Arroyo Monthly January 2013

FINE LIVING IN THE GREATER PASADENA AREA JANUARY 2013

THE ART OF HEALING

HOW GREAT IS GOOD BACTERIA? ASK A MACARTHUR “GENIUS” A SKIN-CARE PIONEER’S NEW PASADENA CLINIC

PIANIST CINDY LAM’S ROAD TO RECOVERY • DANCE FOR THE DISABLED

arroyo VOLUME 9 | NUMBER 1 | JANUARY 2013

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HEALTH AND BEAUTY 12 A SECOND MOVEMENT CON BRIO Cindy Lam feared a car crash would derail her future as a concert pianist.

Then she met Dr. Milan Stevanovic.

—By Scarlet Cheng

17 DANCERS MOVE BEYOND PARKINSON’S DISEASE AT LINEAGE The Pasadena performing arts center raises the curtain on dance for people with disabilities.

—By Ilsa Setziol

21 WONDER BUGS Sarkis Mazmanian’s research on the curative powers of good bacteria earned him a MacArthur “genius award.”

—By Bettijane Levine

25 BEAUTY THAT’S SKIN DEEP Skin-care pioneer Dr. Zein Obagi opens a new skin-health center in Pasadena.

—By Irene Lacher

DEPARTMENTS 10

FESTIVITIES “Fezziwig’s Festive Holiday Tea” at A Noise Within

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ARROYO HOME SALES INDEX

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KITCHEN CONFESSIONS Arroyo’s cooking columnist ponders a fork in life's road.

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WINING AND DINING Heirloom L.A. looks to the past to serve creative cuisine in the present.

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THE LIST A Danny Kaye film festival, Robert Crais at Vroman’s and more

ABOUT THE COVER: Photo by Javiera Estrada

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EDITOR’S NOTE

CERTAINLY MEDICINE CAN BE AS AS MUCH an art as it is a science, calling on a doctor’s intuition in addition to his or her training. But as the year dawns — and with it, a fresh crop of resolutions — we look at the relationship between health and the arts in their most literal sense. Indeed, one can lead to the other in quite different ways.

Scarlet Cheng tells the heartening story of emerging concert pianist and Pasadena native Cindy Lam, who fell in love with her instrument as a child, only to sustain a serious arm injury in a car crash while still a student. While a number of doctors told her surgery might make things worse, Lam put her faith in orthopedic surgeon Dr. Milan Stevanovic, a hand specialist at USC’s Keck School of Medicine. Thanks to him, her brilliant career is back on track.

Ilsa Setziol visits a special dance class for people with Parkinson’s disease at Pasadena’s Lineage Performing Arts Center. Once thought too disabled to participate in dance, students are enjoying a boost to their well-being — both physical and mental — in Lineage’s Dancing With Parkinson’s classes. Some movements designed in the class have even found their way into Lineage Dance’s own professional choreography.

Also on the health front, Bettijane Levine talks to Caltech medical microbiologist Sarkis Mazmanian about his fascinating research into the identity and potential of good bacteria to cure what ails you — naturally. Mazmanian’s work has been so important that the MacArthur Foundation recently surprised him with a $500,000 “genius award.” Not bad for someone in mid-career.

Arroyo food columnists Leslie Bilderback and Bradley Tuck both sing praises of purveyors of delectables with the word “heirloom” in their names. Complete coincidence, we assure you. South Pasadena’s Heirloom Bakery & Cafe, where certified master baker Bilderback has recently begun manning the ovens, and Eagle Rock caterer Heirloom L.A., whose hand-cut chitarra pasta had Tuck in thrall, have no more in common than regard for the wisdom of their chef forebears. To which we say, the more heirlooms the merrier.

—Irene Lacher

EDITOR IN CHIEF Irene Lacher ART DIRECTOR Kent Bancroft JUNIOR DESIGNER Carla Cortez PRODUCTION Richard Garcia, Rochelle Bassarear COPY EDITOR John Seeley CONTRIBUTORS Leslie Bilderback, Michael Cervin, Scarlet Cheng, Mandalit del Barco, Lynne Heffley, Noela Hueso, Carole Jacobs, Kathy Kelleher, Carl Kozlowski, Bettijane Levine, Brenda Rees, John Sollenberger,Nancy Spiller, Bradley Tuck PHOTOGRAPHERS Claire Bilderback, Melissa Valladares ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Dina Stegon ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Brenda Clarke, Joseluis Correa, Leslie Lamm ADVERTORIAL CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Joanna Dehn Beresford ADVERTISING DESIGNERS Richard Garcia, Rochelle Bassarear

arroyo FINE LIVING IN THE GREATER PASADENA AREA

SOUTHLAND PUBLISHING V.P. OF FINANCE Michael Nagami V.P. OF OPERATIONS David Comden PRESIDENT Bruce Bolkin CONTACT US ADVERTISING dinas@pasadenaweekly.com EDITORIAL arroyoeditor@pasadenaweekly.com PHONE (626) 584-1500 FAX (626) 795-0149

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ACCOUNTING Alysia Chavez, Monica MacCree OFFICE ASSISTANT Ann Weathersbee PUBLISHER Jon Guynn 8 | ARROYO | 01.13

©2013 Southland Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.

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FESTIVITIES

Lyn Spector and Sheila Lamson

Emory White and Sally Hill

Terry Kay, Charlotte Kay and Dr. Edward J. Kormondy

Diana Gonzalez-Morett and Alison Elliott

Greiman with her work

Katie King (second from left), with Lois Conyers ( left), Smooch Reynolds and Ann Beisch (second from right and right)

Julia Rodriguez-Elliott and Geoff Elliott

“Fezziwig’s Festive Holiday Tea,” followed by a matinee of a stage adaptation of A Christmas Carol, drew 90 supporters to A Noise Within’s new Pasadena Dr. Robert Israel and Dr. Jennifer Israel

theater on Dec. 16, 2012, for a sold-out benefit that raised $60,000 for the repertory company’s Classics Live! education outreach programs. Fezziwig, a generous character in Charles Dickens’ classic novella, and his wife greeted guests at the theater, decked out to resemble a silver-and-white winter wonderland, where they savored passed hors d’oeuvres of miniature beef Wellingtons and smoked salmon blini puffs catered by Peggy Dark and The Kitchen for Exploring Foods. Next came a traditional British tea with finger sandwiches, scones, English sticky toffee pudding and more delights. Said Producing Artis-

James Ferrero, Abigail Marks, Megan Farber and Kevin Angulo

tic Director Julia Rodriguez-Elliott, “We envision families, friends and loved ones making the annual tea a new holiday tradition.”

Mirta Isla and Drue Lawlor

Dr. Ezat Parnia

Terri Murray and Abigail Cahill 10 | ARROYO | 01.13

Jeanine Ringer and Matthew Ringer

Carol Riemer and Robert Chattel

Bette and Jeffrey Nagin

Gaby Lichucki and Diana Rodriguez

Wendy Brookshire and Robert De Pietro

PHOTOS: Jamie Pham

Marian and Wendy Garen

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PHOTO: Javiera Estrada

A SECOND MOVEMENT CON BRIO Cindy Lam feared a car crash would derail her future as a concert pianist.

Then she met Dr. Milan Stevanovic.

BY SCARLET CHENG

A CAR CRASH NEARLY ENDED CINDY LAM’S DREAM OF BECOMING A CONCERT PIANIST. ON SEPT. 2, 2002, SHE HAD JUST BEGUN HER STUDIES AT THE USC THORNTON SCHOOL OF MUSIC WHEN A CAR SHE WAS RIDING IN SPUN OUT OF CONTROL. WITH HER BOYFRIEND AT THE WHEEL,THE COUPLE SPED DOWN NEW YORK DRIVE IN PASADENA; THE CAR SUDDENLY CAREENED, FLEW OVER THE SIDEWALK,THROUGH A TELEPHONE POLE AND A FENCE, FINALLY CRASHING INTO A TREE.“WE WERE GOING SO FAST,” SHE RECALLS SOMBERLY.“MY ELBOW WENT THROUGH THE WINDOW WHEN WE CRASHED. I DIDN’T EVEN FEEL IT HAPPEN — ALL OF A SUDDEN IT WAS VERY DUSTY.”

The boyfriend was relatively unscathed, but Lam was rushed to the emergency room, where her bleeding elbow was treated and bandaged. Later, as the skin was healing, she felt sharp pain in her elbow and upper arm. It turned out that shards of glass were still lodged inside her joints and under the skin. How would she be able to play the piano properly with such pain? Doctors told her that surgery might make things worse. Lam was understandably discouraged, even depressed.

Today, sitting on the front porch of her Pasadena home, all that seems a long time ago, and indeed, 10 years have passed since. While the physical and psychological trauma of the accident is still clear in her mind, Lam is eagerly steaming ahead with her concert pianist career and performing in top form. Fortunately, Lam had her seatbelt on during the crash, which limited the damage largely to her ulnar nerve. The important ulnar nerve is one of the three main nerves in the arm, running to the hand, and it carries messages from the brain to the hand. When X-rays showed residual glass in her elbow and upper arm, Lam was told not to worry, that scar tissue would form over the glass. But it continued to bother her.

Lam consulted Dr. Milan Stevanovic, an orthopedic surgeon at USC who specializes in the hand. He did his own set of X-rays and tests. “Every single surgeon I had seen up until that point said you can leave the glass in there,” she recalls, “but if you want to take it out, you should also do this thing called ulnar nerve transposition surgery — but then there’s a chance you’ll be worse off, there’s a chance you won’t be able to play again.” In –continued on page 14 01.13 | ARROYO | 13

2008, she saw Dr. Stevanovic again, and he urged her to have the glass removed. “He said, ‘Make an appointment and we’ll talk about it.’” At the time, her HMO would not cover the surgery he suggested, so he generously offered to donate his services.

“She had injured the ulnar nerve, but very fortunately it was not completely severed,” says Dr. Stevanovic. “If that had happened, I wouldn’t have been able to do anything.

She’s a very remarkable young lady.” In 2009, he performed the glass-removal operation, which was slated for two hours. It ended up taking twice as long because the doctor discovered a neuroma — an extraneous bundle of nerve tissue — that had developed in her elbow, so he had to work on removing some of that.

Lam acknowledges the support of her parents, friends and colleagues helped the healing process. One of them is noted solo violinist and pianist Ayke Agus, who was the accompanist to legendary violinist Jascha Heifetz for the last 15 years of his life, till 1987. “I heard her undergraduate recital at USC and was amazed at her great talent,” Agus says via email. Agus herself had also studied music performance at USC. “As a person, she is a beautiful human being, and as a musician/pianist, an amazingly gifted, talented artist.”

Lam started studying piano at just 3½. She had two other young cousins who played piano, and it seemed “cool.” At first, her mother was resistant — her daughter seemed far too young to start piano. Then one day she got a phone call from Cindy’s daycare center: The girl was refusing to eat lunch unless she could take piano lessons. Her passion for classical music was such that a few years later, she also took up the violin.

While neither of her parents are musicians — Lam’s father is an engineer — they have been very supportive of her pursuit of classical music. “After I started taking lessons,” Lam says, “they started buying CDs so I could hear the music. I remember one of the CDs we had was Mozart’s Symphonies Nos. 40 and 41. Every night at dinner, I’d go play that CD. That was the dinner CD — Mozart!” Lam laughs at the memory.

As a teen, she attended Polytechnic School in Pasadena, and when it was time to 14 | ARROYO | 01.13

apply for college, she decided to audition in piano because she thought it her stronger suit. Lam was accepted into the music education program at USC, and planned to transfer into the performance program. Then, the second week of freshman year, the accident happened.

Since her graduation from USC in 2007, the number of concerts Lam has been playing has been increasing steadily. In early 2010, she made her professional debut in a chamber music concert with the California String Quartet. She has also participated in chamber music performances in Italy as part of the Zephyr International Chamber Music Festival and at two of L.A.’s most prestigious concert venues: Walt Disney Concert Hall with the USC Thornton Symphony under the baton of Carl St. Clair and UCLA’s Royce Hall with the American Youth Symphony and conductor David Newman. Last March, she became the youngest artist to play in South Pasadena’s Restoration Concerts Series when she performed with violinist Linda Wang, a frequent collaborator with seasoned artists.

Lam also gives private piano lessons. As a teacher, she’s highly regarded; her students include the children of other musicians, such as Katia Popov, concertmaster of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, and Lynn Harrell, an internationally known cellist.

Lam is so dedicated to her art that she spends three hours a day practicing at the keyboard — even more when preparing for a concert. Recently, she received only three weeks’ notice for a concert at a private home with noted Russian violist Konstantin Boyarsky. “Working with Cindy was an absolute delight,” Boyarsky wrote later. “We were very short of time and there were obviously some elements of stress due to that, but Cindy brought a sense of calm and professionalism to her approach in preparing this tricky program.” They tackled a varied and ambitious program that included Astor Piazzolla’s Le Grand Tango, which demanded fast and furious fingering from Lam. She delivered with much poise and finesse. “Performing is the real passion and focus of my life,” she says, “and what I want to be known for.” ||||

PHOTO: Javiera Estrada

–continued from page 13

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Lineage's classes are part of a global movement.

DANCERS MOVE BEYOND PARKINSON’S AT LINEAGE The Pasadena performing arts center raises the curtain on dance for people with disabilities.

BY ILSA SETZIOL

LINEAGE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER IN PASADENA ISN’T YOUR

DEDICATED TO EXPANDING ACCESS TO THE ART FORM TO

TYPICAL DANCE STUDIO, WHERE GIRLS IN POWDER PINK PLIÉ

EVERYONE — INCLUDING PEOPLE WITH CANCER AND PARKIN-

AND PIROUETTE THEIR WAY THROUGH AN ANNUAL PRODUC-

SON’S DISEASE AND KIDS WITH DOWN SYNDROME, WHOM IT

TION OF THE NUTCRACKER. LINEAGE HAS A BROADER VISION

TEACHES TO DANCE WITH CONFIDENCE AND ARTISTRY.THE

OF DANCE: THE MODEST VENUE IN OLD PASADENA IS HOME TO

CLASSES BLEND CREATIVE MOVEMENT — EMPHASIZING

A MODERN DANCE COMPANY THAT FOCUSES ON RAISING

IMPROVISATION AND EXPRESSION — WITH BASIC MODERN,

MONEY FOR NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS.THE CENTER IS ALSO

BALLET AND POPULAR DANCE, ALONG WITH A BIT OF PILATES. –continued on page 19

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Dance With Parkinson's classes are a boon to students' mental health.

PHOTO: Iris Schneider

–continued from page 17

Lineage’s free Dancing Through Parkinson’s classes benefit more than just physical Lineage’s free Dancing With Parkinson’s classes benefit more than just physical health. People with Parkinson’s and other serious conditions often struggle with depression, especially as their ailments progress. The mental health boost the classes provide is just as important — if not more so — than the boon to their bodies, students say. “It allows us to feel our emotions,” says student Mary Ann Moses, 62. “That’s what I think is missing when you go to support groups, you don’t get the depth.”

On a fall afternoon, three women with Parkinson’s and a fourth recovering from a stroke step gingerly into Lineage’s black-floored, white-walled studio. Two are using walkers and one gets help from an aide. On the dance floor, instructor Michelle Kolb opens up black folding chairs and places them in a circle. Once the dancers are seated, she starts playing Unforgettable (the Nat King and Natalie Cole version) and leads them through a series of stretches. “If you’re tired, make your movements smaller,” she says.

The Dancing With Parkinson’s class is unique in Pasadena but one of several that have sprung up across the country and abroad over the past decade. The program’s 1,500plus students have a neurological disorder that impairs motor function, causing balance problems, tremors, rigidity and general difficulty with movement. People with the disease often live with chronic pain and fatigue.

In today’s class, though, nobody looks tired. Student Sandy Horn mimics Kolb, “marching” to the beat in her seat and tapping her feet in a Charleston step. “I always leave light-hearted,” Horn says. “No matter how I feel when I go there, I always leave energized.”

Next, Kolb directs the dancers to follow her movements. “You’ve got a basket of flowers,” she suggests as she mimes the action. “Now you’re picking them and tossing them out.” Moses does so with a fluidity you wouldn’t expect from someone with

Parkinson’s. The diminutive blond beams a radiant smile. Every musical phrase animates yet another expression of joy.

Dance has long been a passion for Moses, who lives in South Pasadena. She taught herself social dances in high school by practicing in her closet. Later she studied hula.

Moses hadn’t been much of a hoofer in recent years, though, because her husband prefers surfing. But the opportunity to join a free class was too good to pass up. From the beginning, it was an intensely emotional experience for her. “Listening to the music and doing these dances and seeing how beautifully the instructor conducted herself — being part of that was profoundly moving for me,” she says. “I was both relieved and grateful, and, at the same time, sad.”

Fortunately, the classes are unofficial support groups as well: Students are so committed to encouraging their peers that they often show up even when they’re not well enough to dance themselves. On this day, 48-year-old Trish Low has to stop after just a couple of songs. She’d developed intense nerve pain after her fourth deep brain stimulation–related surgery in 2009. (In DBS, a pacemaker that generates electrical impulses is implanted in the brain.) A former outreach coordinator for the American Parkinson’s Disease Association, Low joined the class to “find some joy” in her life. She not only tapped into the joy but also garnered friends and self-confidence. “I keep reassuring myself that I am still doing fine,” she says. “To know that I can still shake my booty a little bit, it’s good for my soul.”

After working in their chairs, the dancers transition to standing positions, using the chair-backs as needed for balance. Then those who can, dance unassisted, or partner with a teaching assistant. The students often choreograph dances by joining together movements they each contribute, typically gestural expressions, like the flower-picking exercise. Today they play a “name game,” creating movements to accompany the sound of their names.

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–continued from page 19

Some of the students’ best efforts gain a wider audience: Lineage Artistic Director Hilary Thomas has incorporated some of the class’ choreography into her own work, and Moses performed a duet with teaching assistant Austin Roy at last year’s Lineage gala.

Lineage Dance Company’s Thomas and Kolb draw both artistic and personal inspiration from the class. “You’ve got people who are wicked strong and so resilient,” Kolb says, “and determined to find the good in this day.”

Launched two-and-a-half years ago, the Parkinson’s class fit perfectly with Lineage Dance Company’s philosophy of outreach. The company was already performing benefit concerts for nonprofits across the country, including breast cancer groups and other medical charities. The dances were often about the issues the charities grappled with. That work led to the realization that “people not only needed to appreciate watching dance, but to do dance themselves as a force of healing,” says Thomas. So in 2007 Lineage choreographed Dancing Through the Ages, a full-evening work that brought together lay people of all ages — from grandparents to grandchildren — to dance onstage.

In 2009, when Lineage was rehearsing a series of dances about the brain, Kolb tuned in to a PBS Frontline documentary on Parkinson’s that included footage of a dance class created by the prominent Mark Morris Dance Group (MMDG) and the Brooklyn Parkinson Group (BPG) in 2001. Kolb, then nursing a knee injury, was drawn to the plight of people who struggle physically. “Moving is such a part of my life, I couldn’t imagine not being able to do things I want my body to do,” she recalls. She convinced Lineage to bring David Leventhal, program manager of MMDG’s Dance for PD program, to Pasadena for a training workshop.

Over the past decade, the Dance for PD program has expanded to dozens of communities in the U.S. and abroad. The work has also broadened the way MMDG envisions its mission, according to Leventhal. “Traditionally, arts education has been targeted to people who are under 18,” he says, “but there’s a whole population of people who are over 50, 20 | ARROYO | 01.13

who are [usually] seen as people who would buy tickets to a show but don’t get to experience the art from the inside.”

Lineage’s Dancing With Parkinson’s class takes its framework and inspiration from MMDG’s Dance for PD, but Lineage designed the specifics of its own program. Both dance organizations describe their classes as aesthetic experiences rather than physical therapy. Still, participants report at least temporary improvements in their motor skills. “I can move my ankles correctly again,” says Low, whose feet swell up in the evening. In an MMDG survey of participants, two-thirds said they execute at least one daily activity better as a result of dance class. A similar number reported more self-assurance in handling their daily activities.

Neurologists are studying how these classes achieve their therapeutic benefits, but the research is preliminary. People with Parkinson’s are deficient in the neurotransmitter dopamine, and research suggests that exercise can slow the degeneration of dopamineproducing cells, potentially slowing the progress of the disease. Leventhal says dance also adds a creative component — “the idea of imagination [and] aesthetics in the service of movement.” Kolb posits that dancing “somehow tricks the brain” into new ways of accomplishing movement. “You put an [imaginative] intention behind the movement that’s not about having to do a task,” she says.

A few weeks after being sidelined, Low is back on the dance floor shaking her booty.

She sashays and shimmies to “The Lady is a Tramp.” No walker. No chair. Sure, she’s a little unsteady at times, but she can really move. And that’s clearly a pleasure. Moses is right there with her, grinning from ear to ear. “I never in a million years thought I would dance again with a group of people,” she says. “It’s fantastic.” |||| Dancing With Parkinson’s classes are held at 2 p.m. Wednesdays. To register, visit lineagedance.org. Lineage Performing Arts Center is located at 89 S. Fair Oaks Ave., Pasadena. For information, call (626) 844-7008 or visit the website. .

PHOTO: Iris Schneider

Students report at least temporary improvements in their motor skills.

WONDER BUGS

Caltech medical microbiogist Sarkis Mazmanian’s pioneering research on the SARKIS MAZMANIAN IS NOT A HOUSEHOLD NAME,

curative powers of good bacteria earned him a 2012 MacArthur “genius award.”

AND THE 39-YEAR-OLD RESEARCH SCIENTIST

BY BETTIJANE LEVINE

SCOFFS AT THE THOUGHT THAT IT MIGHT SOMEDAY BECOME ONE. BUT IF HIS GROUNDBREAKING RESEARCH AT CALTECH CONTINUES TO PRODUCE BREAKTHROUGHS IN POTENTIAL DISEASE CONTROLS AND CURES, HE MAY ONE DAY BE UP THERE IN THE PANTHEON OF SCIENTISTS WHO HAVE HELPED CONQUER MAJOR DISEASES. Mazmanian recently won a prestigious 2012 “genius award” from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, a fellowship with an unrestricted grant of $500,000, given to “individuals of exceptional merit who show promise of continued creative work,” according to the foundation’s website. Mazmanian certainly fills the bill. He is a Caltech medical microbiologist and professor whose research has focused on microbes, which, he says, most people think of as “insidious little creatures that only cause disease.”

But Mazmanian believes otherwise and started working more than a decade ago to prove a long-held belief among scientists, that there are good bacteria as well as bad ones — and that certain good ones might just be a source of cures for all sorts of autoimmune and allergic disorders, and possibly some neurological diseases and cancers as well. Although scientists had long –continued on page 22

Symbiotic bacteria produce immunomodulatory molecules which are recognized by host immune cells (dendritic cells), and presented to T cells in order to promote development of the mammalian immune system.

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–continued from page 21

known there were trillions of species of so-called good bacteria living in our intestinal tract, none of those species had ever been specifically identified or proven to be beneficial.

Mazmanian has done just that. His lab was the first to identify and isolate specific beneficial bacteria, and demonstrate that these organisms regulate the human immune system and provide protection from certain diseases. The absence of such bacteria, he hypothesized, was what caused these diseases. It was a great conceptual leap, and his results have transformed scientific research in this field. He has already cured multiple sclerosis and inflammatory bowel disease in lab mice, by giving them specific bacteria from human intestinal flora. His lab is working to produce bacteriabased therapies that may someday be commonly prescribed for individuals diagnosed with diseases currently with no cure. So far, he says, his experiments with lab mice suggest that asthma, type 1 diabetes, Crohn’s disease and multiple sclerosis may eventually be cured with drugs made from human gut bacteria. Of course, there’s a long way to go before such cures will be available to people, he says, “but the plan is to proceed to human experiments” and to eventually market drugs like those being developed in his lab.

Mazmanian theorizes that the increases in certain illnesses over the past 50 years correlates directly with the increase in human exposure to all sorts of antibiotics and chemicals: not just drugs, but also foods, personal hygiene products like soap and toothpaste, household cleaning products — even toys, can be embedded with antibiotics, he says.

This over-the-top exposure, he believes, has eradicated some good organisms that have always lived in human intestines, “organisms that have evolved with us for millions and millions of years,” he says. Without the immune protection they were meant to provide, there has been an immense increase in certain illnesses that were not so prevalent before. His answer: Cure the illness by replacing the natural gut organisms, which nature has provided for immunity, and which should be there but aren’t.

Mazmanian’s research helped lay the groundwork for the National Institutes of Health’s Human Microbiome Project (HMP) involving 200 scientists at 80 institutions, who are identifying “the microbial communities found at several different sites on the human body, including nasal passages, oral cavities, skin, gastrointestinal tract and urogenital tract, and [analyzing] the role of these microbes in human health and disease,” according to the HMP website.

You gambled by taking a research path not traveled by scientists before. Was there a eureka moment when you said, “Aha! I will study the beneficial effects of bacteria while the rest of the world studies the bad effects?”

Yes. I can pinpoint the very moment it happened, about 11 years ago. I was a graduate student studying bacterial pathogenesis, or how bacteria cause infectious diseases. At that time, 99.9 percent of microbiologists interested in human-associated microbes were all studying pathogens that cause disease. It made sense, right?

Then I read an article about all these bacteria that live in our intestines, and the enormous magnitude and diversity of these organisms. I became fascinated and went into the literature. I found there was virtually nothing known about any of these organisms. Nothing at all. That was the eureka moment. I thought, I have to study this because it’s so far off the beaten path, so off the edge. I jumped in with both feet and am still studying the area to this day.

You’re saying no one knew about these bacteria?

No. People knew for 100 years there are bacteria in our intestines. But what are they doing?

Why are they there? More fundamentally, why does our immune system tolerate them and not attack them? Think about it: If you get just 10 cells of salmonella or E. coli, your body mounts a very vigorous immune attack against them. So how is it that we peacefully coexist with these gut organisms? This was not investigated.

Did you have to prove there are good bacteria in human intestines? Wasn’t it already taken for granted by scientists?

A good analogy would be likening this to life on other planets. You talk to astronomers and they all, mathematically, would say it’s extremely likely there’s life on other planets.

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From a purely theoretical point of view, with the billions and billions of planets there are, and all the chemical reactions going on, for life to have originated on only one of those planets is highly unlikely. So there’s probably life on other planets, but we’ve just never discovered it, so we can’t prove it.

In the same way, the whole world can believe it’s highly likely that some bacteria are good for you. But if there’s really no proof of it, then it still remains theoretical.

What we did was show the first example of these good bacteria, and by showing that first example, it opens the possibility that this is true, and that it can be demonstrated again and again. So yes, everyone did believe there were likely good bacteria, but no one had ever proved it before. We were the first.

Did you know what you were looking for?

PHOTO: Courtesy of the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

We were looking for needles in the haystack. There are literally thousands and thousands of species of bacteria in the human gut, and they are as different from each other as humans are from earthworms. And only a few of them are going to be therapeutic. We found a couple.

We characterized them… and this was sort of the basis for the [MacArthur] award. Not just the experimental validation, but the conceptual event.

What was your hypothesis going into your experiments?

The absence of good bacteria is a risk factor for disease.

And your truly groundbreaking work was proving that these good bacteria somehow protect or activate the human immune system, and that the absence of them causes disease?

Yes, that’s correct.

You’ve said the good bacteria have existed in the human body for thousands of years.

Why have they suddenly gone missing in some of us?

No one knows exactly, but it possibly started with the invention of penicillin, which was called “the magic bullet.” By the late 1950s and early ’60s, antibiotic use was way up. By the ’70s and ’80s, it was prescribed like candy. And as we tried successfully to eradicate the bad bacteria, the good bacteria were the collateral damage.

You’re saying that overexposure to antibiotic drugs has caused an increase in autoimmune and allergic disease?

I would never advocate against the use of antibiotics. Civilization has benefited immensely from them. Limiting them would make us sick again with infectious diseases. Clearly –continued on page 24 01.13 | ARROYO | 23

–continued from page 23

they’ve caused a huge decrease in infection. And because of antibiotics we live much longer now than we did 50, 60, 70 years ago.

But remarkably, in the last 40 or 50 years, the incidence of autoimmune and allergic disorders, such as inflammatory bowel disease and multiple sclerosis, has increased. In an era where infectious diseases are going down, noninfectious allergic and autoimmune diseases are going up.

So overmedication isn’t the biggest worry?

The current estimate is that 70 percent of all antibiotics produced go to livestock, not to humans. The animals are given antibiotics to fatten them up. The less sick they are, the more weight they gain, and meat is sold by the pound. Industry quickly figured it out: Let’s just supplement the feed with low levels of antibiotics and we’ll get fatter cows, chickens and pigs. I try to eat organic meat and foods.

What other precautions do you take?

I try to stay away from foods with preservatives in them. It’s not just antibiotics that kill the gut bacteria. Chemical preservatives do the exact same thing. I try to stay away from foods with pesticides and wash foods very, very well, because antibiotics and pesticides are sprayed onto them. Things like household dishwashing detergents have very potent antimicrobials in them. I stay away from those and use plain soap.

Do pesticides have antibiotics?

Indirectly. They’re indirectly antimicrobial, because they prevent insects from colonizing or eating the food, and the insects themselves are covered with bacteria, or affect the microbial ecosystem. It’s a different conversation than the one we’re having, but pesticides are shown to have an effect on how much bacteria are on foods themselves.

You haven’t mentioned cancer as a possible disease that might benefit from research in your lab.

I would say we are just beginning to appreciate how gut microbes affect colon cancer in particular. We cannot generalize this to all cancers because the data isn’t there. Even for colon cancer, the data are still preliminary. Not to say there isn’t evidence, but it is not definitive.

What is definitive from your research so far?

In experimental animals — we have not yet moved to humans, but that is in the plan — we have identified a bacterium and a molecule from that bacterium that treats and cures inflammatory bowel disease and multiple sclerosis. So in mice we can cure those diseases using nothing but gut bacteria. That is the conceptual leap here. We’ve shown that you can take a bacterium from the gut of humans and put it into mice with multiple sclerosis or inflammatory bowel disease, and we can cure the disease. Our lab work actually shows that the absence of organisms is a risk factor for disease, and that giving those beneficial organisms which have protective effects to people may be a therapy for 24 | ARROYO | 01.13

four diseases: asthma, type I diabetes, multiple sclerosis and Crohn’s disease.

How did you medicate the afflicted lab rats?

With a supplement that restores good bacteria during and after an antibiotic regimen.

What kind of supplement?

We’re talking about pharmaceutical-grade drugs, but the drugs themselves are not chemicals that were synthesized in a laboratory. The drugs are molecules made naturally by our own gut bacteria.

Does any lab make such drugs?

Our lab makes them. We extract the bacterial molecule which the bacteria produces and synthesizes. We don’t make the molecule; we purify it directly from the bacteria.

No one has developed this as a therapy yet. It’s in the process of being developed.

We have patents. But as you can imagine, it’s difficult to get pharmaceutical firms to invest in developing these things. And there are many hurdles to go through with the FDA to get licensed to sell a pharmaceutical drug. That will require a lot of effort but we are starting on that path.

What about potential similar cures for neurological diseases and autism?

There’s emerging evidence for those, some reason to believe there might be an association, but nothing strongly definitive just yet.

Does your lab deal only with intestinal tract bacteria?

Yes. Just the gut.

What is your most optimistic fantasy for where all this could lead in the future?

This is all speculation: My hope would be that we, as a scientific community, will identify organisms, microbes, that are specifically beneficial to various human ailments and diseases. So one can imagine that a specific microbe may be effective in controlling multiple sclerosis, another microbe might be effective controlling cancer and yet another would control heart disease and so on. And that some day we will go to the doctor and get a diagnosis for disease or ailment X, and the doctor will prescribe a pill that will not contain a chemical, not contain a compound that was synthesized in a laboratory. It will contain bacteria, the specific bacteria meant to cure your specific ailment.

Will that bacteria have been obtained from the human body?

I believe that’s the first place to start. Because these are the organisms we have evolved with for thousands of years, the ones that have learned to network and interact with us on a molecular level — talk to our cells and interact with the receptors of our cells.

Those organisms are more likely than any others to trigger the beneficial effect. ||||

PHOTO: Courtesy of the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

What’s the significance?

Perhaps there’s a correlation between these two events. And that is what really got us into this work. Changes in our lifestyle in the last 50 or 60 years, including exposure to antibiotic drugs and to the antibiotics in food and in household cleansers and hygiene products, such as toothpaste and soap, even children’s toys — along with exposure to chemicals in food preservatives and in pesticides — all may have played a part in affecting our immune system. Add to that the western high-fat, high-sugar diet. As a scientific community we don’t know which of these factors are the ones affecting our gut microbes. I think there’s a consensus that each of the factors incrementally, or maybe in the aggregate, has a huge effect on the increasing prevalence of many disorders.

BEAUTY

THAT’S SKIN DEEP

Beverly Hills--based dermatologist and skin-care pioneer Dr. Zein Obagi brings his latest products and treatments to Pasadena’s new ZO Skin Health Center.

BY IRENE LACHER

A LOT OF PLASTIC SURGEONS WILL TELL YOU PRIVATELY THAT THEIR WIVES ARE THEIR CALLING CARDS — LIVING EXAMPLES OF THE DOCTORS’ STANDARDS OF BEAUTY AND PYGMALION PERFECTION. WITH CELEBRITY DERMATOLOGIST DR. ZEIN OBAGI, ONE NEED LOOK NO FARTHER THAN THE PHYSICIAN HIMSELF. EXCEPT FOR A FEW CROW’S FEET, HIS FACE IS AS WRINKLE-FREE AS A BABY’S BUM — EVEN THOUGH HE’S A MATURE 69.

Dr. Zein Obagi

It sounds almost incredible, and yet there he is, the prime beneficiary of his 35 years as a skin-care innovator, known around the world — and now in Pasadena, where Dr. Obagi and his medical esthetician daughter, Sandra, recently opened his latest clinic, ZO Skin Health Center. (Based in Beverly Hills, he also has what he calls “skin health institutes” in San Gabriel and Laguna Beach.)

Celebrity dermatologists who produce their own skin-care lines are fairly common these days, but Dr. Obagi was in the vanguard of that trend. With a focus on improving skin health and preventing skin problems, he launched the Obaji NuDerm System in 1988; the prescription-strength products, which include hydroquinone and tretinoin, went on to be sold in doctors’ offices worldwide, from Bahrain and Cambodia to Russia and Sudan. He sold a controlling interest in Obagi Medical Products in 1997 and is no longer associated with NuDerm. He reformulated his skincare line to reflect discoveries about skin inflammation and antioxidants that sprang up in the intervening years.

–continued on page 26 01.13 | ARROYO | 25

Sandra Obagi

–continued from page 25

care [regimen] that addresses the skin’s activity and cellular function.

Obagi’s current company is ZO Skin Health, and it produces two lines — prescription-strength Medical and over-the-counter Skin Health products. Instead of cleanse, tone and moisturize regimes typical of department store lines, ZO focuses on accelerating cell turnover with targeted cleansers, serums, creams and peels.

The tab for all this is not for the financially faint of heart. Dr. Obagi’s prices — Skin Health products range in cost from $35 for the Offects Hydrating Cleanser to $145 for the Ossential Radical Night Repair Plus, and a range of products is generally recommended — have ruffled the feathers of a number of Yelpers. But he is utterly convinced of the correctness of his approach, and enough doctors around the world apparently agree to pack his schedule with speaking invitations. Indeed, a skin-care symposium Dr. Obagi organized in November at the Montage Hotel in Beverly Hills drew 180 physicians.

The ZO Skin Health Center in Pasadena offers a wide range of skincare services, from LED therapy and a stimulation peel designed by Dr. Obagi to microdermabrasion, injectables and facials. The doctor sat down with Arroyo Monthly to talk about his skincare philosophy. Here are some highlights:

ON MOISTURIZERS: Existing skin care is not helpful to a lot of people. Most products on the market are competing on who makes a better moisturizer. They really aren’t competing on science, they are competing to sell products — who makes the product that feels good, smells good and the effect lasts longer. So you pay tons of money to get a [department store] brand, and there are also smaller companies that make similar products that are much cheaper and do the same thing.

For most people, when you pay a lot of money, you’re paying for the brand. But we have found out that continuous usage of moisturizer leads to skin sensitivity and dependency on the moisturizer. When you apply moisturizer, you do two things — first, the body responds by shutting off the normal delivery [of moisture and nutrients]. If you put your hands in water for half an hour and take them out, you don’t see natural hydration.

What you see is white wrinkled skin that shows you how, when water sits on the surface, it sucks the natural moisture away. By continuous usage of a moisturizer, you will have dry skin. Baby skin looks wonderful because natural hydration is coming from within.

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF STARTING SKIN CARE AT A YOUNG AGE: Young people should do preventive measures to prevent acne and scarring, to prevent pigmentation problems, sun damage and cancer, and slow down aging changes produced by the sun... Most kids eat a lot of sugar, a lot of ice cream and cereals full of sugar, and that causes constant inflammation in the skin; the bad effects will show years later.

ON WHAT HE CALLS “THE CIRCLE OF SKIN HEALTH”: We want people to activate, stimulate and strengthen the skin. So we’re trying to take skin care from just feeling good to really making skin good. That’s what we call skin-health restoration, skin-health prevention and maintenance. So we have a circle. If you have a problem, treat it early.

If you don’t have a problem, we will give you the means to prevent one. ||||

ON PREVENTION OF SKIN PROBLEMS: Prevention is a concept that medically was not really supported in the past effectively. We can prevent aging, sun damage, acne, pigmentation. Many of the problems people suffer from are preventable if they follow a skin

The ZO Skin Health Center is located at 120 S. Lake Ave., Pasadena. Hours are 10 a.m. to

26 | ARROYO | 01.13

7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and by appointment Sunday and Monday. Call (626) 795-0067 or visit obagiskin.com.

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01.13 | ARROYO | 27

™

arroyo

SPONSORED BY

~HOME SALES INDEX~ HOME SALES

oct

nov

2012

2012

+4.6% ALTADENA HOMES SOLD MEDIAN PRICE MEDIAN SQ. FT. ARCADIA HOMES SOLD MEDIAN PRICE MEDIAN SQ. FT. EAGLE ROCK HOMES SOLD MEDIAN PRICE MEDIAN SQ. FT. GLENDALE HOMES SOLD MEDIAN PRICE MEDIAN SQ. FT. LA CANADA HOMES SOLD MEDIAN PRICE MEDIAN SQ. FT. PASADENA HOMES SOLD MEDIAN PRICE MEDIAN SQ. FT. SAN MARINO HOMES SOLD MEDIAN PRICE MEDIAN SQ. FT. SIERRA MADRE HOMES SOLD MEDIAN PRICE MEDIAN SQ. FT. SOUTH PASADENA HOMES SOLD MEDIAN PRICE MEDIAN SQ. FT. TOTAL HOMES SOLD AVG PRICE/SQ. FT.

OCT ’12 33 $489,000 1551 OCT ’12 33 $832,000 2394 OCT ’12 18 $460,000 1388 OCT ’12 119 $525,000 1513 OCT ’12 19 $845,000 1828 OCT ’12 127 $550,000 1524 OCT ’12 15 $1,700,000 3011 OCT ’12 5 $496,500 1429 OCT ’12 20 $845,000 1823 OCT ’12 389 $413

HOMES SOLD

ADDRESS

389 351

AVG. PRICE/SQ. FT.

RECENT HOME CLOSINGS IN THE ARROYO FOOTPRINT

HOMES SOLD

-9.8%

HOME SALES ABOVE $750,000

NOV ‘12 39 $460,000 1588.5 NOV ‘12 29 $725,000 1869 NOV ‘12 14 $527,500 1242 NOV ‘12 96 $474,250 1513 NOV ‘12 16 $1,040,000 1988 NOV ‘12 128 $531,000 1500 NOV ‘12 10 $1,545,000 2494 NOV ‘12 6 $528,000 1355 NOV ‘12 13 $825,000 1552 NOV ‘12 351 $432

CLOSE DATE PRICE

SOURCE: CalREsource

BDRMS. SQ. FT. YR. BUILT PREV. PRICE PREV. SOLD

ALTADENA 1401 Rubio Street

11/30/12

$1,650,000

6

6194

2316 Pinecrest Drive

11/14/12

$1,200,000

4

2596

1925 1936

$760,000

02/08/2001

1431 East Mendocino Street

11/27/12

$1,173,000

6

2927

1937

$470,000

11/17/1995

1921

1986 Glenview Terrace

11/14/12

$1,075,000

3

2674

1797 Meadowbrook Road

11/08/12

$999,000

3

2378

1932

$400,000

09/25/1991

2651 Tanoble Drive

11/01/12

$950,000

4

2037

1955

$415,000

04/08/1999

1175 Sonoma Drive

11/20/12

$890,000

3

1832

1923

$270,000

04/01/1994

2030 Pinecrest Drive

11/13/12

$851,000

2

2589

1950

$600,000

11/20/1998

1566 Meadowbrook Road

11/01/12

$782,500

6

$220,000

05/31/1984

1175 East Calaveras Street

11/09/12

$750,000

2

2182

1924

231 West Foothill Boulevard

11/16/12

$1,760,000

4

2820

1949

$648,000

09/03/1999

123 Loralyn Drive

11/27/12

$1,580,000

4

4104

2001

$435,000

01/29/1999

1510 South 6th Avenue

11/02/12

$1,510,000

6

3616

1953

ARCADIA

1829 South Santa Anita Avenue 11/01/12

$1,470,000

5

4463

2006

$1,580,000 04/03/2008

1283 South 2nd Avenue

$1,398,000

4

3790

2007

$1,460,000 12/12/2008

11/02/12

2011 Canyon Road

11/16/12

$970,000

3

2022

1955

$345,000

04/29/1997

1631 La Ramada Avenue

11/30/12

$879,000

4

1945

1951

$178,000

08/05/1983

$640,000

01/16/2004

1136 Highland Oaks Drive

11/02/12

$856,000

4

1960

1947

310 East Magna Vista Avenue

11/27/12

$850,000

3

1731

1959

1031 Loma Verde Drive

11/16/12

$840,000

4

2180

1973

$758,000

07/13/2004

1050 English Oaks Drive

11/05/12

$835,000

4

2913

1980

$426,000

07/27/1999

2315 El Capitan Avenue

11/08/12

$820,000

3

1204

1951

2119 South 5th Avenue

11/14/12

$800,000

3

1714

1954

1037 Burnell Oaks Lane

11/27/12

$750,000

4

1843

1956

GLENDALE 2322 East Chevy Chase Drive

11/30/12

$1,579,000

4

3258

1929

$1,200,000 11/01/2005

1742 Riverside Drive

11/27/12

$1,500,000

3

2719

1968

$787,000

05/07/2002

1011 Matilija Road

11/30/12

$1,010,000

8

$405,000

08/27/1993

3703 Hampstead Road

11/21/12

$990,000

4

3036

1975

$590,000

04/12/1990

3019 Welsh Way

11/07/12

$842,000

4

3006

1980

$620,000

08/17/1989

2956 Graceland Way

11/06/12

$840,000

3

3683

1991

$500,000

03/31/1998

3340 Stephens Circle

11/20/12

$804,000

5

4813

1988

$1,350,000 12/07/2005

3236 Montrose Avenue

11/16/12

$775,000

6

3051

1940

$455,000

1533 Arboles Drive

11/07/12

$770,000

2

2018

1950

$490,000

06/28/1989

1715 Del Valle Avenue

11/27/12

$762,000

3

1986

1930

$234,000

08/13/1987

$315,000

12/29/2011

1634 Oakengate Drive

11/08/12

$760,000

4

2848

1966

438 West Kenneth Road

11/30/12

$750,000

2

1718

1923

4152

1924

10/18/2001

LA CAÑADA FLINTRIDGE 4234 Chevy Chase Drive

11/02/12

$2,900,000

5

625 Georgian Road

11/15/12

$2,825,000

7

945 Regent Park Drive

11/29/12

$2,550,000

5

$2,750,000 09/15/2010 4270

1941

$670,000

03/07/1997

The Arroyo Home Sales Index is calculated from residential home sales in Pasadena and the surrounding communities of South Pasadena, San Marino, La Canada Flintridge, Eagle Rock, Glendale (including Montrose), Altadena, Sierra Madre and Arcadia. Individual home sales data provided by CalREsource. Arroyo Home Sales Index © Arroyo 2012.

28 | ARROYO | 01.13

HOME SALES ABOVE $750,000 RECENT HOME CLOSINGS IN THE ARROYO FOOTPRINT ADDRESS

CLOSE DATE PRICE

SOURCE: CalREsource

BDRMS. SQ. FT. YR. BUILT PREV. PRICE PREV. SOLD

LA CAĂ‘ADA FLINTRIDGE 4336 Chevy Chase Drive

11/14/12

$2,500,000

5

6337

2000

$1,780,000 03/23/2001

4728 Vineta Avenue

11/01/12

$2,170,000

3

2365

1951

$1,200,000 06/03/2011

4263 Encinas Drive

11/19/12

$1,425,000

3

1988

1951

322 Mellow Lane

11/15/12

$1,160,000

3

1908

1956

$640,000

11/13/2002

5397 Harter Lane

11/29/12

$1,085,000

3

2348

1964

$445,000

05/08/1997

4820 Carmel Road

11/28/12

$995,000

3

2406

1947

$1,100,000 11/05/2004

458 Noren Street

11/16/12

$930,000

3

1836

1956

1355 Journeys End Drive

11/28/12

$900,000

3

2292

1950

$720,000

03/16/2001

5011 Crown Avenue

11/29/12

$880,000

2

1620

1951

$341,000

11/18/1994

$100,000

07/25/1979

487 Paulette Place

11/14/12

$875,000

3

1802

1954

4836 Revlon Drive

11/01/12

$860,000

3

1830

1949

165 Lamour Drive

11/02/12

$785,000

3

1591

1946

4110

1941

PASADENA 3030 San Pasqual Street

11/16/12

$2,320,000

4

3390 Lombardy Road

11/14/12

$2,255,000

8

1021 South El Molino Avenue

11/06/12

$2,215,000

7

4139

1915

3639 East California Boulevard

11/06/12

$2,110,000

3

3083

1941

490 La Loma Road

11/19/12

$1,968,000

5

250 South Hill Avenue

11/29/12

$1,610,000

9

504 Arbor Street

11/26/12

$1,600,000

3

2584

1908

777 Hillside Terrace

11/08/12

$1,550,000

7

$345,000

01/05/1984

$905,000

08/22/1997

$1,200,010 04/06/2004 $1,275,000 10/24/2006

535 South Halstead Street

11/30/12

$1,310,000

3

2737

1976

610 Westover Place

11/09/12

$1,300,000

4

2529

1942

$297,000

05/15/1984

$850,000

03/06/2001

$146,500

08/31/1978

3216 East Villa Knolls Drive

11/20/12

$1,265,000

3

2927

1974

$450,000

05/01/2000

350 Anita Drive

11/09/12

$1,235,000

2

2180

1998

$85,000

04/27/1995

846 Cambridge Court

11/26/12

$1,230,000

4

3291

2011

1555 Pegfair Estates Drive

11/06/12

$1,162,000

3

2484

1962

$520,000

06/04/1998

600 Westover Place

11/09/12

$1,150,000

3

2270

1939

$615,000

05/11/2001

1820 Devon Road

11/21/12

$1,136,000

5

1680 Casa Grande Street

11/30/12

$921,000

4

2584

1912

$648,000

04/18/2012

3553 Grayburn Road

11/07/12

$859,000

3

1924

1946

$580,000

09/14/2012

$1,005,000 02/17/2006

413 North Raymond Avenue

11/21/12

$854,500

1735 Oakdale Street

11/20/12

$850,000

2

1548

1922

$640,000

05/28/2003

480 South Orange Grove Blvd #12 11/30/12

$850,000

2

2086

1972

$750,000

08/10/2009

411 North Raymond Avenue #2 11/21/12

$829,500 6

3172

1913

$330,000

04/19/2002

$1,053,000 09/14/2005

50 North Meridith Avenue

11/13/12

$820,000

411 North Raymond Avenue

11/29/12

$804,500

1047 South Los Robles Avenue 11/30/12

$800,000

4

2490

1947

3555 Shadow Grove Road

11/21/12

$795,000

2

1748

1955

700 East Union Street #105

11/30/12

$775,000

2

1650

2006

1700 North Arroyo Boulevard

11/29/12

$770,000

4

2005

1948

1483 La Loma Road

11/09/12

$760,000

2

1934

1954

1224 Oak Grove Avenue

11/30/12

$2,800,000

6

3898

2115 Adair Street

11/15/12

$2,200,000

4

3875

1908 Warwick Road

11/30/12

$2,090,000

4

3250

$731,500

04/30/2009

1951

$586,000

06/13/1980

1931

$203,066

06/18/1997

1939

$835,000

07/14/2000

SAN MARINO

2205 El Molino Place

11/14/12

$2,076,000

3

2494

1936

$1,125,000 06/28/2002

1455 Vandyke Road

11/15/12

$1,550,000

3

2534

1948

$895,000

1730 Banning Way

11/19/12

$1,540,000

4

2438

1954

$1,495,000 10/20/2010

950 Darby Road

11/14/12

$1,500,000

3

2061

1931

$200,000

1545 Pasqualito Drive

11/30/12

$1,500,000

3

1994

1951

685 Chaucer Road

11/28/12

09/04/2003 08/28/1979

$1,300,000

7

$985,000

3

2062

1923

$899,000

03/30/2005

11/20/12

$1,000,000

4

2507

1916

$205,000

02/01/1991

1505 Milan Avenue

11/27/12

$1,755,000

4

2550

1923

$610,000

03/15/1988

904 Lyndon Street

11/16/12

$1,005,000

3

1597

1923

$1,025,000 06/19/2008

1319 Gates Place

11/27/12

$982,000

5

2406

1929

$380,000

2036 Amherst Drive

11/27/12

$895,000

3

1552

1923

$830,000

07/09/2004

938 Arroyo Drive

11/09/12

$885,000

$800,000

09/23/2005

1615 South Los Robles Avenue 11/14/12

$1,850,000 06/01/2005

SIERRA MADRE 803 Woodland Drive SOUTH PASADENA

07/14/1997

822 Summit Drive

11/16/12

$839,000

3

1363

1927

$395,000

07/13/2001

800 Bank Street

11/07/12

$825,000

2

1740

1961

$725,000

01/05/2006

1253 Huntington Drive #B

11/20/12

$775,000 01.13 | ARROYO | 29

arroyo HOME & DESIGN SPECIAL ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT

FIT FOR A KING OR QUEEN IN 2013!

THE NEW YEAR REMINDS US OF THE CYCLICAL ASPECT OF OUR LIVES, AND THAT MUCH OF WHAT WE LEARN IN LIFE WE ACTUALLY RELEARN. IT’S NOT AN ESPECIALLY NEW OBSERVATION

UNIVERSAL HOME GYM IDEAS FOR EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE

– THAT THERE IS NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN. YET, ENCOUNTERING SUCH A REALIZATION,

BY JOANNA DEHN BERESFORD

AGAIN. THERE’S PROFOUND POWER AND JOY IN THIS RECURRING LESSON.

AND ALL OF THE OTHER REHASHED AND REMEMBERED REALIZATIONS THAT WE MAKE IN A DAY, A YEAR, A LIFETIME, CAN REJUVENATE, CAN MAKE THE ONE-WHO-REALIZES FEEL NEW

–continued on page 33 30 | ARROYO | 01.13

01.13 | ARROYO | 31

32 | ARROYO | 01.13

—ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT—

–continued from page 30 For instance, most of us know that physical health and fitness are prerequisites for a satisfying and effective life. Yet, every January thousands of Americans recommit themselves to a healthy diet of food and exercise with renewed zeal. For some of us this commitment involves an analysis of our own homes and how we might incorporate our fitness goals there. If you’re considering a makeover of yourself that includes a makeover of your home gym, however humble or ambitious that project may be, there’s good news: the principles of creating a home gym are as simple and universal as the fitness goals themselves. Anyone can make a “home gym” anywhere.

PURPOSE AND PARTICIPANTS First you must consider the rhetorical situation of your home gym. In other words: what’s the purpose of the space and who’s going to use it? Will the facility serve an entire family, including children of various ages? Is it designed to serve a single adult or couple? Will more seasoned, or senior, members of the household make use of the exercise equipment? Do you need a treadmill for the family dog? What are the fitness goals and levels of expertise of these users, and what do the participants want to aAccording to “The Dean of Home Renovation and Repair Advice,” Bob Vila, a home gym is “more than just an accumulation of equipment – it’s the product of a well-conceived design that’s as functional as it is motivating.” In other words, you need a vision and a plan. You may want a quiet, zen-like retreat, flooded with natural light overlooking the garden, where you will pursue your quest for enlightenment through yoga and meditation. Maybe your wife just wants to hop on a stationary bike, crank up the television or the ipod and master some rpms. Your son may want to work with free weights while your daughter climbs the walls – literally. And your houseguests may want to play a game of indoor basketball after dinner. Think about the possibilities for now and in the near future, write them down, then consider your space and your budget.

SIZE MATTERS – SORT OF… Antilia (or as some critics like to call it, Attila), is a $1 billion dollar single-family residence completed in 2010 for Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries, his wife and three children. The home includes 400,000 square feet of living space, nine elevators from the lobby, parking for 160 cars, three helipads and air traffic control facility, a 50-seat theatre, a temple, ballroom, lounges, guestrooms, and amenities galore, and a staff of 600 fulltime employees.

Of the Antilia’s 27 towering stories, one is dedicated entirely to health and fitness. This recreation emporium features dance and yoga studios, swimming pool, lap pool and Jacuzzi, private gym and a snow room, where residents and guests may retreat to escape the smothering heat of Indian summer.

Clearly, there’s no excuse for the Ambani family not to be in optimal physical health this year.

Yet, you don’t have to live like a Maharajah to work out. Many of the most effective home gyms are compact, ergonomic marvels. What you do have to do is assess the layout of your home and decide where you want to dedicate square footage to your callisthenic dreams.

Size matters when it comes to planning and implementing your personal fitness center, but mainly in the quantitative, not the qualitative, sense.

If you’ve designated an ample space, say an entire guest house, garage, basement, attic or wing of the residence, to your workout adventures, you may consider a multifunctional approach to training. This approach may incorporate various kinds of cardiovascular equipment, free weights and machines, space for lifting, stretching and meditation, and an entertainment system. A home decorator, interior designer, and/or professional fitness coach can –continued on page 35 01.13 | ARROYO | 33

34 | ARROYO | 01.13

—ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT—

–continued from page 33 help you envision the space, but you should also invest time in doing your own research.

Study reviews and descriptions of the kinds of equipment that you’re interested in and discuss your ideas with friends, neighbors, trainers, anyone who has a reliable opinion about the merchandise itself and its potential value to you and your family. When you ask questions consider issues of safety, durability, and versatility. And of course, cost and maintenance. One of the best ways to generate ideas is to use your eyes: browse websites, magazines, books, blogs and real places for fresh concepts and keep track of them in a file or notebook for reference.

For more modest areas, the same rules pretty much apply in terms of investigating the options. In a smaller space the use of mirrors and windows can bring a sense of air, light, and distance to the room. Portable or retractable equipment offers tremendous variety to your choices. Consider free weights, light stairsteppers, yoga mats, exercise wheels, resistance bands, kettlebells and calisthenic balls. Numerous devices have been created to offer a comprehensive work out in compact environments. Glideboard gyms, like the Total Trainer DLX, and Total Body Works use the participant’s own body weight for resistance and endurance. The Bowflex Classic Home Gym and TRX Suspension rings are also examples of versatility and innovation for a compact space.

A SOURCE OF INSPIRATION… If we acknowledge that in many cases there’s nothing new under the sun when it comes to physical health (and mental, spiritual, psychological and social health, none of which can really comprehend in isolation), we may also conclude that there’s not much difference between us and Mukesh and Nita Ambani when it comes to creating our home health facilities.

We all want to be inspired. Most fitness and design experts agree: the most important thing that your home gym should do, regardless of its size and scope, is make you want to be

there. As often and for as long as possible. This room or area in your home should be a constant source of inspiration to you.

So, consider some of the less tangible elements of the space, like the presence of sound in there and how it might protect you from outside sound distractions – as well as buffering the sound of your activity from the rest of the house. Floors, walls and ceilings can be built of or enhanced by sound resistant materials. The use of music and sound for relaxation, or conversely stimulation, can animate any workout session.

Air quality in general is important and can be substantially effected by intense activity in a small and enclosed space such as a home gym. Clearer, cleaner air quality can be achieved with the effective use of an air purifying system. The best air purifiers will provide filtration, energy efficiency, easy-to-navigate and flexible controls.

Finally, consider the visual elements of the space. First of all, how do you want to illuminate? What are the possible light sources in the room? Then, what do you want to look at while you work out? A beautiful stretch of landscape through a full length window? Inspirational posters and photographs of killer athletes and their motivational slogans? Soothing watercolors? Portraits of your children? A giant plasma television screen? Smooth, non-intrusive wall space? Bouquets of flowers and candles and statues of seated Buddha? These deliberations may be as important as the ones you pursue in choosing equipment and square footage.

To reiterate: in spite of extraordinary advances in almost every aspect of contemporary life, the truth remains simple in terms of physical exercise: it’s good for everyone and nearly everyone can do it in some form or fashion. Creating or renovating a home gym can also be an achievable goal for almost everyone. All you need are a few ideas, a little energy and some encouragement – all of which I send to you with wishes for a healthy and happy new year! AH&D 01.13 | ARROYO | 35

—ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT—

Education

& ENRICHMENT AND SUMMER CAMPS Barnhart School Barnhart School offers a private elementary and middle school education for children in kindergarten through 8th grade from the Arcadia, Pasadena, Sierra Madre and other San Gabriel Valley communities. Distinguished programs of Barnhart School are the Writers’ Workshop, the 7th grade Biotech project sponsored by Amgen, Spanish at all grade levels with a conversation club in 8th grade, early literacy emphasis, the Virtues character development program, and continued integration of technology, arts, and physical education. 240 W. Colorado Blvd., Arcadia. barnhartschool.org (626)446-5588 Drucker School of Management The Drucker School of Management in Claremont offers a world-class graduate management education through our MBA, Executive MBA, Financial Engineering, and Arts Management degree pro-

grams. Our programs infuse Peter Drucker’s principle of management as a liberal art along with our core strengths in strategy and leadership. We offer individualized, flexible course scheduling, an innovative curriculum focusing on values-based management, and the opportunity to learn from worldrenowned faculty. To learn more, visit us at www.drucker.cgu.edu.

Good Shepherd Lutheran Church School Our church welcomes all families and children to share the Word of God. We have a Youth Group and Sunday School. Our preschool and K-6th classes emphasize reading and mathematics in preparation for the annual S.A.T. tests given to each grade. Computers are used by all the grades. Day Care is also available. Please call (323) 255-2786 to arrange a tour. More details, and the tuition rates are on www.goodshep-

Aa Bb Cc herdla.org. Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, 6338 North Figueroa St. LA 90042, www.goodshepherdla.org High Point Academy High Point Academy is celebrating much this New Year, including a redesigned façade that resembles Pasadena’s signature craftsman homes; a state-of-the-art iMac computer lab to stretch creativity with advanced tools for success; and a student-maintained, organic garden designed to show kids from where their food comes. High Point continues its balanced approach to education focused on awakening the joy of learning in each student. Service, technology, athletics, arts, music, foreign language and green living are embedded in the curriculum.

High Point Academy is located in Pasadena in the foothills near Eaton Canyon and serves students in kindergarten through eighth grades. They are WASC and CAIS accredited and have been in Pasadena since 1965.

1720 Kinneloa Canyon Rd Pasadena 91107(626)798-8989 Justine Sherman & Associates Justine Sherman & Associates is a nonpublic agency that serves the speechlanguage, educational, and orofacial myofunctional needs of clients throughout the San Gabriel Valley and various regions of Los Angeles County. We provide our clients and their families with the therapy and support programs necessary to achieve their maximum potential by designing and carrying out customized treatment plans with specific measurable goals. These goals are achieved through individual or group

36 | ARROYO | 01.13

therapy sessions conducted by our certified and licensed speech-language pathologists in a warm and caring environment. Please call 626-355-1729 for a consultation or visit us at www.justineshermanslp.com Maranatha High School We are committed to the highest educational standards, strategically designing curricular and co-curricular programs to engage the whole student, maximize their God-given potential, and enable them to be the change agents of this new generation. Woven into all our programs is the principle of Christian integration, enabling and engaging students to think critically and intentionally about the application of a Christian worldview. Come join us for “A Closer Look” January 29 & February 19 @7pm. 169 S. Saint John Ave., Pasadena 91105 (626)817-4021 www.maranatha– hs.org Mathnasium Mathnasium is a highly specialized learning center where kids go yearround to improve their math skills. Students attend as often as they like - for as long as they like. The goal is to enhance your child’s math skills, understanding of math concepts and overall school performance. At the same time, Mathnasium builds your child’s confidence and forges a positive attitude toward the subject, yielding overwhelming results.

Independent studies by EyeCues Education Systems found that Mathnasium students’ performance increased more than two letter grades in as little as three to six months. Visit mathnasium.com to find out more, or call (626)532-7587. ■

01.13 | ARROYO | 37

KITCHEN CONFESSIONS

Back in the Saddle Arroyo’s cooking columnist contemplates a fork in life’s road.

STORY BY LESLIE BILDERBACK | PHOTOS BY CLAIRE BILDERBACK

YOU NEVER KNOW WHERE LIFE WILL TAKE YOU.YOU CAN PLAN AS MUCH AS YOU LIKE, BUT IN THE END, FATE CALLS THE SHOTS.THIS IS A STORY OF FATE AND ME. I made plenty of plans last year, as my eldest went off to college. I was going to paint her room, finish a quilt, fix up the garden and organize the garage. Instead, I spent the first few weeks of her absence watching Disney movies in tears. So proud and happy, yet so sad to see her go. (It was surely a college parent who invented Xanax.) I was more than a little appalled at myself. So, in a fit of empty-nest delirium, I decided to look for a job. Working at home, on the computer, in my PJs is, I admit, not real work. It was great when I was needed as an active parent. But now that the youngest is about to get her driver’s license, I’m going to need a reason to get up in the morning besides letting the dog out.

Over the years I have parlayed a decent chef career into an active presence on the culinary periphery. But although teaching is rewarding and writing is challenging, neither holds the thrill of a real live job. Explaining the history of the blood orange is hardly an adrenalin rush. I’ve been living vicariously through friends and students who are still at work, getting accolades and working on the cutting edge. Meanwhile, describing myself as a chef — while not physically cooking food for money — started to feel weird and wrong.

My problem (one of them) is that I am picky. I want nothing short of the ideal job — creative control, comfortable hours, easy location, friendly co-workers, decent money.

With my credentials, finding that gig should have been a breeze. Except it wasn’t. I got tons of offers for teaching and R&D… in other states. I got lots of management offers at Applebee’s and TGI Fridays. I got a few on-call catering offers. Everything sounded sucky.

At the risk of sounding arrogant, being overqualified is humiliating. Employers were obsessed with my chronology, which no doubt covers a broader time span than they are used to. (Not too many résumés rolling in with highlights from 1988.) And while the Inter-

backpedal to the place I started, that’s my prerogative. (Or, conversely, my huge mistake.

net is miraculous in a number of ways, it blows in the job-search arena. I received daily

We shall see.)

emails with terrific opportunities in trucking and healthcare.

Dejected, I decided to peruse Craigslist. This is where fate intervened. On the first try,

So now, not quite 50, I am going back into the kitchen in the same capacity as when I was 24, and already the work has reinforced what I already knew — I’m old. I have

I found a listing for a pastry-chef/baker position right here in South Pasadena. I know my

been explaining the physical demands of restaurant work to students for years. But, as it

town, and it could have been only a few places. I sent in my résumé, and within an hour

turns out, knowing that a thing can happen does not prevent the thing from happen-

the phone rang. As I had hoped, it was a small bakery/restaurant run by a woman I

ing. Forty hours a week of active cooking is a lot different than doing a demo here and

know. We had worked together briefly years ago, and I always considered her a talented

there. I go to bed now feeling like I have been working in a quarry (an old-timey quarry,

chef. She had been a pastry chef in all the best L.A. restaurants while I was doing the

not the kind with machinery), and it has taken a month for my feet to stop stinging every

same in San Francisco. We worked for and knew many of the same people. We have

morning when I get out of bed. My shoulders ache, the palms of my hands are sore and

very similar culinary sensibilities and are about the same age. We differ in that she made

my skin looks like the “before” picture in a Jergens ad.

the leap to running her own place, making her infinitely braver than I am. Open for

And I had forgotten about the burns. All bakers and pastry chefs have them, more so

seven years, hers is a beloved South Pasadena destination. I was ecstatic. She wanted

than line cooks, because we are reaching up into tall ovens more. (And we are clumsier,

me to bake pastries and breads in the early mornings and was willing to cut me loose

because of all the sugar.) The forearm is especially susceptible, and the resulting scars,

occasionally to continue my Navy work. It was perfect. Best of all, she understood my

though admittedly bad-ass, are not attractive. I had forgotten that I wore a lot of long

motivation. I am at a point in my life where I can do whatever I want. And if I want to

sleeves to hide the scars. (My mom even sewed long lace onto the three-quarter-length

38 | ARROYO | 01.13

Not Heirloom’s Coffee Cake Although I cannot divulge the secret recipes of my new employer, I can whet your appetite with some breakfast baking. Heirloom’s coffee cake is a thing of beauty.

Mine has a good personality.

INGREDIENTS FOR BATTER: 3 cups cake flour 1½ teaspoons baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons cinnamon 12 ounces (3 sticks) butter 1½ cups brown sugar 3 eggs 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 1 cup sour cream FOR STREUSEL: 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 cup brown sugar 1 cup butter, chilled and diced

METHOD 1. Preheat oven to 350°. Coat a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with pan spray. Sift together flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon, and set aside.

2. Beat together butter and brown sugar until creamy. Add the eggs, one by one, then add the vanilla. Add the sifted dry ingredients in batches, alternating with the sour cream, and mix until well blended. Pour into baking pan.

3. To make the streusel, combine flour and sugar, then cut in butter using fingertips or a pastry blender, until the butter is pea-size. Streusel is ready when it holds together when squeezed but also easily crumbles apart. Top the batter with streusel, then bake the whole thing for 30 to 45 minutes, until golden brown and a pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 15 minutes before serving.

sleeves of my wedding dress so as not to offend our guests in the front row.)

But despite the aches and pains, I am relishing every food-service idiosyncrasy. Sure, I’m enjoying the satisfied look on people’s faces when they enjoy what I’ve made. But I really missed things like saying “behind you” every three minutes. (We do that so people don’t turn around and crash into us as we pass with a hot pot or the like.) I’ve even started saying it in the real world, as I maneuver around people in the aisle at Trader Joe’s. I’ve missed walking into walk-ins. These large refrigerators invite all sorts of mischief, and on my first day I got a little misty remembering all the illicit activities I have interrupted over the years. (Seriously… I could fill a book.) I’ve even missed heaving a 50pound bag of flour over its bin, and slashing into its gut with a paring knife to release its innards. (So satisfying!)

The best thing, though, about going back is the real people. Working at home, I was becoming a cranky hermit, annoyed with everyone and everything. I’m still cranky and annoyed, but now I have a group of people who agree with me! I had forgotten how amazing it is to work at a common table with like-minded people. At first, I am sure they thought I was a weirdy, awkwardly fumbling around a new kitchen. But I think I have been accepted, because the other day someone said, “So long, see you tomorrow,” as I walked out at the end of my shift.

I have lived in South Pasadena for nearly 20 years. I moved here when I gave up cooking in favor of raising kids. I don’t regret that decision for a second, but now that my initial mission is nearly complete, I am thrilled to be popping ibuprofen and dusting off the orthotics. They are familiar friends from long ago, and they signal that I am back doing the thing I love.

Thanks, fate. You rock. |||| Leslie Bilderback, a certified master baker, chef and cookbook author, can be found in the kitchen of Heirloom Bakery in South Pasadena. She also teaches her techniques online at culinarymasterclass.com..

01.13 | ARROYO | 39

WINING & DINING

Heirloom L.A. 4126 Verdugo Rd. Los Angeles (855) 456-6652 heirloomla.com

An Heirloom for the Palate Demonstrating that everything old is new again, Heirloom L.A. looks to the past to serve creative cuisine in the present.

BY BRADLEY TUCK

IS IT A CATERING COMPANY? IS IT A POP-UP RESTAURANT? IS IT AN EVENT SPACE? WELL, YES, YES AND YES: HEIRLOOM L.A. IS ALL THOSE THINGS. TUCKED OH-SO-DISCREETLY NEXT TO A STRIP MALL POPULATED BY A DONUT SHOP, A LAUNDROMAT AND --- A RARITY IN L.A. --- A POLISH RESTAURANT, HEIRLOOM L.A. IS A MICROCOSM OF WHAT HAS BEEN HAPPENING IN THE CITY’S CULINARY LANDSCAPE OVER THE PAST SEVERAL YEARS. FARM-TO-TABLE COOKING? CHECK. HOMEGROWN PRODUCE FROM A DEDICATED ORGANIC GARDEN? TICK THAT BOX. POP-UP EVENTS AND PARTNERSHIPS WITH YOUNG, LIKE-MINDED CHEFS, WINEMAKERS AND FOOD ARTISANS? DONE. FOOD TRUCK? DUH. A SPECIALTY THAT HAS GONE VIRAL IN A WAY, BECOMING A RUNAWAY HIT ON ITS OWN; MEET THE LASAGNA CUPCAKE. Behind this ambitious --- and I’d add the word “soulful” --- venture are two photogenic young people, Matt Poley and Tara Maxey. In 2009, they took a pasta machine and, borrowing commercial kitchens at off-hours, began making pasta under the venerable Gino Angelini, owner of Angelini Osteria and a heavyweight in L.A.’s Italian dining scene. He also worked at a farm-based restaurant outside

40 | ARROYO | 01.13

PHOTO: Max Wanger

together. They both have the requisite credentials under their belts. Poley trained

Orvieto, Italy, where he saw true sustainability and farm-to-table in action --- involving

Smoked lamb sirloin with Bridlewood cab sauce

genuinely free-range animals, fed kitchen scraps and then butchered for food, with every part of the animal being used. Maxey has a background of similar luster, having trained at Spago under Pastry Chef Suzanne Griswold and later with Elizabeth Belkind of Cake Monkey Bakery.

The pasta machine coupled with their youthful approach spawned the lasagna cupcake and birthed a catering company, which they named Heirloom L.A. Success with the catering and events company funded the acquisition of a facility in Eagle Rock, and further growth allowed them to acquire a former hairdressing salon next door, which is now used as a space for events and collaborations. Named, appropriately enough, The Salon, it’s a small and simple space, with white walls punctuated by simply framed color prints by photographer Autumn de Wilde. The room is dominated by a circular wooden station, not unlike a round sushi counter, around which one sits while Poley finishes dishes in the center.

It made for intriguing entertainment at a recent dinner held in conjunction with Bridlewood Wines of Santa Ynez. Pairing dishes with a selection of Bridlewood’s current vintages, Poley joked affably while teasing hand-cut chitarra pasta into mounds speckled with house-made fennel sausage and black truffle, and topped with a homemade crème fraîche that actually contained no cream at all but was made instead with cooked-down and pulverized cauliflower florets. It was rich and incredibly flavorful and paired very well with Bridlewood’s 2010 Blend 175, a blend of syrah, merlot, tempranillo and cabernet sauvignon. It was fruity without being a tiring fruit bomb, with enough

Chocolate ganache

brightness to let you go back for another mouthful of pasta.

Behind The Salon, the duo built a garden of raised wooden planting beds, aided by nurseryman Jimmy Williams, a regular at farmers’ markets across L.A., where he sells his seedlings and dispenses sage wisdom to novice gardeners and chefs. The garden is a work in progress (as are all gardens) and yields a diverse array of seasonal produce, including peas, tomatoes, eggplant, passionfruit and chard.

PHOTOS: Top, Max Wanger; Bottom two, courtesy Bridlewood Estate Winery

Previous Salon events have included a dinner with that hipster favorite, Handsome Coffee Roasters, and cult winemaker Jeff Fischer of Habit Wines. The dinners are by invitation and through friends, but Heirloom plans to start announcing events soon via Twitter and Facebook, allowing anybody the chance to snag a seat at their highly sought-after table. (It’s not about exclusivity, it’s about practicality --- the room seats just 33 people.)

I used the word soulful to describe Heirloom L.A., and allow me to clarify that. Despite all of the requisite trendy boxes being ticked, what Poley and Maxey are doing has nothing to do with mere trends. They’ve been striving to reconnect us with a way of making and eating food that was very much the norm for our grandparents, and is still so for some people who live in cultures less obsessed with the minutiae of the here and now, the latest Twitter sensation or the state of a handbag empress’ love life. Good food and the sharing of it nourish not just our bodies but our hearts, minds and souls.

An heirloom is something that connects us with our shared past. And in this case, we hope, a shared, more thoughtful future. |||| 01.13 | ARROYO | 41

42 | ARROYO | 01.13

THE LIST

A SELECTIVE PREVIEW OF UPCOMING EVENTS COMPILED BY JOHN SOLLENBERGER

EVERYTHING’S COMING UP ROSES, DESPITE BLUE ECONOMY

Theatre in Glendale, repeating Jan. 27 at Caroline Goulding

UCLA’s Royce Hall at 7 p.m. Helmuth Rilling

Jan. 1 — The 124th

guest conducts the concert, which in-

Rose Parade kicks off

cludes a performance by the USC Thorn-

at 8 a.m. The two-

ton Chamber Singers. Featured are

hour event, broad-

Symphony No. 39 in E-flat major, K.543,

cast to 220 countries

Requiem in D minor, K. 626, and other

and territories outside

selections.Tickets cost $25 to $110. A talk precedes the Alex concert at 7 p.m. and

the U.S., runs along a five-and-a-half-mile route starting at Green Street and Orange

the Royce Hall concert at 6 p.m.

Grove Boulevard. The parade heads east

Zipper Concert Hall is located at 200 S.

on Colorado Boulevard to Sierra Madre

Grand Ave., Los Angeles. The Alex Theatre

Boulevard, then turns north, ending at

is located at 216 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale.

Sierra Madre Boulevard and Villa Street.

Royce Hall is at 340 Royce Dr., Westwood.

Grandstand tickets along the route cost

Call (213) 622-7001 or visit laco.org.

$45 to $90.

DRIVING MISS DAISY STOPS BY SIERRA MADRE

For tickets, call Sharp Seating at (626) 795-4171 or visit sharpseating.com. Visit tournamentofroses.com for information.

Jan. 18 — The Pulitzer Prize-- and Oscar-

POST-PARADE FLOAT VIEWING

winning play Driving

Miss Daisy opens at

Jan. 1 and 2 — The Rose Parade isn’t your

abled visitors and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednes-

SYMPHONY STARTS SEASON WITH SIBELIUS, BRAHMS

day for the general public. An audio tour is

Jan. 12 — The Pasadena Symphony kicks off the new year with a concert of

tionship between fiercely independent

available for download on iTunes.Tickets

Brahms and Sibelius works at 2 and 8 p.m. at Pasadena’s Ambassador Audito-

Jewish widow Daisy Werthan and her

cost $10 for adults; admission is free for chil-

rium. Tito Munoz conducts the orchestra in a program of Brahms’ Symphony No.

African-American chauffeur, Hoke Cole-

dren 5 and younger. Park-N-Ride shuttles

1 and Sibelius’ Violin Concerto, performed by soloist and Grammy nominee Car-

burn. The play explores class and race is-

are available starting at 12:45 p.m.Tuesday

oline Goulding. The program also includes Composer-in-Residence Peter Boyer’s

sues, as well as historical events, including

at Pasadena City College, 1570 E. Col-

“Apollo” from Three Olympians. Tickets cost $35 to $100.

a 1958 synagogue bombing in Atlanta

orado Blvd., and at the Community Educa-

The Ambassador Auditorium is located at 131 S. St. John Ave., Pasadena. Call

and Martin Luther King, Jr.’s acceptance of

tion Center, 3035 E. Foothill Blvd., Pasadena.

(626) 793-7172 or visit pasadenasymphony-pops.org.

the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. Christian

last opportunity to see the floats. After the parade, they will be parked at the corner of Sierra Madre and Washington boulevards for viewing from 1 to 5 pm.Tuesday, 7 to 9 a.m. Wednesday for seniors and dis-

Madre Playhouse, followed by a Champagne reception and light buffet. The Alfred Uhry classic, set in Atlanta from 1948 to 1973, explores the sometimes rocky but ultimately warm rela-

Lebano directs. Driving Miss Daisy runs at

On Wednesday, Park-

PHOTO: ©Liza Mazzucco (Caroline Goulding), ©Jonathan Exley (Robert Crais)

8 p.m. at the Sierra

MOZART, BAROQUE BACH MOUNTED

BY CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

N-Ride starts at 6:30

Pasadena Library hosts the Restoration

a.m. at PCC, the

Concert Series, now in its 17th year, to

Community Educa-

help fund the upkeep of the library and

Jan. 17 — The Los

tion Center and the

the community room. The Sunday after-

Angeles Chamber

to 17 and $15 for children 12 and younger.

corner of Arroyo

noon concerts showcase nationally and

Orchestra presents its

The Sierra Madre Playhouse is located at

Boulevard and Seco Street, Pasadena.

internationally recognized classical

“Baroque Conversa-

87 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre. Call

Shuttle tickets cost $3 round-trip, free for

artists. This month’s program features the

tions” series at 7 p.m.

(626) 355-4318 or visit sierramadreplay-

children 5 and under. MTA also offers a

New Hollywood String Quartet perform-

at the Colburn

house.org.

shuttle service from the Sierra Madre Villa

ing Mozart’s Quartet in D minor, K 421.

School’s Zipper Concert Hall in Los Ange-

Gold Line station starting at 12:30 p.m.Tues-

The ensemble will be joined by the Lyris

les. The program features four works by

day and 7 a.m. Wednesday.

Quartet in a performance of

Johann Sebastian Bach: Trio Sonata in C

8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2:30 p.m.

Sundays through March 9. Admission costs $25, $22 for seniors and students ages 13

SURVIVORS’ STORY SIGNING AT VROMAN’S

Call (626) 795-4171 or visit sharpseat-

Mendelssohn’s Octet. The concert starts

major for Oboe and Violin, Trio Sonata in G

Jan. 22—Master mys-

ing.com for tickets. For information, visit

at 4 p.m. in the Community Room.

major for Two Flutes, BWV 1039, Trio Sonata

tery writer Robert

tournamentofroses.com.

Admission costs $18 at the door.

in C minor for Violin and Trio Sonata in C

Crais is scheduled to

The South Pasadena Library Community

major for Oboe and Viola. Tickets cost $55.

visit Vroman’s Bookstore at 7 p.m. to

CLASSICAL CONCERTS KEEP SOUTH PAS LIBRARY ALIVE

Room is located at 1115 El Centro St.,

Jan. 26 — The orchestra performs an all-

South Pasadena. Call (626) 799-6333 or

Mozart program in honor of the com-

Jan. 13 — Friends of the South

visit friendsofsopaslibrary/concerts.htm.

poser’s 257th birthday at 8 p.m. at the Alex

discuss and sign his –continued on page 45 01.13 | ARROYO | 43

44 | ARROYO | 01.13

THE LIST

Danny Kaye

FILM FEST CELEBRATES DANNY KAYE Jan. 12 and 13 — Celebrate the humor of the late comedian, humanitarian, dancer and all-around good guy Danny Kaye in a film festival at the Pasadena Convention Center. The two-day event features five films each day, from 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Movies include The Kid from Brooklyn, Hans Christian Andersen, The Se-

cret Life of Walter Mitty and other classics. A portion of the proceeds benefits UNICEF, for which Kaye served as a celebrity ambassador. The festival includes slide shows, trivia contests, speakers, a costume show and more. Tickets cost $99 for one day, $145 for both days.

The Pasadena Convention Center is located at 300 E. Green St., Pasadena. Call (800) 778-0560 or visit dannykayefest.com.

–continued from page 43 latest crime novel, Suspect, the story of

DEPRESSION-ERA ART, WELCOMING THE SNAKE AT THE HUNTINGTON

Scott, an LAPD officer whose partner,

Jan. 19 — The Hunt-

Stephanie, was murdered. Scott teams

ington has organized

with Maggie, a USMC patrol dog who lost

the first museum exhi-

her handler in Afghanistan. Colleagues

bition exploring the

regard the pair as damaged goods,

work of versatile

trusted by nobody. The L.A.--based Crais is

Depression-Era artist

the author of 19 novels, eight of them

Maurice Merlin.“Maurice Merlin and the

New York Times bestsellers.

American Scene, 1930--1947,” opening

Vroman’s Bookstore is located at 695 E.

today and running through April 15,

Colorado Blvd., Pasadena. Call (626) 449-

includes some 30 paintings, watercolors

5320 or visit vromansbookstore.com.

and prints by the little-known artist. Also –continued on page 46 01.13 | ARROYO | 45

THE LIST

L. A. MASTER CHORALE PAIRS CLASSIC WITH PREMIERE Jan 26 and 27— The Los Angeles Master Chorale pairs Brahms’“Ein Deutsches Requiem” with the West Coast premiere of composer Peter Lieberson’s message of tolerance, “The World in Flower,” written in memory of his late wife, mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, in a performance at Disney Concert Hall. Music Director Grant Gershon conducts. Concerts start at 2 p.m. Saturday and 7 p.m. Sunday. Featured soloists are soprano Yulia Van Doren, mezzo-soprano Kelly O’Connor and baritone Brian Mulligan.

Gershon and KUSC’s Alan Chapman present “Listen UP,” a pre-concert talk two hours before each performance. Tickets cost $29 to $134.

Walt Disney Concert Hall is located at 111 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles. Call (213) 972-7282 or visit lamc.org.

–continued from page 45 highlighting the energetic Detroit art

CASSIOPEIA COMES TO BOSTON COURT

scene around the federal government’s

Jan. 26—The Theatre @ Boston Court’s

Works Progress Administration. The politi-

production of Cassiopeia opens at

cally tinged works go beyond the artist’s

8 p.m. David Weiner’s poetic and idio-

included are works by others in his circle,

immediate circle, depicting struggles of

syncratic drama por-

the Motor City’s African-American com-

trays a chance

munity and others.

meeting of a math

Jan. 27 — The Huntington celebrates the

genius and a young

start of the Year of the Snake with Lunar

woman from the

New Year festivities from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30

rural South on a

p.m. Visitors can enjoy dance, music and

46 | ARROYO | 01.13

cross-country flight.

folk crafts by artists and performers from

The two social misfits discover a com-

China’s Jiangsu Province. Craft demon-

mon past and shared connection they’d

strations include kite-making, embroidery,

lost years before. The play continues at 8

beadwork and sugar sculpturing. Free

p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 2

with regular Huntington admission.

p.m. Sundays through Feb. 24. Tickets

The Huntington Library, Art Collections

cost $34, $29 for students and seniors.

and Botanical Gardens is located at 1151

The Theatre @ Boston Court is located at

Oxford Rd., San Marino. Call (626) 405-

70 N. Mentor Ave., Pasadena. Call (626)

2100 or visit huntington.org.

683-6883 or visit bostoncourt.com.

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01.13 | ARROYO | 47