For Palisadian businessman Jim Blumel, Tuesday, April 27 started off as another busy day. By 12:30 p.m., he was on his way from the Santa Clarita Valley office of his business, Sunset Landscaping, to an appointment in Calabasas. Heading southbound on the I-5, Blumel was going about 60 to 70 miles per hour when he saw a big-rig truck on fire, coming at him from the northbound lanes. ”’There was no way off the freeway,’ Blumel said in an interview with the Palisadian-Post. ‘When the truck stopped [in the right southbound lane], I was 100 ft. away.’ ”The big-rig’s driver, Jos’ Sanchez, was transporting 24 tons of municipal waste when his truck crashed through a guardrail and hit a parked truck full of hazardous materials. ”’We think [Jos’s truck] blew a front tire,’ said Sanchez’s manager at Ecology Autoparts, Saul Gracian, who arrived at the scene 30 to 45 minutes after the accident. ‘When the truck came to a stop, it was hanging off a 45-ft. embankment, with flames coming out of the sides of the truck.’ ”The truck’s compartment separated from the trailer and Sanchez could see the fire inside the cab. ‘I thought I wasn’t going to live,’ he said, recalling that he tried unsuccessfully to open both doors but couldn’t get out. ”Blumel automatically started running towards the big-rig. ‘I saw [Sanchez] trying to get out and the adrenaline kicked in. I could hear people saying, ‘Don’t go near it, it’s gonna blow!’ but once I’d committed to running, I couldn’t stop.”’ ”Sanchez later told Gracian that when he heard Blumel’s voice, he went toward the sound, though he felt disoriented. Blumel, 6’2” and 195 lbs., had to stand on the passenger side step to reach Sanchez, who is 5’9” and 230 lbs., and help him out of the window. ‘He pushed and I pulled,’ Blumel says. ‘I was telling him to jump and I’d catch him.’ ”When Sanchez made it through the window, Blumel took him over to his car, where he gave him water and waited with him until the police and firemen arrived at the scene. ‘He was in shock,’ Blumel said. ‘I gave him my card in case he had any questions about the accident later.’ Blumel also gave his name and contact information directly to the police. ”While no other drivers stopped to help, a few came up to Blumel afterwards. ‘They said, ‘I can’t believe you did that.” ”Blumel, age 39, says, ‘You always wonder how you’ll react in situations like that. When it counted, I stood up’I was the right person at the right time in the right place.’ ”According to Gracian, Sanchez, who has been with Ecology Autoparts for two years, returned to work on Monday, May 3. ‘What Jim did was really extraordinary,’ Gracian said. ‘He’s kind of like an unsung hero.’ Blumel and his wife, Jill, have three young daughters. ”Sanchez, 52, has four children, ages 11 to 33. Daughters Carmen Raman and Roxanna Sanchez have written thank-you notes to Blumel. Raman wrote: ‘My family and I would like to thank you sincerely for everything you did to help (encourage) my dad to get out of the burning truck. We honestly believe that if it wasn’t for you, my dad would have panicked and might not have made it out.’ Sanchez wrote: ‘Most people would have kept on driving…I don’t know what I would do without my Dad and without your help.’ ”(Additional reporting by LIBBY MOTIKA)
Saluting 2003 ‘Citizen’ Skinner
Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer
The spirit of dedicated volunteerism, a deep and vital force in Pacific Palisades since the town’s founding in 1922, was celebrated once again at the annual Citizen of the Year dinner last Thursday at the Riviera Country Club. The event was first held in 1947 and has been sponsored ever since by the Palisadian-Post. In recognition of his crucial leadership role in the $850,000 community-driven campaign to expand, renovate and vastly improve the four playing fields at the Palisades Recreation Center, longtime youth coach and businessman Mike Skinner received his Citizen of the Year award from Publisher Roberta Donohue. Also, Community Council chairman George Wolfberg presented his organization’s traditional Golden Sparkplug awards to Bob Jeffers and Roger Woods, both of whom ignited and completed important beautification projects along Sunset and at the Village Green. ‘Mike Skinner began pushing for the long needed overhaul of the antiquated and dangerous playing fields in 1999,’ Donohue said in her remarks. ‘When he realized that city funding for this project simply wasn’t going to happen, Mike came up with a plan to have the community raise the funds, hire a private contractor to rebuild the fields in accordance with city regulations, and then turn everything back over to the city.’ Once Skinner and the Palisades Pony Baseball Association (led by Bob Benton) received approval from the L.A. Department of Recreation and Parks last spring, they launched a fundraising campaign (under the leadership of Bob Levitt and John Bertram) and hired the company that built the famous ‘Field of Dreams’ baseball diamond in Iowa. ‘Miraculously,’ Donohue said, ‘the fields were ready for AYSO soccer games on November 8 and the bills were paid. The result of this enormous effort is a wonderful new park, with larger and safer playing fields that are available for the entire community to enjoy.’ Skinner’s committee has now raised just over $1,000,000, allowing for creation of a permanent maintenance fund. ‘This is a very humbling experience’doing something I love and having a lot of people help me do it,’ said Skinner when he received his award from Donohue. The 27-year resident thanked the ‘Field of Dreams heroes who stepped up to the plate,’ and noted that ‘it’s amazing how many good people are out there.’ He acknowledged the key people who participated in various aspects of the project, including L.A. Dodgers announcer and Palisades resident Vin Scully and his wife Sandra, whose major donation halfway through the campaign ‘gave us a shot in the arm.’ The father of three sons (Kevin, a fireman; Ryan, a senior at BYU; and Brendan, a volleyball player at Oaks Christian High School), Skinner also praised his wife Carey, a real estate executive with DBL Realtors, for her ‘patience and understanding through years of seemingly endless meetings and the turmoil that was going on at our house. Fortunately, she understood my priorities.’ Skinner received proclamations from U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, Mayor James Hahn, Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and, in person, Assemblywoman Fran Pavley. ‘This is my fifth Citizen dinner and the only thing I’m sorry about is I don’t live here,’ Pavley said. ‘This is one of the few events in the District that my husband and I actually attend voluntarily. We feel we’re among friends.’ And in a tribute to Skinner, she said, ‘What impressed me is that his kids are older’he did it for the kids today and the kids of the future.’ When presenting her certificates to the two Sparkplug winners, Pavley emphasized the important role played by citizen volunteers in local beautification efforts. ‘In these tight budget times, we have to collectively take the initiative. The efforts by Bob Jeffers and Roger Woods help maintain the high quality of life that you treasure here.’ Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, who has been attending Citizen dinners since the early 1970’s, agreed with Pavley. ‘The Palisades never ceases to amaze me’the amazing talent, the amazing dedication by residents who say, ‘I have an idea, I have a dream, I can make it happen.’ This community never stops,’ she told the audience. Fourteen past Citizens enjoyed the festivities, including Phyllis Genovese (1952), Dr. Michael Martini (1967), Bob McMillin (1975), Gloria Stout Nedell (1978), Joan Graves (1987), Roger Diamond (1988), Kit Festa (1989), Bobbie Farberow (1995), Hal Maninger and Chuck McGlothlin (1996), Bill Grieb (1997), Kurt Toppel (1998), Carol Leacock (1999) and Mitzi Blahd (2001). The invocation was given by Mike Skinner’s friend, Bob Williams, and the master of ceremonies was Michael Dunn, a local actor who (along with Lulee Fisher) sang one of the lead roles in the evening’s musical roast. The skit was conceived and written by Barbara Dawson, produced by Joan Graves, and directed and choreographed by Babs Warden Lebowsky. The pianist was Dr. James E. Smith. When Wolfberg presented the Sparkplug awards, a Community Council tradition for more than 30 years, he recounted the many obstacles Bob Jeffers had to overcome while spending nearly two years raising funds and working to replace 600 feet of unsightly asphalt median strips along Sunset (near Chautauqua) with dwarf bougainvilleas, day lilies, red-hot pokers and gazanias. In accepting the award, PPBA coach Jeffers first thanked Skinner: ‘My two sons are enjoying the fields’fewer bad hops and fewer bruises.’ He then recalled how he continually complained about the weed-infested medians to his wife until she finally said, ‘Well, why don’t you do something about it?’ And he said, ‘Maybe I will.’ Jeffers attended a PRIDE meeting and soon found himself VP of the median project. Along the way, he recalled, ‘we found old Sunset Boulevard below the asphalt [which required an unanticipated major expense] but Councilwoman Miscikowski came to our rescue.’ Ultimately, PRIDE raised $70,000 in community donations, including important checks from the Lions Club, Junior Women’s Club and Sue Kohl/Prudential John Aaroe. ‘This project shows how much a man can accomplish when he’s trying to make a point to his wife,’ Jeffers said. Roger Woods had somewhat the same experience as Jeffers when it came to getting quickly involved in the Village Green Committee. About seven years ago, after he retired from his private neurology practice, Woods began taking a horticulture class at Santa Monica Emeritus College, where he met Margaret Jose, who was then president of the committee. ‘I wanted to give back to the community and I loved gardening,’ Woods said in his acceptance speech. ‘So I joined their monthly Saturday work parties, and pretty soon I realized nobody was looking after the roses. I decided to adopt the roses. But I didn’t realize I was a sitting duck,’ he said with a laugh. ‘Within a matter of months I was vice-president,’ eventually to become the current president when he couldn’t come up with an exit strategy. In addition to reviving the Green’s rose beds, Woods began renovating first the drinking water fountain and then the decorative dolphin fountain’the centerpiece of the Green. This meant revamping the plumbing system, digging a deep trench and laying new pipes and electric lines, as well as designing and constructing a wooden housing for the pump and a new cement foundation. The project was finally completed last December, ‘and the fountain still works’it hasn’t plugged up yet!’ Woods said, amazed that he had become an hydraulic engineer in his retirement. ‘I especially enjoy watching the kids look at the dolphin. They’re mesmerized by the water, and this makes it all worthwhile.’ He added, ‘I can’t pass up this opportunity to emphasize that volunteerism is infectious; it rubs off on you. I haven’t regretted a moment.’
Local Hero Buddy Is L.A. City’s Last Fire Station Dog
Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer
By HELEN HIGHBURGER Palisadian-Post Intern Fire Station 69’s beloved mascot, Buddy the Dalmatian, is the last surviving fire dog in the City of Los Angeles. He has lived at the station (Sunset at Carey) for nine years and when he passes away, the local firemen hope that a Buddy II can carry on the tradition. However, it’s possible the station will not be able to do so because of potential liability issues’dog-biting incidents, for example. So perhaps we have double the reason to treasure a dog who has become a great favorite with Palisadians of all ages, . Fire station dogs like Buddy have been a part of firefighting crews since the days of horse-drawn steam engines. Their original function was to guard the horses that pulled the huge engines firefighters used to get to fires. The fire dog would stay with the horses while the firefighters rushed into the burning building, keeping other dogs and people from spooking them. Since the advent of fire trucks, fire dogs have had less to do, but they still guard the truck while the firefighters are working. Fire Station 69 originally acquired Buddy as a puppy in 1995 from Sandra Jankowski of Brentwood, who breeds champion Dalmatians. ‘We’ve gone at least 10 years without a mascot, and kids have been asking about it all the time,’ said Capt. Ortiz at the time. ‘Now we have a real good one.’ The firemen held a contest to name the new mascot, inviting all kids 10-and-under to vote for either Sparky, Buddy, Smokey or Chief. A few years later they had a contest to count Buddy’s spots. He had exactly 278. Buddy has made news in other ways. In 1996, he not only was the star of a live Alpo commercial with Jay Leno on ‘The Tonight Show,’ he also appeared on the front page of the Palisadian-Post. The paper showed pictures of him getting rescued from the water after he slipped into the Los Angeles River during a routine river-rescue training exercise. A few years later the Post wrote about Buddy’s trip to the veterinarian to combat a brief bout with fleas, and later reported his emergency treatment for a dangerous urinary blockage. Buddy used to ride on the truck to fires, but today at the age of 9 he has arthritis, which has slowed him down somewhat. He can still go out to the fires if he wants to (wearing his own yellow brush jacket for protection), and he remains a great favorite at neighborhood birthday parties, the Fourth of July parade, riding with Santa at Holiday Ho! Ho! Ho! and fire station open houses. When Buddy gets up in the morning, he greets all the firefighters as they arrive and chases a ball while they exercise. Most of the day, he just hangs around the station, barking if people whom he doesn’t know arrive. A look into Buddy’s personal record book (just like the firefighters have!) shows that his top skill is ‘community relations,’ closely followed by ‘testing hydrant paint’ and ‘fetching a ball.’ According to one firefighter, Buddy’s ‘real job is PR, and he does it well.’ Buddy even has a girlfriend, a fellow Dalmatian named Desiree, who lives in the neighborhood. He keeps a photo of her pinned outside on his doghouse.
Original Canyon Beachwear Suits Locals
Clear skies. Temps in the high 90s. A breeze along the coast. Bathing suit season is in the air. The question is: Are you ready to join the crowd of summer shoppers perusing racks of colorful nylon suits, searching for the perfect pattern, size and style? Not to mention trying on your suit of choice in front of life’s unforgiving critic, the dressing room mirror. Canyon Beachwear owner Kathleen Mudd says there is a lot more involved in running a swimwear business than stocking and selling suits. ‘We have to overcome all the psychological aspects of buying a bathing suit,’ says Mudd, who purchased the original Canyon Beachwear store on Entrada in 1988. ‘A well-trained staff is important’the customer should get something that looks good after trying on four to five suits.’ Mudd certainly knows the business. She started working at Canyon in 1979, when she was only 14, and worked there through high school on the weekends and during summers. Then a Brentwood resident, Mudd attended Marymount. She met her husband, William, at the University of San Diego, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in English (1987) and he earned a bachelor’s in business administration (1985). While in college, Mudd managed a San Diego swimwear store but continued to work at Canyon during the summers. The Mudds married in May 1988, and by October they had purchased the small, 400-sq.-ft. Canyon Beachwear space (across from Will Rogers State Beach) from Palisadian Susan Thomas and her daughter, Amy. In 16 years, the Mudds have opened 10 other Canyon swimsuit stores, the first one in 1989 in Pasadena because ‘we had a lot of customers who lived in that area,’ Mudd says. ‘Old Town grew up around us.’ Other Southern California locations include the Westside Pavilion, Studio City, and the Oaks Mall in Thousand Oaks. ‘We see generations of people who grew up in Palisades, moved away and have come back here [to buy suits],’ says Mudd, whose son, Liam, is 3. The Mudds live in Malibu and are expecting a second child in three months. While the popularity of Web-based discount retailers has made the swimwear market extremely competitive in recent years, Mudd says, ‘If somebody wants a designer swimsuit, is hard to fit or wants good customer service, they come to Canyon. We carry higher-end, more European-style suits and we have selection’you’re not going to see yourself walking up and down the beach.’ Refering to an analogy she heard, Mudd compares buying a swimsuit at Canyon to buying flowers at a florist, as opposed to a supermarket. ‘What we have is special, unique.’ The owners have also worked hard to maintain their business. ‘Everything we had we put back into the stores,’ says Mudd, who admits that one of their secrets is ‘working long hours together, being each other’s partner in marriage and business.’ While the Entrada store is the smallest, Mudd says, ‘there’s no room to expand, but the space is irrelevant because it’s a seasonal business and what’s important is customer service.’ The three buying seasons bring different collections, for the November/December cruise season, the February /March spring season and the June summer season. ‘Spring break is usually when business starts to pick up,’ says Mudd, who does the buying and merchandising while William handles the financial end of the business. Named the ‘Best Bikini Store in L.A.’ by Los Angeles magazine, Mudd says another reason they’ve remained successful is because ‘we’ve stayed focused on swimwear.’ Canyon carries 100 different brands with sizes ranging from 2 to 24 and a lot of separates, including D- and DD-size tops. However, Mudd does not see Canyon as ‘a ‘bikini’ store,’ because it caters to ‘the contemporary market instead of the junior market.’ The clientele is mainly women age 16 to 50, and suit prices range from $62 to $250, with an average price of $98 to $120. ‘Like all businesses, we were affected by the economy after September 11,’ says Mudd, who had to close one store in New York. ‘Even though Canyon is the more luxury end of the economy, people weren’t going on vacation as much. We also cut back store hours and we didn’t stay open seven days of the week.’ They currently have a store in Boston on Newbury St. and one on Third Avenue in New York City, in addition to three stores in northern California. Current swimwear trends include mix-matched polka dot- and stripe-patterned suits, often with floral designs. Reversible suits, halter tops and hipster bottoms are also in. Pink and orange are the hot colors this season. ‘There’s a lot of color out there,’ says Mudd, whose staff works with several celebrity stylists. They welcome private appointments if customers cannot come during store hours, and on occasion send suits to customers on vacation. Canyon also carries a limited selection of basic swim trunks for men, as well as sarongs, shirt throw-overs, sandals and straw bags. Located at 106 Entrada, between Marix Tex-Mex Restaurant and Patrick’s Roadhouse, Canyon Beachwear has the following store hours: Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Parking is located behind the store. Contact: 459-5070.
Palisades Beautiful Celebrates 30 Years and 1,500 Street Trees
Palisades Beautiful, the hearty little organization that was predicted to have a short life, celebrated 30 productive years of tree-planting in the Palisades at a champagne and cake party at the Palisades branch library Friday evening. Two of the original founders, Dorothy Bissell and Hilda Sauer, sat outside in the patio of the library and recalled their na’ve, yet tenacious plan to start the nonprofit organization. ‘In 1973, the Palisades was pretty bare,’ Bissell said. ‘Really, there were very few trees in the neighborhoods, and the air was so awful.’ Bissell had read an article extolling the virtues of trees, beyond their curb appeal. ‘I learned that trees are nature’s air conditioner, they give off oxygen and they absorb pollutants.’ Bissell contacted the supervisor of the city’s street tree division to enlist his help in planting trees. Well-intentioned, yet practical, the supervisor was skeptical. ‘Little groups of ladies like to start something and then two years down the line they decide they don’t want to do it,’ he told her. It was then that Bissell’s gentle persistence and determination took root. She asked the supervisor to help her and her cohorts’Sauer, Carole Kenney, and the late Betty Thrower and Carole Horn’decide what trees they should plant. ‘We drove around the streets and looked and decided on a few of this kind here and a few of that kind there.’ The group’s first street was Northfield, where they planted jacarandas, which over the years have been a consistent favorite choice for residents. The group started planting five-gallon trees until the city made them graduate to 15-gallon trees. ‘When we first began, if we had just a few requests and we didn’t want to hire anybody for that little bit of work, Betty and I would go down and plant them ourselves,’ Bissell recalled. Saurer remembered the time she and Dorothy went out in a rain storm to tie up the recently planted magnolias on Via de la Paz, mere saplings at the time. In the early days, it cost $35 to plant a tree. Today, it’s $200 per tree, money the group has received from individuals and local organizations, including the Junior Women’s Club and the Lions Club. Over 50 Palisadians came to celebrate the anniversary, including serious horticulturalists and respectful admirers alike. In bestowing a city commendation to Palisades Beautiful, Monique Ford, Cindy Miscikowksi’s field deputy, underscored the organization’s remarkable work and continued success on having planted 1,500 over the last 30 years. ‘This group has a unique blend of persistence and decorum,’ Ford said, directing her comments to Bissell. ‘She called me, and then called me again.’ Guest speaker Stephanie Landregan, chief landscape architect for the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, capped the spirit of the evening with a salute to trees, and a story. ‘John ‘Appleseed’ Chapman planted apple trees 150 years ago around the United States, so when our ancestors came west, their otherwise boring, bland diet was made made more interesting by the addition of the apple. Chapman sold saplings for 6′ to homesteaders or traded a tree for clothing or feed. Some of those original apple trees are still around today,’ she said. ‘You are following his legacy. Trees feed us in a very different way. They’ll feed you today and tomorrow and they will be your legacy.’
Lu Haas, 86, Political Speechwriter And Passionate Environmentalist
Lucien Haas, Democratic speech writer and political advisor, whose passion fueled his love for the natural world and insistence on peace, died in his sleep on April 27. He was 86 years old. Throughout his long career as a writer and political aide, Haas served as spokesman for Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) for 13 years, associate press secretary to Gov. Pat Brown and a speech writer for his son, Gov. Jerry Brown. He was also an early advisor to then Los Angeles Councilman Tom Bradley, whom he helped in his campaign to defeat incumbent Mayor Sam Yorty in 1973. Haas was born in Buffalo, New York, on July 15, 1917, the son of German immigrants. He was drafted into the Army during World War II, serving in France in intelligence. After the war, he went to work for the Los Angeles Daily News as a copy boy. He became a reporter and worked on the rewrite desk, and was a leader in the Los Angeles Newspaper Guild, defending colleagues accused of disloyalty during the anti-communist McCarthy era. It was at the Daily News where he met his future wife, Jan, an artist at the paper. The couple married in 1955 and eventually had five children. When the paper ceased publication in 1954, Haas took a job in public relations for a beet sugar group in Denver before returning to California, where he began his association with Gov. Pat Brown. When Brown was defeated by Ronald Reagan in 1967, Haas became Cranston’s press secretary. In 1981, he joined Gov. Jerry Brown’s staff, and when Brown ran for the U.S. Senate a year later, Haas wrote most of his speeches calling for a bilateral nuclear arms freeze. Haas loved to entertain in the family home on Swarthmore, often inviting friends from Sacramento to enjoy homemade chili and participate in political skits. ‘Dad loved to dance,’ says his daughter Maxx, who recalls listening to the music and laughter emanating from downstairs when she was a little girl upstairs in her bedroom. ‘I thought, Wow, if this is what adults do, I can’t wait. He’d put on his Herb Alpert records and dance all night.’ After his retirement in 1984, Haas was active in many peace and environmental causes. His longtime friend and fellow Palisadian Harold Waterhouse was introduced to Lu while on a hike in Will Rogers State Park. ‘He and I were such good friends,’ Waterhouse told the Palisadian-Post. ‘We had two subjects that we liked to discuss: the elimination of nuclear weapons all over the world, and the need to improve the environment.’ Haas knew the local canyons intimately and often led nature walks. He understood the botany and made a pretty good guess on unknown plants, having conquered the general principles of shape, color and bloom. Haas was a familiar site around town with his riot of white hair, whiskers and eyebrows framing intense eyes and ruddy cheeks. He was also an unquenchable reader and loved to spend afternoons at the Palisades branch library. On an afternoon hike with Waterhouse a couple of years ago, the two stopped at a clearing under an oak tree. Lu pulled out a book from his backpack. ‘You’ll like this book,’ he said to Harold, ‘knowing that you like all things about life beyond.’ The book, which took up the science underlying ‘Jurassic Park,’ appealed to Lu, who was comfortable with the rational. In retirement, Lu did not draw the curtains and close the door. Instead, he embraced the community, contributed long hours toward maintaining the quality of life and shouted to newcomers about the eternal verities. In a series of letters, called ‘Dear Friends,’ that he wrote to his friends from 1995 to 1999 Haas was able to vent on issues. ‘He sent them to various people he knew and they were hysterical,’ said longtime friend Mimi Adams. ‘They would include his thoughts on nuclear weapons, politics, the world and even movie reviews. Some were full of hope, some pessimistic, but all reflected this man who was so well-read and brilliant.’ In addition to his wife, Haas is survived by daughter Maxx Haas of Santa Monica; sons Lu of Missoula, Montana; Dirk of Truckee; Vernon of Santa Monica and Jack of Malibu; and four grandchildren. Services are pending. Contributions may be made to any peace or environmental group. Haas belonged to Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, P. O. Box 121, 1187 Coast Village Rd, Suite 1, Santa Barbara, CA 93108-2794.
Leo King, 96; Built His Home on Chautauqua
Leo King, a longtime Palisadian, passed away on May 4. He was 96. King was born in Colorado Springs on January 21, 1908, one of two sons to Frank and Mary Ellen King. His cousin Lois Anthony, who was 20 years younger, remembers him to be ‘the coolest, most good-looking man around, especially when he wore his military uniform.’ King joined the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the mid-1930s. Similar to the Army in discipline and regimen, the CCC required recruits to wear uniforms, eat in a mess hall and sleep at a base camp, although they did not carry weapons. Serving a two-year term with the CCC, King was stationed outside Golden, Colorado, about 15 miles west of Denver, so was able to go home to north Denver about once a month. During this period, he met and married Mary, who was described as ‘beautiful, kind and kept herself impeccable, never a hair out of place.’ The couple were unable to have children. King joined the U. S. Army at the onset of World War II and served in the Army Ordinance Division, stationed in Maryland. In the 1950s, King continued his military service until his career was interrupted by a near fatal accident. A bomb he was inspecting blew up in his face, which impaired his eyesight and hearing for the rest of his life. Eventually the Kings moved to Pacific Palisades, where they built the fourth house on Chautauqua with their own hands. Planning for all eventualities, King even built a bomb shelter under the driveway of the house, fully stocked with food and water, ‘in case the Russians came over,’ he said. He also built a tree house in the backyard where he spent many hours observing animals and birds in Rustic Canyon. He also converted the back portion of the house into a hair salon for Mary’s hair beauty shop, where she cut and snipped hair for many clients. King was extraordinarily creative with his hands. He designed and carved beautiful wood objects such as fruit and nut bowls with lids. He was also an expert car mechanic, and made his own still for turning wine into brandy. He was thrifty, sometimes a penny pincher, cousin Lois said, explaining, ‘This is common among people reared during the Depression.’ On one trip to Denver to visit relatives in the 1980s, King visited Lois and her husband’s used furniture store. ‘We had purchased a chandelier with hundreds of prisms, and it needed to be assembled in order to be sold. Leo spent at least eight hours accomplishing the task.’ On Leo’s 90th birthday, Lois and her sister came to California to help him celebrate. ‘Though he was nearly blind and deaf, he laughed, joked and reminisced with us,’ Lois said. ‘This brought joy to our hearts. He will be missed in the family, but we know he is enjoying and treasuring the new life with his dear Mary,’ who died in 1996. There are no immediate survivors.
Grandeur & Intimacy In the American West
Imagine trying to profile an entire state through photographs. Each one of the 50 manifests its own personality shaped by climate, natural resources and history, and even if you took 1,000 or 10,000 images, the task would remain elusive. Jonathan Charles (J. C.) Leacock, through skill, patience, luck and extraordinary understanding of the West, has accomplished a photographic composite of two Western states, Colorado and South Dakota. More than an Aaron Copland hymn, Leacock’s West is a breathtaking panorama, populated by birds and mammals, but also by men and women. In his visual journey through Colorado (‘Our Colorado’), for example, we meet National Park employee Bob Kisthart, dressed in the buckskins of a deerhunter to recreate life at Bent’s Old Fort, the only trading post along the Santa Fe Trail. We see Crested Butte resident Elizabeth Becker riding her bicycle rigged with a ski rack on her way to the slopes. In ‘South Dakota, Simply Beautiful,’ we observe cowboys herding cattle at the Krogman Ranch in Mellette County and Miss Rodeo 2003 posing with her horse in Wessington Springs. It’s interesting that Leacock, a local boy who grew up in Pacific Palisades, graduated from Palisades High School (1978), then went off to UC Santa Barbara, would fall in love with the mountains and grasslands of the western plateau. Maybe the clue is that he refers to this part of America as cowboy country. His late father, Philip, a director and producer of films and television, had a lot to do with his passion for the American West. ‘He enhanced my interest through his work with the classic Westerns of the day, ‘Gunsmoke’ and ‘Bonanza,” Leacock says. ‘Horses, gunfights and Marshall Dillon not only inspired my imagination but were also, in a sense, real.’ Not only did these memories fuel J.C.’s visual expansiveness, but the lifestyle was seductive. He really is a cowboy, having learned to ride when he was a boy, and here affirms the visual metaphor of cowboy and West over and over in his work. ‘When I was growing up we lived in Australia for three months while my dad was making a movie, ‘Adams Woman’ with Beau Bridges,’ Leacock says. ‘I rode every day.’ These days, he lives on a ranch near Crested Butte in southwest Colorado with his wife Kriste (a high school math teacher), horses and cow dogs. Leacock, 44, was interested in taking pictures from the time he was a little boy. ‘My dad was a great influence, but also my grandmother Enid Slater.’ He used to visit Slater, his maternal grandmother, in London every other summer. ‘She had her own darkroom and gave me my first camera, a Kodak Instamatic.’ His mother, Carol, an inveterate hiker and environmentalist who started the Temescal Canyon Association in the early 1970s, has been a great inspiration to J. C. ‘I used to go on hikes with my parents,’ Leacock says. ‘When I was younger before [developer Earl] Lachman destroyed it all, we hiked in Las Pulgas. I know all the species of plants and all the flowers; it’s where I learned about nature.’ Like an artist who carries a sketch pad wherever he goes, Leacock took his camera wherever he wandered. After graduating from Santa Barbara’with a major in environmental science and geography’and Brooks Institute, he assisted a professor doing soils research on the Channel Islands, and naturally was taking photos the whole time. ‘I scammed every way I could to get out to the islands,’ he says. ‘And then I thought, ‘If I could make this [taking photographs] a living, that would be very cool.’ Things worked out for him: his work is widely published and has appeared in Backpacker, National Geographic Adventure, Sunset and American Cowboy as well as in Sierra Club, Audubon and Western Horseman calendars. ‘I’m a Colorado photographer,’ Leacock says, while admitting that to record the whole state was a tough assignment. ‘My contract for the Colorado book was for three years, but it was hard to put a time line on it. It’s such a diverse state, you have to try and capture that and plan accordingly. ‘To shoot the wildflowers you just have to go the best spot in the mountains in July and wait. It just so happens that because of its elevation and rainfall, Crested Butte is the wildflower capital of the Rockies.’ In fact, Leacock’s signature shot is that of the Colorado columbine, the state’s official flower. In the photo, Leacock photographed the snow-white blossom with the rose-tinted streamers emerging gracefully from the leaves of the false hellebore, in a terrific shot as magical as a watercolor. Leacock has been accused at times of enhancing his photographs with Photoshop to explain the dramatic lighting and rich colors. ‘Some people have looked at my Web site and say the photos are too saturated. I say if you take advantage of the right kind of light and the right kind of film, you get this rich saturation.’ My landscapes to this day, and even the stuff that is published, have never been manipulated by Photoshop.’ To the uninitiated, Leacock’s books seem most comprehensive, but there are inevitably the ‘shots’ that got away. In the Colorado book, he would have loved to include the Denver skyline, the Denver Broncos and the Denver International Airport’which turned into an impossibility following September 11. His most difficult shot, he says, was the skier jumping off a cornice at Monarch Ski Resort in Colorado, a curious statement from a guy who captured a fearless cowgirl competing in a South Dakota goat-tying event at the most dust-swirling moment. ‘I’m not generally a sports photographer, and I never did a guy flying off a cornice; I didn’t know what to do. Luckily, it worked out well.’ Leacock, who uses a 6 x 7 cm Pentax for medium format landscapes and a 35-mm for action and people, takes slide film, explaining that his clientele’mostly magazines and calendar companies’are not ‘quite ready to look at a computer screen.’ He has over 50,000 transparencies in inventory. For ‘Our Colorado’ he sent the publisher over 500 images to choose from, including the extraordinary cover shot of Red Mountain No. 1 reflected in a lake near Red Mountain Pass. This photo was the result of his search for reflections. ‘I saw this body of water as I was driving along and thought, What the heck, there might be a good reflection.’ Like many who make a living as an artist, Leacock says that 90 percent of his time is dedicated to office work. ‘It seems that I am making endless phone calls, submitting images to clients, mounting, labeling, captioning and doing some writing.’ He wrote all the captions for the ‘Our Colorado’ and ‘South Dakota, Simply Beautiful,’ and for the October 2003 issue of Cowboys & Indians contributed an article on cowboys and girls. ‘I love cowgirls. They’re strong and independent and rope and ride. And half of them can do it better than anyone else.’ Leacock’s photographs are registered with four stock agencies, and he is looking forward to his next assignment with the state of Colorado, which has contracted with several photographers to document the entire state. ‘They hired me to document the south-central region, which includes Salida, Canyon City, Pueblo, Del Norte and Monarch Sky.’ For a guy who has a sizable inventory on his adopted state already, Leacock is challenged. ‘This is still a pretty big chunk of the state.’ The hardcover books ($24.95) are available through Village Books on Swarthmore.
Roberta Randall Channels Famous Women on Stage
Palisadian Roberta Randall has been entertaining audiences with her ‘one-woman theater’ for 20 years. The solo dramatist currently performs in four different shows she created based on the lives and accomplishments of famous women, such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Katharine Hepburn, and Marlene Dietrich. Next week, Randall will present ‘A Woman of Independent Means’ by Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey at the Woman’s Club on Tuesday, May 11, and ‘Beverly Sills’ at the Assistance League of Santa Monica on Wednesday, May 12. A Chicago native, Randall has dramatic experience that spans theater, television, radio and film, though she says, ‘I like a live audience.’ She especially enjoys playing famous women and developed the idea for her one-woman shows because ‘women are interested in accomplished women.’ Randall’s audiences range from women in their 20s to age 100, and she usually performs for women’s organizations, as well as retirement homes and temples. ‘I can perform for a small group in someone’s living room or in a huge theater,’ says Randall, who works with simple costumes and minimal props. Her first one-woman creation was ‘Beverly Sills,’ about the internationally acclaimed soprano who captured America’s heart with her glorious artistry, engaging personality and salty intelligence. ‘I read her book, ‘Bubbles,’ [an autobiography] and her life seemed fascinating,’ Randall says. ‘There was a lot in her life that was very emotional.’ Because Randall crafts her shows as interpretations of the women and their lives, she researches by reading books and watching videos in order to get to know her subjects. A graduate of Northwestern University, School of Speech, in Evanston, Illinois, Randall studied acting under Uta Hagen in New York before going to France and Italy to act in films such as ‘Reflections in a Golden Eye’ (John Huston), ‘Doctor Faustus’ (Richard Burton) and ‘Woman Times Seven’ (Vittorio De Sica) in the 1960s. When she moved to Los Angeles 30 years ago, her starring role in ‘Electra’ at the Cellar Theatre earned her an agent. A Palisades resident for 18 years, Randall also studied with Jack Garfein in Beverly Hills and taught acting, voice and diction at the Actors and Directors Lab for two years, and as a private coach. She and her husband, Irwin, currently travel every year to such places as China, Russia and England. In the free program of ‘A Woman of Independent Means,’ based on Elizabeth Hailey’s novel, at the Woman’s Club on May 11 at 11:45 a.m., Randall will portray the life of Bess Steed Garner from 1899 to 1977. To reserve a place for lunch ($10) after the program, call Evelyn Morrow at 459-2507 by 12 noon on May 8. The Clubhouse is located at 901 Haverford. The Night Lights Auxiliary of the Assistance League of Santa Monica will host the May 12 performance of ‘Beverly Sills’ as an evening of drama and dessert from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Assistance League Chapter House, 1439 15th St. Dessert and wine will be served following the program; a minimum donation of $10 will be accepted at the door. All proceeds go to providing scholarships for kids to attend camp and outfitting local children for summer camp.
Chavez Legacy Inspires PaliHi Service Projects
Eleven years after his death, labor leader and United Farm Workers founder Cesar Chavez still has a long-lasting influence. Palisades High School received a grant this school year to incorporate ideas about Chavez’s values and ideals into the curriculum and organize community service projects, inspired by Chavez’s grassroots activism. The $44,000 grant from the Governor’s Office on Service and Volunteerism (GOSERV), was called ‘From the Mountains to the Sea, Honoring the Legacy of Cesar Chavez.’ Last week, Gretchen Miller, the director of Pali’s community service program, several teachers, Cesar E. Chavez Foundation programs director Shaun Hirschl and LAUSD Service Learning Task Force chairs Bud Jacobs and Tim Johnston met to discuss the success of the program in which 400 PaliHi students participated in five different service projects. Chavez, who experienced the life of a migrant farm worker, characterized by low wages and inadequate health and safety conditions, started the United Farm Workers of America which brought about the 1975 California Agricultural Labor Relations Act to protect farm workers. He was also active in the civil rights movement and the use of nonviolent social change. Math teacher Angelica Pereyra and her students are completing a mural at the Access Center, a drop-in center of the Ocean Park Community Center, where homeless clients can check mail, take a shower or access food, clothing or other services. Students learned about the theories of Mexican muralist David Alfaro Siguerios, which uses a system of graphing and geography with proportions and ratios to create a mural. The students discussed the concept of dignity, one of Chavez’s ideals for all people, Pereyra said, ‘We asked where does it exist, how do you learn it? It can exist everywhere’in the spaces in-between.’ The mural design encompasses lettuce fields, a large tree with a young Cesar Chavez sitting beneath it, and an overlay of the UFW flag design, featuring an Aztec eagle. Quotes from Chavez’s speeches are written in between the lettuce fields. Spanish teacher Sandra Martin, who teaches a class to native Spanish speakers, asked her students to interview family or community members about their life histories and experiences coming to the United States. The students inquired about the significance of keeping heritage alive, to tie into the importance Chavez gave to family legacies. In addition, the students created illustrated children’s books, written in Spanish, about the life of Cesar Chavez and his affect on community members. The children’s books on Chavez will be donated to an elementary school. Shirin Ramzi’s American literature class wrote essays on Chavez, analyzing one of his quotes, focusing on his life and what led him to the United Farm Workers movement. Some students weren’t familiar with Chavez. Others, who had already studied Chavez, wrote about activists he had influenced such as lawyer and writer Oscar Acosta and co-founder of the UFW Dolores Huerta. Ramzi also wanted her students to get a little experience working on a farm. Although it didn’t work out to take them to actual farms in Oxnard, students participated in a short exercise, simulating the experience. They dropped sunflower seeds on the quad and wore heavy backpacks while picking them out of the grass. The exercise inspired a lot of complaints, Ramzi reports especially when she asked them, ‘What if I now brought the extra credit I promised for this exercise from 50 points to 0 points?’ In Libby Butler and Jeannie Saiza’s AVID class, a college preparatory class that provides academic and social enrichment, students went out into the community to help save an underutilized government-funded senior center. Students came into the inner city community where the center was located and talked to people and handed out fliers outlining the services available. Some of the students at first ‘wanted nothing to do with the elderly,’ said Saiza, but later warmed up to the project. Ray Millette took his marine biology students to Ballona Wetlands to help restore the saltwater marshes which are being reopened to the public after being privately owned. Millette believes this project ties into Chavez’s emphasis on access for all people. The students spent the day helping dig up non-native species. In the classroom they spent a month studying wetlands, specifically Ballona. ‘This wouldn’t have happened without Gretchen Miller,’ Millette said. ‘She spearheaded the program and made it a success.’ Miller was assisted with grantwriting by Melodye Kleinman of Wise Senior Services. The PaliHi Booster Club also assisted with funds until the grant money came in. The GOSERV grant will not be available next year due to budget cutbacks, but the PaliHi teachers hope to continue the projects.
