased to have been able to come to a mutually acceptable settlement on this difficult matter,’ Schem said. ‘We wish RA good luck in their future location and will now focus on re-leasing the soon-to-be-vacated space.’ In the settlement, Renaissance will not be getting back from Village Real Estate any of the nearly $500,000 it claims it spent on renovations. ‘That’s part of the LAUSD case,’ Adler said, referring to the lawsuit Renaissance filed against the Los Angeles Unified School District last June when the District refused its request for space. ‘LAUSD is more responsible for our dilemma than the [owners of the Alma Real building]. And you can’t collect twice.’ A hearing on that case is scheduled for March 11. ‘Palisades High School is still our first choice for a school site,’ said Adler, who confirmed that Renaissance is pursuing other sites, including Glabman’s furniture building on Barrington and Olympic, and space on other school campuses such as Webster Middle School in West Los Angeles.

Five Arrested for Graffiti in Highlands

LAPD senior lead officer Chris Ragsdale (left) and Bel-Air Patrol Highlands senior lead officer Aaron Sias inspect the elaborate graffiti in the concrete storm run-off basin adjacent to  Santa Ynez Park in the Highlands.
LAPD senior lead officer Chris Ragsdale (left) and Bel-Air Patrol Highlands senior lead officer Aaron Sias inspect the elaborate graffiti in the concrete storm run-off basin adjacent to Santa Ynez Park in the Highlands.
Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer

Five local youths and young men have been arrested for trespassing and vandalism after being caught spray painting a concrete storm run-off basin adjacent to the Santa Ynez Park entrance off Palisades Drive in the Highlands. LAPD Senior Lead Officer Chris Ragsdale was tipped off to the graffiti problem recently by local residents, park rangers and Bel-Air Patrol Highlands senior lead officer Aaron Sias. Two juvenile suspects were arrested on January 24 and two adult suspects and one juvenile suspect were arrested on February 1. The arrested suspects are all male, and range in age from 16 to 21’two live in Pacific Palisade, two are from Brentwood and one from Santa Monica. The suspects will all appear in court and face penalties such as fines, probation and community service. In certain cases, adults could get jail time. The ‘taggers’ had clearly been painting in the storm-drain channel for quite a while, as the walls and floor are nearly covered with graffiti. Ragsdale is working on having ‘No Trespassing’ signs put up in the area, which is closed to the public. He warmed that is particularly dangerous for people because it could easily become flooded in heavy rains, owing to runoff from the mountains. Also, if there are problems in the nearby reservoir, water could be released and cause a flash flood. In addition, all debris left in the area goes straight to the ocean via the channel. A group of taggers recently noticed several Bel-Air patrolmen in the area and ran off; park rangers later found two boxes containing about 40 cans of spray paint, respirators, a camera and a five-foot ladder. Graffiti vandalism has also spread through the Palisades Drive area, hitting lightpoles, mailboxes, trees and nearby streets. One license plate of a car that dropped taggers off in the area was traced back to the Highlands. The art itself is elaborate and includes a small dragon and various stylized nicknames. On one wall is scrawled ‘Cops got me on the run.’ The area is officially part of L.A. City parkland. Sias said that the tagging generally occurs sporadically from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., occasionally up to three times a day. ‘We want to stop the problem,’ said Ragsdale, who added that the LAPD is scheduling surveillance of the area using a volunteer surveillance team and community groups.

Angela Reddock Brings Business and Civic Experience to City Council Race

As a lawyer, business owner and civic leader who serves on the city, county and state levels, Angela Reddock believes her combination of business and civic skills makes her the best candidate for the 11th District City Council seat. The seat will be vacated by termed-out Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski in June. Reddock is running against fellow first-time political candidates Bill Rosendahl and Flora Gil Krisiloff in the nonpartisan primary election March 8. Appointed to the City’s Transportation Commission by Mayor James Hahn in January 2002, Reddock advises the Department of Transportation on traffic issues, but feels frustrated by the lack of resources devoted to mitigating traffic. As a councilperson, she would like to serve on the transportation, budget and environmental affairs committees and be part of redirecting the priorities of the city. Her campaign slogan is ‘Putting People and Neighborhoods First.’ A partner in the law firm Collins, Mesereau, Reddock & Yu, LLP, Reddock, 35, grew up in the suburbs of Birmingham, Alabama, in a close-knit extended family. ‘I spent a lot of time with my grandmother,’ she told attendees at the Palisades AARP meeting last week. She recalled joining her grandmother, an assistant in a convalescent home, on a picket line, fighting for fair wages. When she was 9, she and her mother, an administrative assistant, moved to Los Angeles, where her mother’s siblings already lived, ‘in search of the good life on the West Coast.’ They settled in Compton, where Reddock attended elementary school and began her involvement in student government. Her junior high school had a sister program with Brentwood School, where Reddock attended high school. ‘It was my first connection with the Westside and I’ve been on this side ever since,’ said Reddock who lives in Westchester. Reddock was encouraged to look into East Coast colleges by a Brentwood teacher who himself had attended Amherst College, where she ended up studying political science and English. She spent her junior year abroad at Oxford University. ‘I love the East Coast, but I love L.A. more, so I came back,’ she said. Immediately after college, Reddock was one of 12 Coro Foundation fellows, a year-long fellowship in examining different areas of government, from public affairs to nonprofits and government entities and, ‘how they work together to build consensus and get things done.’ Reddock worked on L.A. County Supervisor Yvonne Burke’s campaign and interned with LAUSD, MTA and other governmental agencies. She interviewed civic leaders including Kenneth Hahn and Willie Brown. ‘It was my first opportunity as an adult to hone leadership skills, shine as needed but also learn the art of mediation and consensus-building in a group. I decided whatever else I do professionally, I’d be involved in government.’ After graduating from UCLA Law School in 1995, she began her law career at a boutique firm specializing in employment and labor law, and spent eight years at the L.A. branch of Jackson Lewis, a national firm. ‘I was on the partnership track, but I wanted the freedom to be involved civically and and to pursue my entrepreneurial passions.’ Currently, she is a co-owner of an executive transportation service on the Westside as well as managing partner at her law firm which specializes in employment law. The part of her work she is most proud of is the training she does for large companies’training workforce and management on preventing discrimination, harrassment and workplace violence. She also has served on nonprofit boards, such as the executive committee for Ability First. Supervisor Burke appointed her to serve on the County Small Business Development Commission in October 2002. Reddock was surprised when former Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson asked her to serve on the State Board of Barbering and Cosmetology in 2003, since she has no experience in the field. ‘He said ‘The reason we need you on the board is that you understand how to create policy and regulation.’ It’s a heavily regulated industry and we fall under the Consumer Protection Agency.’ Her priorities while in office would be traffic, public safety, environment and development but first and foremost addressing the needs of the district’s residents. ‘Making sure I deliver in our local services that our tax dollars pay for’filling potholes, fixing sidewalks and trimming trees,’ she said. ‘These are the things we’re in business to do at the city council level.’ Traffic, she said, is a citywide issue. ‘To get to the root of the problem, we have to look at regional solutions, working with the 14 other councilmembers to get traffic moving on major thoroughfares’Wilshire, Lincoln, Sepulveda and Santa Monica boulevards’streets that go through multiple districts. A large part of our ability to make change within our city depends upon funding we receive on the county, state and federal levels. ‘I want to be sure we receive a better share of these dollars for public safety. I want to preserve and possibly build or enhance current open spaces. Everyone wants to build here, and we are starting to lose the quality of our existing neighborhoods. Planning is taking place in an ad hoc fashion.’ Reddock would like to call a summit, bringing together residents, stakeholders, business leaders and experts in planning and development to talk about development needs in the district and put together a strategic plan. ‘My goal is to involve as many interested members of the community as possible.’ In fact, this goal is pervasive in her campaign. ‘People feel distant from City Hall, that their voices are not always heard and that they don’t have full access,’ Reddock said. ‘People are frustrated. They want to feel as though they have a connection to their elected representative. This would be a priority for me and my staff.’ If elected, Reddock would hire a chief of staff, deputies on certain issues as well as deputies specializing in various neighborhoods. ‘Resident-constituents can have direct access. When they call our office, they’re going to get a return call within 24 hours by someone who knows their neighborhood and issues.’ She also plans to hold office hours throughout the district where people can meet with her one-on-one or as groups. She would continue to attend community meetings as she has throughout her campaign. Another of her ideas is to form 11th District advisory groups, made up of neighborhood and business leaders, which would meet quarterly. ‘Many of our issues are the same throughout the district. I want to foster the spirit that we all live in a common place, share common concerns and can work together to reach common solutions.’ Reddock began campaigning late last summer and her field team consists of director Pirikana Johnson and two top UCLA students. ‘It’s a family effort, my mother and aunt are heavily involved with day-to-day operations,’ she said. Reddock set up her campaign office on Sepulveda in Westchester a month ago. ‘Business associates who have known me and seen me in action are committed to helping me get the word out.’ Reddock, who is single, has a brother who is a senior at Southern Texas University. Her father, who served in Vietnam and is retired from the Army, also lives in Texas. As busy as she is in the political drama, Reddock still makes time for her spiritual life as an active member at Citizens of Zion Baptist Church in Compton. ‘I know firsthand what it is to be an advocate,’ said Reddock, who adds that ‘as a litigator, I spend most of my time discouraging litigation, because it is an enormous use of resources.’ She believes the City should use consensus and mediation more to work through problems. Two examples are Playa Vista development and LAX expansion. ‘The current litigation against these projects could have been prevented had elected representatives brought stakeholders to the table earlier in the process and said ‘Let’s talk about this and see what we can do to build consensus and address everyone’s concerns to the extent possible.” Living so close to the airport, Reddock is personally affected by LAX expansion, and opposes the existing plan. ‘If we’re going to spend dollars on anything, we need to spend it on taking cars off the street and not encouraging more cars. We’ve got to increase spending for the Green Line so it goes all the way to the airport. [Currently it stops a mile from the airport.] Reddock is interested in regional airport solutions and encouraging people to use airports in Palmdale, Ontario and Orange County. Reddock said she wouldn’t trade the experience of campaigning for anything. ‘No experience in my life has allowed me to work with so many wonderful people, to delve into so many issues that really affect our everyday lives. ‘Imagine what we could do if the city worked together. I want to focus on the big picture and not just putting on Band-Aids. Otherwise my time in office would be null and void.’

IDEAS Studio to Open on Marquez

The new IDEAS Studio, a science and technology-related enrichment center, is scheduled to open by May in the 2,500 sq.ft. site formerly occupied by Marquez Market. The studio founders are two Pacific Palisades residents who plan to offer innovative courses for children, from toddlers to preteens.
The new IDEAS Studio, a science and technology-related enrichment center, is scheduled to open by May in the 2,500 sq.ft. site formerly occupied by Marquez Market. The studio founders are two Pacific Palisades residents who plan to offer innovative courses for children, from toddlers to preteens.

The IDEAS Studio could open by May in the building formerly occupied by Marquez Market, corner of Marquez Avenue and Bollinger. More than two years in the planning, the studio is an enrichment center which will offer science and technology-related programs for children up to age 12. The six-week-long courses, which will be competitively priced with other enrichment programs, will offer four basic learning modules’the environment, the ocean, space, and the human body. ‘It’s a new way of teaching, and of learning,’ said Palisadian Maurizio Vecchione, the IDEAS Studio chairman and co-founder. ‘Our programs, which will be inter-disciplinary, are designed to enrich children in a new exciting, exploratory and participatory format.’ Vecchione, whose son attends elementary school in Santa Monica, said the 2,500 sq. ft. studio is inspired by the belief ‘that the journey of learning is just as much fun as the great ideas that are the result. Remember the last great idea you came up with? Remember what it felt like? What stimulates great ideas? We see the IDEAS Studio as a place where kids can imagine anything, and explore a world filled with adventure and surprise.’ He said the idea for the studio started when he and another Palisades dad, Zac Hartog, got to talking about the need to provide a unique learning experience in the area of science and technology, especially for younger children. The two men met when their children attended preschool at Kehillat Israel. ‘We wanted to create an environment where children enjoy bringing their ideas to life at their own pace, in a fun atmosphere where their surrounding becomes a third teacher,’ said co-founder and CEO Hartog, who is a producer and director of television commercials. He has two young daughters, the oldest of whom attends Marquez Elementary. ‘Unfortunately, we tend to think of science and technology as being for boys,’ he said. ‘At IDEAS, there will be no gender barrier.’ Course content will provide children the opportunity to take a virtual walk on the moon in a glass-enclosed, state-of-the-art computer lab designed to resemble NASA’s Mission Control. At a module known as gadget central, home to the LEGO Robot Family, kids will build, program and race robots in the Robo-arena. The high-tech science lab will offer a variety of opportunities, from making colored slime to analyzing a strand of hair under a digital microscope. Plans also call for a fully outfitted art/media lab, which will combine traditional arts and crafts with digital art where children can make their first movie, create their own art show, or launch their own family Web site. For the youngest explorers, there will be a colorfully padded arena filled with developmental toys and a gigantic soft block climbing pyramid. ‘When the kids walk in the door of IDEAS they’ll know this is not an ordinary studio,’ said Zac’s father, Michael Hartog, who is vice-president of design and development. ‘No matter what their age, there will be a lot for the children to explore.’ In the module on the ocean, for example, children will learn not only what makes a submarine float’and sink’but how it is built. And instead of children just playing video games at home, at the studio they will learn not only how these games are made but how to create their own. Quoting Albert Einstein in a company press release sent out this week (‘Imagination is more important than knowledge’), Vecchione, himself a physicist, said that IDEAS ‘will provide the opportunity for children to discover both. We believe that children need to explore, learn and enjoy at their own pace. Our teaching technologies are also being incorporated into programs being offered to private and public schools, as well as software, smart toys and interactive media.’ Class descriptions, schedules and pre-enrollment will soon be available on the IDEAS Studio Web site (www.theideastudio.com). Classes will be offered for toddlers during the day and for elementary and preteen students after school. Weekend courses are also planned, as is a summer camp.

Nissan Open Tees Off at Riviera Next Week

Fan favorite John Daly finished four strokes behind champion Mike Weir in last year's Nissan Open at Riviera Country Club.
Fan favorite John Daly finished four strokes behind champion Mike Weir in last year’s Nissan Open at Riviera Country Club.
Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer

Once again, Pacific Palisades will be the focus of attention in the sports world when the Nissan Open begins next Thursday at Riviera Country Club. Traditionally, the tournament draws one of the strongest fields on the PGA Tour’primarily because most of the top professionals love the opportunity to play one of the nation’s most prestigious and challenging courses. Palisades will play host to the Nissan Open, formerly known as the L.A. Open, for the 43rd time in the tournament’s 78-year history and Riviera grounds crews have been hard at work for a month preparing the greens and fairways for the wear and tear of a week-long event. Players have until 2 p.m. Pacific time Friday to officially commit to playing, but two-time defending champion Mike Weir is expected to try for his third consecutive win. So tough is the Riviera course that Tiger Woods, the best player in golf for most of the last seven years, has never won there in nine tries (two as an amateur and seven as a professional). He made a furious charge on the final day last year but finished seven strokes back. John Daly might not have won the event, but he won the popularity contest’getting a standing ovation from the gallery after shooting 13-under par. Weir held off Shigeki Maruyama to win last year’s title at 17-under par on a rain-soaked course. Weir beat Charles Howell III in a playoff in 2003. The purse for this year’s event will be $4,800,000, with the winner pocketing $864,000. Practice rounds will be Monday and Tuesday, followed by a Pro-Am on Wednesday. The tournament officially starts next Thursday morning and runs through Sunday, February 20. One of golf’s most unique and most famous holes, the par 4, 451-yard 18th at Riviera spells doom for countless players every year. The green rests below the clubhouse, providing spectators and media alike a natural amphitheater. The tee shot must be made blind from well below the fairway and travel about 220 yards to give the player a chance at birdey. The second shot requires a long iron or even a wood to reach the green. The television schedule will be as follows (all times Pacific): Thursday and Friday (Feb. 17-18) from noon to 3 p.m. on USA, Saturday (Feb. 19) from noon to 3 p.m. on ABC and Sunday (Feb. 20) from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. on ABC. Public parking will be at the VA Hospital in West L.A., where shuttles will be available throughout the day to drive ticket-holders to Riviera. Tickets can be purchased online at www.nissanopen.pgatour.com.

Palisadians Provide Scoring Punch to Brentwood Soccer

It often takes half a season for soccer players to get used to one another, but not for Nicki Maron and Amanda Lisberger. The two Palisadians needed all of two minutes of their first game together to produce their first goal and have been an unstoppable combination for the Brentwood girls’ varsity soccer team ever since. Though Maron is a senior and Lisberger only a freshman, they anticipate each others’ moves as if they have been teammates for years. Twelve times so far, one Palisadian has set the other up to score and, thanks in large part to their efforts, the Eagles will be in the playoffs next Friday. ‘This is my last chance so hopefully we can make it pretty far,’ Maron says. They may be three years apart in school but the two Palisadians live only three doors away at the top of Bienvenida. ‘Close’ not only applies to the proximity of the Eagles’ top scorers, but to the attitude that permeates the whole team. ‘We’re all really close this year,’ Maron says. ‘Our coach [David Foote] has organized bonding sessions and we genuinely get along. There’s a real sense of unity and I think the freshmen like Amanda have especially enjoyed the experience.’ A four-year starter and second-year captain, Maron has totaled six goals and eight assists from her center midfield position. But perhaps the most valuable asset she brings to her team is leadership. ‘Nicki is a great team player,’ says Lisberger, who was born in South Korea but has lived in the Palisades since being adopted when she was six months old. ‘She’s really patient, she guides you to do the right thing, she tells you what kind of runs to make and she takes perfect corner kicks. It’s so much fun to play with her. She makes everyone else on the team better.’ Maron likens her position to that of a quarterback in football and the role fits both her mentality and style of play: ‘It’s fun because you are the playmaker out there. You have to see the field and I believe that’s one of my strengths. I like to get other players involved and part of my job as captain is to motivate the players around me.’ When she’s not feeding a through ball to Lisberger or rocketing a corner kick across the goalmouth, Maron enjoys hanging out with friends at Cafe Vida or Coffee Bean, where her drink of choice is an ice blended pure half-and-half. ‘The Palisades is the best,’ Maron says. ‘I’ve lived here all my life and I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.’ Lisberger leads Brentwood (12-2-3) with 17 goals and nine assists. Her 26 points is a school single-season record, but the freshman forward cares more about winning the CIF title for her senior teammates: ‘If we could get Nicki and the other seniors a banner, that would be awesome. They deserve it.’ Maron is most impressed with Lisberger’s poise and personality: ‘Amanda is just fun to be around. She’s always got a smile on her face. And of course she’s an incredible player.’ Both girls are products of the local AYSO program (Region 69) and subsequently became charter members of the Westside Breakers Soccer Club. Maron stayed with the Breakers through her under-17 year, earning most valuable player honors in the 2001 Celtic Cup. Two years later, her team finished atop the gold division of the Coast Soccer League, with Maron netting the tying goal that helped propel the Breakers to a final four finish in the Cal South National Cup tournament. In June, Maron joined the Slammers, an under-19 Premier team based in Irvine. ‘Club is a higher level and a faster game, but there’s nothing like representing your school,’ says Maron, who wants to keep playing in college but has not yet chosen a school. ‘I’m really going to miss that.’ Like her fellow Palisadian, Lisberger excels in club soccer. She scored 41 goals in two seasons with the Westside Breakers before joining FRAM, a Palos Verdes-based Coast Soccer League team that went on to reach the semifinals of the Walt Disney Showcase in Orlando, Florida. In July, Lisberger switched to the defending United States Youth Soccer national champion Camarillo Eagles, the top-ranked girls under-15 team in the country. Since her arrival the team has a 33-1-3 record. ‘Club is fun because I get to play outside midfield,’ Lisberger says. ‘I like being able to play different positions. The cool thing is, I’m always an Eagle.’