By LILY TINOCO | Assistant Editor

Former Honorary Mayor of Pacific Palisades, actor and author Steve Guttenberg served as this year’s grand marshal for Fourth of July festivities, while lifelong Palisadian Rich Wilken took on the role of parade marshal.

The two marshal positions are selected annually by Palisades Americanism Parade Association.

“The parade is one of, perhaps the most defining events of Pacific Palisades,” Guttenberg said to the Palisadian-Post. “It galvanizes our community and attracts people from every state in the union. Thousands of people gather, together … We, together, build our town, our state, our country, our society. And being the grand marshal, it is a position that implores friendliness … and it’s a giant fun experience.”

Guttenberg—who served as honorary mayor from 2002 to 2006—is an actor, author, businessman and producer. He made his acting debut in “The Boys From Brazil,” and is well known for roles in films from the 1980s and ’90s, including “Cocoon,” “Police Academy,” “Three Men and a Baby,” “Diner,” “The Big Green” and more.

In 2023, he wrote and starred in the autobiographical comedic play, “Tales from the Guttenberg Bible.” He described the play as a “Valentine” to his family, friends and Hollywood: “I have much to be grateful for, and it’s a joy to share it all with a live audience.”

In May 2024, Guttenberg released his memoir, “Time to Thank: Caregiving for my Hero.” The book chronicles Guttenberg’s journey stepping into the role as a caretaker for his father, from Los Angeles to Arizona.

“This is a book for movie fans, road trip junkies and anyone who finds themselves doing the hard work of caring for an aging loved one,” according to a press release. “Steve Guttenberg serves as a uniquely perceptive guide through all these phases of life.”

Wilken is a lifelong Palisadian: He grew up in the Palisades and was one of the first students to attend Palisades High School.

He has spent over 30 years volunteering for PAPA, serving as president of the organization twice.

Deemed “one of the town’s most enthusiastic and hard-working volunteers,” Wilken was celebrated as the 2010 Citizen of the Year, an honor previously bestowed by the Post.

Wilken was recognized for his efforts coordinating the Fourth of July fireworks show at Pali High, assisting in crowd control and street closures for the Palisades Will Rogers 5 & 10K, serving as an assistant scoutmaster in Boy Scout Troop 223, and plenty more.

“Few residents have ever been as active as Rich in so many community organizations,” Former Post Publisher Roberta Donohue wrote in 2011. “And few people can match his willingness to take on leadership roles.”

Wilken is also an architect who designed Palisades Lutheran Church Sanctuary and former Palisades eatery Mort’s Deli, and founded and designed Wilken Surfboards.

By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief

On the eve of Fourth of July, winners were announced for this year’s Patriotic Home Contest, sponsored by “local real estate legends” Susan Montgomery and Violetta Hargitay as part of Palisades Americanism Parade Association’s annual festivities.

Each year, homes across Pacific Palisades are eligible to enter the contest, which concludes with three winners, as well as runners-up. The in-person judging component is completed the afternoon of July 3, with a team of judges—this year including former Honorary Mayor of Pacific Palisades and 2024 Grand Marshal Steve Guttenberg—traversing the neighborhoods in golf carts to view festive displays.

“Steve Guttenberg is such an upper, and his energy is infectious,” Montgomery said of judging day. “Everyone had a great time.”

“Most Patriotic Home” went to David and Patricia Borgeson, who reside in The Huntington neighborhood. Highlands resident Paul Ben-Victor, along with his wife Cali and 2-year-old daughter Arabella, were awarded “Runner-Up Most Patriotic Home” for their decorations, which included cut-outs of patriotic figures on the second story, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and Benjamin Franklin.

Receiving this year’s “Joan Sather Memorial Sponsor’s Award”—given to the home that “employs the most outstanding use of homemade decorative elements,” named in honor of the contest’s late longtime sponsor, who died in 2022—was the Joke Tree house in the Alphabet Streets, which was nominated by a “very nice neighbor.”

The Joke Tree has displayed more than 1,000 jokes put together by Ann and Jon Vitti since May 2020 as a “pandemic project.” Ann explained to the Palisadian-Post previously the original plan was to end the jokes as 2020 came to a close, but after one faithful joke-reader—a young kid—expressed worry that with the end of the year would come the end of the jokes, the Vittis decided to keep going, and going, and going.

Ann said it feels “amazing” to win: “Never guessed we even had a chance. I honestly felt like one of those people who say, ‘It was an honor just to be nominated.’ Palisadians take their holiday decorating seriously, especially the Fourth of July.”

The joke that was on display on July 4 was, “What ghost haunted King George III?” “The Spirit of ’76.”

A runner-up prize was given to Tricia Taper in the Upper El Medio neighborhood, who won the contest two years in a row previously.

Following the Patriotic Home Contest, Montgomery noted that entries in 2024 were up from prior years, with many homes across various neighborhoods participating—even when the homeowners were out of town for the holiday.

Montgomery explained to the Post that she and Hargitay have worked together for “many, many years,” now at Sotheby’s International Realty. In addition to real estate, Hargitay also does photography (and she was the most recent winner of 90272 Magazine’s Travel Tales contest).

“I had a great time participating in this year’s home decorating contest as a co-sponsor,” Hargitay, a Highlands resident for 25-plus years, said. “The community’s enthusiasm and patriotic spirit was in full force this year. We were pleased with the number of entries and it was honestly hard to choose the winners. I was happy to be part of the positive energy and look forward to next year.”

Winners in the 2024 contest received prizes from area businesses, including Casa Nostra, Pearl Dragon, Taj Palace, Cafe Vida, Palisades Garden Cafe, Flour Pizza, Black Ink, Anawalt Palisades Hardware, Palisades Barber Shop, Ogden’s Cleaners, Viktor Benes Bakery and Neighborhood Pilates.

By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief

Councilmember Traci Park spoke at the most recent Pacific Palisades Community Council meeting on Wednesday, June 26, touching on a number of topics, including acknowledging the transition of the PPCC leadership team, the upcoming Los Angeles Olympics, homelessness, public safety and more.

“I don’t know if your experience with the passage of time has been like mine over the last year, but boy, there are not enough hours in the day or days in the weeks or weeks in the month,” Park said of her time in office. “But tonight, I am excited to be here because I get to have the opportunity to bid farewell to our outgoing officers and to extend a warm welcome to our new leadership team.”

June 26 marked the last PPCC meeting with Maryam Zar as president and Sue Kohl as vice president, with Kohl stepping into the role of president effective July 1 and Quentin Fleming taking over vice president. Jenny Li will continue to serve as treasurer and Beth Holden-Garland as secretary, and Zar moving into chair emeritus, replacing David Card.

“I have every confidence in your ability to lead the group,” Park said of Kohl. “I know that you are going to bring integrity and wisdom and thoughtful consideration to this role, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to have you as a partner in this.”

Since taking office in December 2022, Park has served on various committees at City Council, including as chair of the Trade, Travel and Tourism Committee and the Ad Hoc Committee for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles.

Park said she was “thrilled” when she was given the opportunity to chair the Olympics committee, but following a March trip to 2024 Olympics host city Paris, Park said she “developed [her] own personal connection to the material.”

“I will tell you that I came back with a renewed sense of purpose, but also panic about all of the work that lies ahead in terms of getting our city ready for the entire world having their eyes on Los Angeles,” Park said. “There is no sugarcoating this: They have a long way to go and a lot of work to do to get ready for it, but I welcome the challenge.”

She will return to Paris in August and study what is happening during the Olympics, including the metro, crowd control, amenities, bathrooms, a mobile application and more.

Beyond her committee commitments, Park said over the course of the last year and a half, “the issues of homelessness and public safety” have remained “top of mind across the entire district.” When she took office, she said the “district was in absolute crisis at that point.”

“There was no community, there was no neighborhood that wasn’t drastically impacted by the homelessness crisis,” Park described. “We hit the ground running … we have done more than a dozen major operations and encampment interventions where we have now housed more than 600 people who were living in tents all over Council District 11.”

Park explained that CD 11 has “one of the highest rates of retention in housing” and that the district is “moving people more quickly into permanent supportive housing than anywhere else in the city.”

“We had so many different … service providers operating in different parts of the district with no cohesive plan or joint mission or set of goals or outcomes that everyone was working together to achieve,” Park said. “So we started by getting to know these organizations one on one, and then we brought everybody together into one room, and we agreed that we were going to stop working in silos … and work on our operations jointly across the district.”

She reported that while Los Angeles Police Department remains at “critically dangerously low staffing levels,” the department is working to rectify that through “very aggressive recruitment and retention efforts.” Park said she is working on implementing interim solutions, including expanding pilot programs.

“I’m very pleased and grateful to Mayor [Karen] Bass for her leadership on the public safety issues,” Park said. “She has been a great partner to me and to the district in addressing some of those challenges.”

Following Park’s update, she took questions from the PPCC board and audience members, including about safety issues on Pacific Coast Highway, potentially securing funding for cameras for the highway beyond the stretch in Malibu.

“You’ve got my commitment to work with Senator [Ben] Allen to get it done,” Park replied.

For those who wish to stay updated about what is going on in the district, Park suggested signing up for her newsletter, which goes out once per week, at cd11.lacity.org.

By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief

“Grease is the word” for Theatre Palisades Youth, which is opening a two-weekend run of the show beginning Friday, July 12.

“Grease: School Version” is led by Director Lara Ganz, with a cast comprised of more than 45 youth actors, ranging from 8 to 18 years old.

“Travel back in time to the summer of 1958, when good girl Sandy and greaser Danny fall for each other during a carefree summer,” read a synopsis provided by Theatre Palisades Youth. “But when the school year begins, Danny is torn between his feelings for Sandy and his image with the Burger Palace Boys and the Pink Ladies. Come hear your favorite songs from the movie and Broadway musical, including ‘Hopelessly Devoted to You,’ ‘Greased Lightnin‘’ and ‘All Choked Up.’”

Ganz said that the show is one of her favorites, and she has been working on bringing it to fruition through Theatre Palisades Youth for almost a decade.

“When I first took on the program director position at TPY in 2016, I tried to put on ‘Grease’ as my debut show, but the rights were too expensive,” she explained. “Instead, we produced a different, more affordable Olivia Newton John musical—‘Xanadu.’ But with the expansion and growth of our program, we are finally able to make this longtime dream a reality.”

The original “Grease” script touches on several social issues—including teenage pregnancy, peer pressure and gang violence—“framed around themes of love and friendship, teenage rebellion, class consciousness, and class conflict,” Ganz explained.

“TPY’s all-youth production … are performing a more family-friendly ‘Grease: School Version,’” Ganz said. “But our actors are likewise focused on retelling the classic story of working-class teenagers navigating the complexities of peer pressure, politics, personal core values and love. Our school version lightly alludes to mature themes, and we enthusiastically punctuate these moments in the production.”

The first weekend has performances set to take place on Friday, July 12, at 7 p.m.; Saturday, July 13, at 2 and 5:30 p.m.; and Sunday, July 14, at 1 and 4 p.m.

The second weekend shows include Thursday, July 18, at 7 p.m.; Friday, July 19, at 5 and 8 p.m.; Saturday, July 20, at 2 and 5:30 p.m.; and Sunday, July 21, at 1 p.m.

Tickets for the show are $22 for general admission, $17 for seniors and students. All shows take place at Pierson Playhouse, located at 941 Temescal Canyon Road.

“We are having a lot of fun encouraging rebellion, teenage power and autonomy from the young actors onstage,” Ganz concluded, “and we can’t wait for audiences to join us and relive one of America’s most iconic, widely loved musicals across generations.”

For more information, including a link to purchase tickets, visit theatrepalisades.org/youth.