Arroyo August 2014

FINE LIVING IN THE GREATER PASADENA AREA AUGUST 2014

Schooling Parents Do Parents Who Help Kids with Homework Actually Help Their Kids?

GRADING COMMON CORE The Controversy Over K-12 Requirements BRINGING More LGBT Parents Into the Fostering Fold Altadena Mountain Rescue’s Unstoppable Chuck Ballard

arroyo VOLUME 10 | NUMBER 8 | AUGUST 2014

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PARENTING AND EDUCATION 12 DO COMMON CORE STANDARDS MEASURE UP? The new English and math requirements for K through 12 have ignited controversy across the country.

—By Bettijane Levine

17 ENCOURAGING MORE SAME-SEX PARENTS TO ADOPT Five Acres has joined a campaign to promote LGBT adoption as L.A. County deals with the country’s largest population of unplaced foster kids.

—By Kathleen Kelleher

48 SCHOOLING PARENTS Does parental participation in schools help kids?

—By Ilsa Setziol

52 MOUNTAIN MAN Chuck Ballard has spent 50 years helping to save hapless hikers as part of the Altadena Mountain Rescue Team.

—By Tariq Kamal

DEPARTMENTS 11

FESTIVITIES Pasadena Chamber of Commerce Gala, Buyer & Cellar opens at the Mark Taper Forum

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ARROYO HOME SALES INDEX

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KITCHEN CONFESSIONS What exactly is that indescribably delicious flavor known as umami?

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THE LIST The Autry looks back at Route 66, making jam at One Colorado, the Pasadena Pops salutes Hollywood and more

ABOUT THE COVER: Photo by Purestock/gettyimages.com 08.14 ARROYO | 7

EDITOR’S NOTE

I’VE ALWAYS MARVELED OVER THE FACT THAT MOST PEOPLE DON’T RECEIVE training in some of the most important tasks of adult life — parenting, personal politics and handling finances. So perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that parents are still finding their way in the 21st century.

What may be surprising is a recent study that blows up a cherished tenet of contemporary parenting — that parental involvement helps kids in school. Researchers at the University of Texas, Austin, and Duke concluded that, counterintuitive as it may seem, hands-on parenting not only fails “to improve student achievement. In some cases, [it] actually hinder[s] it.” Arroyo contributor Ilsa Setziol, a mother herself, unpacks this complex issue in interviews with local parents and educators and tells you what parents can do to help their children learn.

More evidence that raising kids is one of the toughest jobs in the world is the firestorm over Common Core State Standards, instituted around five years ago to help American children compete in a globalized world.

Comedian and parent Louis C.K. wasn’t kidding when he went on a Twitter rant about the requirements, touching off a chorus of other complaints.

Editor-at-Large Bettijane Levine gets to the bottom of this important education issue and the ripple effects you may not have considered.

Disproving Tolstoy’s famous saying that “Happy families are all alike,” Kathy Kelleher looks at a campaign, recently joined by Pasadena’s childwelfare organization Five Acres, to encourage more potential LGBT parents to take the plunge and form a family. The need is particularly acute in L.A. County, home to more unplaced foster children than any other county in the country. It’s salient to note that despite traditionalists who insist that children need a mother and father to thrive, studies show that children of same-sex parents do just as well as kids in conventional families — and, according to the latest study, some do even better.

—Irene Lacher

EDITOR IN CHIEF Irene Lacher CREATIVE DIRECTOR Kent Bancroft ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR Carla Cortez PRODUCTION DESIGNERS Tim Oliver, Manny Del Real EDITOR-AT-LARGE Bettijane Levine COPY EDITOR John Seeley CONTRIBUTORS Leslie Bilderback, Samantha Bonar, Michael Cervin, Scarlet Cheng, Carole Dixon, Lynne Heffley, Noela Hueso, Tariq Kamal, Kathy Kelleher, Rebecca Kuzins, Elizabeth McMillian, Brenda Rees, John Sollenberger, Nancy Spiller ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Dina Stegon ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Brenda Clarke, Joseluis Correa, Leslie Lamm, Jessica Vallete ADVERTORIAL CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Bruce Haring ADVERTISING DESIGNERS Tim Oliver, Manny Del Real HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER Andrea Baker PAYROLL Linda Lam ACCOUNTING Alysia Chavez, Kacie Sturek OFFICE ASSISTANT Ann Weathersbee PUBLISHER Jon Guynn 8 | ARROYO | 08.14

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 editor@arroyomonthly.com PHONE (626) 584-1500 FAX (626) 795-0149 MAILING ADDRESS 50 S. De Lacey Ave., Ste. 200, Pasadena, CA 91105 ArroyoMonthly.com ©2014 Southland Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.

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FESTIVITIES

Chamber CEO Paul Little with new board Chair Ben Green

William Opel (center) with George Falardeau and Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard

Martin Nicholson, Reggie Woolridge and Mike Ross Ann Wang, Lauren Schneider and Thomas Daly of Christie, Parker and Hale present a scholarship to Christopher Bice (far right).

The Pasadena Chamber of Commerce board executive committee

Merlin Froyd of Thorson Buick and GMC (center) with Falardeau and Bogaard

Jaylene Moseley and Phlunte Riddle

Local American Red Cross chapter CEO Ben Green was installed as board chair of the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce at the group’s inaugural gala on July 11. Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard and Pasadena City Manager Michael Beck were among the more than 200 supporters who gathered at the Westin Pasadena for cocktails, a silent auction and dinner, where honorees included William Opel, Ph. D., of the Huntington Medical Research Institutes, Thorson Buick and GMC of Pasadena and the Pasadena Federal Credit Union... A slew of Michael Urie’s fellow actors turned out at the Mark Taper Forum in downtown L.A. on July 13 for the opening night of Jonathan Tolins’ fresh and funny oneman play, Buyer & Cellar. Urie (Ugly Betty) stars as an unemployed gay actor who’s hired to man Barbra Streisand’s basement shopping mall, where the diva PHOTOS: Sasha Renee Photography (Chamber Gala), Ryan Miller/Capture Imaging (Buyers & Cellars)

stores some of her many possessions — and as Barbra herself. (The story is fiction; Actors Kate Flannery, Fred Willard and Suzy Nakamura

the mall isn’t.) The show runs through August 17.

Daniel DiCriscio and actors Renee Taylor and Joe Bologna

Jonathan Tolins and Michael Urie with singer/actor Nick Jonas and actor Matt Lauria

Actor Chris Diamantopoulos

Actress Becki Newton

Actress Patty Duke

Actor David Krumholtz 08.14 | ARROYO | 11

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Do Common Core Standards Measure Up? The new standardized English and math requirements for K through 12 have ignited controversy across the country.

BY BETTIJANE LEVINE

I

t took comedian Louis C.K. and his 3.3 million Twitter followers to ignite America’s passion about Common Core State Standards. That’s the new set of English and math requirements for kindergarten through grade 12, now in place for public school children in California and 45 other states. “My kids used to love math. Now it makes them cry. Thanks standardized testing and common core!” Louis tweeted on April 28.

Suddenly, the controversy took public flight after being largely ignored by major media during the five years it has taken to develop and implement the program. Salon, Politico, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Huffington Post and dozens of agitated academic bloggers weighed in with opinions about the controversial education plan. Parents like Louis, who has two daughters in public school, started ranting online about their children’s absurd homework problems. Stephen Colbert and other entertainers added mockery to the melee and the battle was in full form.

Of course, now it’s too late. Common Core is here, for better or worse. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (which developed the program) and the Obama administration (which is backing it with more than $370 million in federal funds) say implementing Common Core is the best way to stop the erosion of educational standards in this country’s public schools and bring us up to par with the Asian and European nations whose students are far more advanced in critical areas of math and language. But without sufficient trial runs to see how or even if it will work, the students who deal with it are essentially guinea pigs in a huge experiment.

Consider the impact on English language arts and literacy programs, which Common Core says “stresses critical-thinking, problem-solving and analytical skills that are required for success in college, career and life.” English teachers are confounded by new requirements to teach 50 percent so-called “informational” nonfiction texts in kindergarten through fifth grade, and 70 percent informational nonfiction texts by grade 12. Suggested nonfiction reading for high schoolers in English class includes such stultifying tracts as “Working Knowledge: Electronic Stability Control,” an executive order from the federal General Services Administration.

To be fair, the suggested nonfiction reading list also includes fine speeches by such leaders as Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Winston Churchill and Presidents Ronald Reagan and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. But English language arts teachers say this kind of material should be the domain of history class. As English teachers, they prefer to expose students to the world’s great literature, the magic of the imagination, the use of language in novels, plays and poetry to express the ineffable.

In Pasadena public schools, Common Core has been carefully — if not enthusiastically — adopted. The Pasadena Unified School District started mapping out a transition plan in 2010, when the state adopted Common Core, says Helen Hill, director of curriculum instruction and professional development for PUSD. She says the district has “stayed on track” in realigning teaching to the new standards. “We started with small pilot groups, and last year we did an across-the-board full pilot program throughout the whole district, involving all the teachers.”

Although the English language arts program has been altered to include more informational nonfiction texts (containing facts and ideas about the physical, biological or social worlds), Hill says PUSD is determined to keep literature a priority. “We understand it inspires students with enduring themes. And we have brought teams of teachers together

to map out plans that contain elements of both the old and new standards.” Whereas history, grammar, reading and writing used to be taught in discrete segments, she says, the new method may use social studies and history texts to teach English. “You might have teachers using fiction along with nonfiction to teach the same standards,” she adds.

Is Hill a fan of Common Core? “Look, I’m not some huge proponent of it,” she says.

“But I believe it’s a method that gives us the potential and opportunity to expect that students apply and do and perform what they learn, for them to show mastery of subjects.

Going forward into college and the work world, they will need to understand complicated texts or manuals or write research. Aligning what we do in classrooms to the real world will only make things better for kids.”

Some public-school teachers in the San Gabriel Valley and Los Angeles, who spoke with Arroyo Monthly on condition of anonymity, were considerably less sanguine about Common Core and used astonishingly similar words to describe their bottom line: “We don’t like it. But we have bosses. We have to do what they say if we want to keep our jobs.

The state has adopted it and we must comply.”

Common Core has had little, if any, direct impact on private schools, which are not bound by the standards if they don’t receive federal funding. (Ditto, home schoolers.) At the private Flintridge Preparatory School, “We haven’t explicitly talked about Common Core objectives,” says Scott Myers, chair of the English department. But he approves of the program’s goals, saying, “The standards Common Core pushes for are consistent with any good curriculum that private or public schools would strive for. It seems to me that we are here to impart a foundation of academic skills in reading, articulate well-structured writing and critical thinking.”

On the other hand, Myers adds, depending on how it’s implemented, Common Core might neglect an indispensable part of that process — “recognizing, if you will, the right brain: exposing students to a series of complex constructs and to the world of the imagination.” As educators, he continues, “we have to constantly answer questions about the relevance of what we teach for students’ futures in career and college. If we’re doing our jobs here to prepare students for life, we’re teaching these students to deal with complexity and to synthesize thoughts from diverse sources. Of course that’s a difficult thing to capture in a standardized test.”

The Home Schooling Legal Defense Association argues that both private and home schoolers will indeed be impacted by Common Core, because it’s shaping college admissions standards. “Institutions of higher education are being pressured to adapt their standards for college readiness to the Common Core standards,” the organization argues on its website. “The National Governors Association, instrumental in writing the Common Core, compiled a guide for states to use while implementing the Common Core.

The document emphasizes that the Common Core standards for college readiness will be used by institutions of higher learning to determine whether a student is ready to enroll in a post-secondary course. Achieve, one of the main organizations evaluating the Common Core, even exhorts institutions of higher education to revise their curricula to create ‘seamless transitions’ from K–12 to post-secondary schools.”

Even Common Core’s most rabid opponents might agree with Flintridge Prep’s Myers that its stated goals (detailed at corestandards.org) are excellent. What could be wrong –continued on page 14 08.14 ARROYO | 13

–continued from page 13

counting optional midyear assessments to make sure with elevating the nation’s standards, so that all children, students and teachers are on track. Tests are also in the from Hawaii to New York, receive a uniformly superb works for kindergarten as well as first and second graders, education — one that allows individuals, and the country and older students will reportedly be tested in ninth, 10th as a whole, to flourish in a global economy? The question and 11th grades instead of just once during high school. not yet answered is whether Common Core will achieve Costs will reportedly be exorbitant, requiring states those goals — or leave the nation’s children and public to spend hundreds of millions just for computers and schools in even worse circumstances.

“Frankly, the idea of subjecting bandwidth so schools can deliver the exams online as A Washington Post story quotes an eighth-grade Engplanned. Los Angeles will reportedly spend $1 billion lish teacher as “mourning the loss” of six weeks’ worth of third graders to an eight-hour exam is on technology to administer the tests. This massive poetry she had to remove from her reading plan, along repugnant, as is the prospect of a outlay comes at a time when many other educational with short stories “and a unit on the legends of King Arthur in order to make room for essays by Malcolm 10-hour exam for high school students...” essentials are being cut to the bone.

Noted education expert Diane Ravitch sharply Gladwell and a chapter from his book The Tipping Point ~ Diane Ravitch critiqued Common Core testing in The Huffington Post about social behavior.” The teacher says her students are last month. “Frankly, the idea of subjecting third gradshutting down and becoming bored with reading. ers to an eight-hour exam is repugnant, as is the prospect of a 10-hour exam for high That about sums up the problem for Common Core opponents. Emily Dickinson, school students, as is the absurd idea of testing children in kindergarten, first and second Robert Frost, William Shakespeare, Dickens, Dostoyevsky and dozens of other great augrades,” wrote Ravitch, an education historian and policy analyst, a research professor at thors have survived the test of time, due to their timeless relevance. Yet, as Sheridan Blau, New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Developa professor at Teachers College of Columbia University, told the Post, “The effect of the ment and a former assistant secretary of education under George H.W. Bush and Bill new [Common Core] standards is to drive literature out of the English classroom.”

Clinton. “All of these tests will be accompanied by test prep and interim exams and Another critic, Blaine Greteman, writing in the The New Republic, offered the followperiodic exams. This is testing run amok, and the biggest beneficiary will be the testing ing pop quiz: industry, certainly not students.

“According to the measurements used in the new Common Core Standards, which of “Students don’t become smarter or wiser or more creative because of testing,” she conthese books would be complex enough for a ninth grader? tinued. “Instead, all this testing will deduct as much as a month of instruction for testing a. Huckleberry Finn and preparation for testing. The money spent… means there will be less money to reduce b. To Kill a Mockingbird class sizes, to hire arts teachers, to repair crumbling buildings, to hire school nurses, to keep c. Jane Eyre libraries open and staffed and to meet other basic needs…Common Core testing will turn d. Sports Illustrated for Kids’ Awesome Athletes! out to be the money pit that consumed American education.”

“The only correct answer is ‘d,’ since all the others have a Lexile score [an Cursive writing is not even mentioned in Common Core standards, educational tool that matches readers with appropriate reading material] although keyboarding is. PUSD’s Hill says many districts have comso low that they are deemed most appropriate for fourth, fi fth or sixth pletely stopped teaching cursive. “It’s become a luxury skill,” she graders,” Greteman continued. “This idea might seem ridiculous, but says, because everything nowadays is done on keyboards. There’s it’s based on a metric that is transforming the way American schools no prohibition against teaching it, she adds, for teachers who teach reading.” want to and can find the time.

Proponents argue that the Lexile score is only one of the tools ComAnd that’s another problem for anti–Common Core mon Core uses to assess reading matter. Critics counter that stressed-out activists. The program may further divide the haves from the teachers with too little time or training may use it almost exclusively in have-nots, they predict. Children who attend private schools, deciding what students should read. And while much of the world’s or who live in affluent neighborhoods with excellent public great literature does make it onto the suggested fiction reading list for schools, will almost certainly be exposed to great literature most grades, some educators contend that Common Core allots almost and such “electives” as cursive writing. In these schools, advanno time for English teachers to teach these great works. taged students tend to respect authority and knowledge. In One of Common Core’s most vexing aspects is the standardized less advantaged neighborhoods — where teachers have testing program being rolled out nationwide. Education Secretary too many students, contend with too many behavior Arne Duncan says the new tests are essential because the problems and have little access to technological tools of U.S. needs a way to compare performances of students their trade — the classroom experience will probin different states. Opponents respond that the Fedably offer little beyond the minimums mandated eral National Assessment of Educational Progress

by Common Core, and teachers will be fully oc(NAEP) already exists to do precisely that. cupied teaching just to the tests. In such a world, The new exams are estimated to take eight neither the brightest nor those who lag behind hours for an average third-grader and nearly would be well served. |||| 10 hours for high school students — not

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Encouraging More Same-Sex Parents to Adopt With L.A. County home to the most foster kids in the country, Five Acres has joined a campaign to encourage the LGBT community to become parents.

BY KATHLEEN KELLEHER

THE CELLPHONE CALL CAME AS DANIEL NELMS WAS TRAVELING DOWN THE 405 FREEWAY. HE PULLED OVER TO TALK. HE WAS ASKED A QUESTION AND GIVEN 10 MINUTES TO CALL BACK WITH A YES OR NO. HIS ANSWER WOULD CHANGE HIS LIFE INSTANTLY AND DRAMATICALLY. 窶田ontinued on page 19

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–continued from page 17

“The question was, ‘Would I commit to being these two boys’ parent, their permanent, forever parent?’” says Nelms, who had completed Los Angeles County Department of Child and Family Services’ (DCFS) adoption/foster parent classes to prepare for fatherhood. “It was defi nitely ‘Yes.’” The brothers, ages 1 and 3, had spent nine months in a foster home. Nelms, single at the time, raced to Target to buy a crib and all the things one might need to care for two toddlers. He met the boys for a few hours of get-to-know-you play on a Monday and took them home — forever — the next day.

“It was intense and traumatizing for us, but it was what it was,” says Nelms, who officially adopted Rocco, now 6, and Chip, 8, in 2010. Six months later, Nelms met Julian, now his husband, and the four have been a happy family since. “I think being a parent is magical,” says Nelms, who lives with his family in Eagle Rock. “If someone wants to be a parent in this country — gay, straight, black or white — you can become a parent…a family. For me, it was never about having my own children; how we got created as a family is not important, but it certainly is real.”

As real as the pressing need for people like the Nelmses to adopt. There are 20,000 children languishing in foster care in L.A. County, making it the county with the most foster children of any in the country — equal to the total number of foster children in the State of New York, according to Chanel Boutakidis, CEO of Five Acres, an Altadena-based nonprofit child welfare organization that promotes safety, well-being and permanence for children up to 21. The pressing need to find loving, stable, healthy permanent homes for so many foster children inspired Five Acres to partner in an outreach campaign with RaiseAChild.US, a nonprofit organization that educates and encourages the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and straight, single women to build nontraditional families through fostering and adopting.

The groups’ multiplatform LGBT outreach campaign launches in November (National Adoption Awareness Month) with streetlight banners, outdoor transit advertising billboards, print ads, PSAs, videos and celebrity outreach. The push will include Fives Acres’ own “20,000 Children Project,” which will be kicked off by the unveiling of a public art sculpture (by an artist yet to be determined) of a four-foottall boy, dubbed Boy 5A. The footloose Boy 5A is to be “fostered” at seven different locations such as corporate partners’ lobbies, front lawns and main office buildings.

At the end of his seven-week trek, Five Acres hopes that Boy 5A will be “adopted” by one of Five Acres’ corporate sponsors or partners; his permanent placement will cap the group’s “permanency campaign.” The seven weeks and seven homes represent the average number of homes a foster child cycles through in the foster-care system.

“There are thousands of children in the foster-care system right here in our own

“Yes, we have seven adopted children. When we adopted them they were ages 11, 9, 5, 3, 2 and two newborns. Our oldest is now in the army and our second oldest is a Marine.” ~ Jason Cook

The Cook/Troynel family

–continued on page 20 08.14 ARROYO | 19

“It could not be better or more positive for everybody.

They open everyone’s hearts who come into contact with them.” ~ Daniel Nelms The Nelms family –continued from page 19

community,” says Boutakidis. “We need safe, loving and permanent families to make an impact on the lives of these children regardless of sexual orientation, marital status, gender, age or income.”

The DCFS has been actively recruiting in the LGBT community since 2007. In 2009, L.A. County was the country’s fi rst to receive the “All Children/All Families Seal” from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, which promotes LGBT equality. To earn the seal, DCFS had to make sure its mission statement, website and forms were not just LGBT-friendly but actually welcoming, according to Sari Grant, DCFS recruitment administrator. “We are proud that every one of our division staff received 20 | ARROYO | 08.14

training on [being] LGBT culturally competent,” the agency says in a statement.

Rich Valenza, founder and CEO of RaiseAChild.US, says that when he hit 40, he knew he wanted to build a family. Within six years, he’d adopted a boy and a girl and found fatherhood so wonderful that he established Hollywood-based RaiseAChild.US in 2011 with another adoptive gay dad, John Ireland.

“Through the years, we have figured out models for campaigning and promotion to reach the LGBT community,” says Valenza, who co-parents with his partner, Jared Gee. Besides outreach, education and promotion, there is “a parent advocate program,” which helps match aspiring parents with the agency whose adoption/foster –continued on page 22

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–continued from page 20

classes are most convenient. Foster care and adoption can be a confusing and complicated process, so the parent advocate continues to counsel the potential adoptive parent through the whole experience. “In this case, it is someone who has been through the process seven times,” Valenza says of parent advocate Jason Cook, who adopted seven children from DCFS with his husband, Michael Troynel. The youngest is 8 and the oldest is 23. The couple adopted two sets of siblings — five boys, and then later, two baby girls. In order to be closer to Jason’s father, who was not doing well, the family moved to Port Lucie, Florida.

“Yes, we have seven adopted children,” says Cook, a special ed teacher by training.

“When we adopted them they were ages 11, 9, 5, 3, 2 and two newborns. Our oldest is now in the army and our second oldest is a Marine. We have been very busy, but it has been worth it seeing them all grow and mature.”

It is worth noting that while there are more than 100,000 unplaced foster children in the U.S., only 23 states and the District of Columbia allowed same-sex couple adoption when this issue went to press. Second-parent adoption (which allows a second parent to adopt without the fi rst parent losing parental rights) is prohibited in five states (Kentucky, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin), according the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). This despite the estimated 2 million gay and lesbian couples who are interested in adopting, according to the HRC. Bolstering the assertion that gay and lesbian couples make fine parents is a 2012 study published in the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. The UCLA study compared L.A. County children who were adopted out of foster care by gay men or lesbians with those placed with heterosexual couples. Researchers followed all 82 children, 22 of whom were adopted by gay or lesbian couples at the average age of 4. Researchers evaluated all the children after two months, one year and two years. “All children benefited from adoption and on average made significant gains in cognitive development” — that is, their IQ scores increased by an average of 10 points — and maintained stable behavior. The study found that kids who had been adopted by gay or lesbian parents had more risk factors and were more likely to be of a different ethnicity than their parents. But after two years, these children were as well adjusted as children adopted by heterosexual parents.

And a University of Melbourne study of children with same-sex parents released last month found that they are actually happier and healthier than kids raised by heterosexual parents, scoring six percent higher on health and wellness measures.

The Australian Study of Child Health in Same-Sex Families looked at 500 children of 315 same-sex parents, making this the largest study of its kind to date.

But the Nelms and Cook/Troynel families do not need studies to confirm what they know to be true: What defines family is not biology, sexual orientation or ossified ideas of what someone should look like. Family is defined by love.

“It could not be better or more positive for everybody,” says Daniel Nelms. Chip Nelms is absorbed by his iPad and soccer, while Rocco is more academically inclined.

Their dads support them for who they are as individuals, whether athletic or studious. “They open everyone’s hearts who come into contact with them,” Nelms adds.

“Our experience, our parents’ experience and my siblings’ experience [with them] has been positive and opening. They are gifts.” |||| 22 | ARROYO | 08.14

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Halstrom Academy Since 1985, Halstrom Academy has been offering students an alternative to the traditional classroom structure by providing quality, full-time and part-time one-to-one education with flexible scheduling and enrollment options, and by focusing on content mastery with a technology-supported curriculum. From aspiring professional athletes and artists to unique learners such as students with social distraction issues or ADHD, students find Halstrom a place where they can reach their full potential in and out of the classroom.

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High Point Academy Since 1965, High Point Academy has offered a whole-child approach to education with emphasis placed on core subjects as well as technology, art history, instrumental and choral music, daily PE, foreign language, green living and community service. HPA is coeducational and serves students in grades kindergarten through eight.

We invite you to learn more about us at www.HighPointAcademy.org and would love to have you join us for a tour!

–continued on page 40 26 | ARROYO | 08.14

28 | ARROYO | 08.14

08.14 | ARROYO | 29

ARROYO

HOME & DESIGN SPECIAL ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT

SENIOR RETROFIT JUST NEEDS COMMON SENSE Helping seniors age in place requires an eye for potential obstacles

BY BRUCE HARING

STAYING IN YOUR OWN HOME AND “AGING IN PLACE” IS ONE OF THE MOST CHERISHED HOPES OF SENIOR CITIZENS. WHILE IT MAY NOT BE POSSIBLE FOR EVERY INDIVIDUAL TO REMAIN IN THEIR OWN HOME, MANY ELDERS CAN BE ACCOMMODATED BY PAYING CLOSE ATTENTION TO THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF THEIR ENHANCED NEEDS. Common sense is the operative word when you are looking to redesign a home to accommodate a senior.

Think of the daily tasks a senior might perform: cooking, bathing, getting the mail, doing laundry. Then think of the obstacles that could hamper those activities – steep and potentially slippery stairs; poor lighting; arthritis that makes manipulations difficult and makes bending down hard; fading eyesight that could lead to placing a body part in the wrong area. When you have considered all of the factors and the existing layout of their living space, you’ll have a good idea of what needs to be done.

It’s always best to have a professional do a needs analysis and the really major work. Many architects and builders are already familiar with senior needs and can point out things that you may not have considered. But other tasks and choices may be as simple as installing better lighting and different faucets in the home.

–continued on page 35

30 | ARROYO | 08.14

34 | ARROYO | 08.14

—ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT—

Older hands will appreciate easy to use lever handles or pedal-controlled faucets.

–continued from page 30

The National Association of Home Builders has provided an easy checklist for friends, families, homeowners and others who wish to help a senior age in place. It contains many items that may be overlooked by well-meaning but inexperienced helpers in a redesign or renovation. While the NAHB list is not all-inclusive (and what list ever is?), it will start your contractors and family thinking about what needs to be done to keep a senior in their own place. Let’s take a look at some of the issues that you may need to consider in various areas of your home and surrounding property: THE EXTERIOR: Your senior’s home should have a very low maintenance style for the outdoors. Brick or vinyl siding is ideal. Landscaping should be composed of shrubs or plants that don’t require much care beyond the occasional watering.

All deck, patio or balconies shouldn’t require a massive step from the interior floor level. The NAHB recommends that any drop be no more than a half-inch.

Ideally, the front exit from the home should not require any steps at all, and there should be at least one no-step entry with a cover to the home. A sensor light at the non-step entry that illuminates the front door lock is extremely helpful. Make any entry to the home at least 32-inches wide and put some non-slip flooring in the foyer. A smart home designer will also include a small landing to place packages while opening the door.

A peephole and a sidelight that illuminates the front entry are also highly recommended for seniors.

THE GARAGE OR CARPORT: These should be wider than average in order to accommodate lifts on vans and to permit wheelchair access. It’s also important to make sure the roofs are at least nine feet in height in order to accommodate raised roof vans. Ideal dimensions require five-foot minimum access aisles. If your local housing code requires the floor to be several inches lower than your home access for protection against exhaust fumes from vehicles, you can slope the floor from front to back. Include a ramp to the doorway of the home with a handrail to make access even easier.

FLOOR PLANS: Most seniors prefer to avoid stairs. Thus, a living area that is on a single story with a full bath is the ideal situation. Again, avoid having any steps up or down to access the living area.

It’s also recommended to leave a five-foot by five-foot clearance/turning area in the living area, kitchen, and bathroom for those seniors who need to use a wheelchair or motorized assistance to get around. Hallways are a particularly overlooked spot. The NAHB recommended your halls have a 36-inch width, with wider distances preferred. And please make sure that the hallways are well lit.

Home designers should also have levered door hardware installed on any doors.

WINDOWS: Keeping rooms bright and sunny is a mood-elevator for every–continued on page 36 08.14 | ARROYO | 35

—ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT—

–continued from page 35

one. It’s recommended that windows be lower for seniors,

and fall is a disaster for aging bones, so take a careful look at

with a dropped sill height and easy-to-operate hardware.

ways the dangers can be minimized.

Make sure the windows are low maintenance so that nothing

First and foremost, provide lots of places where wall

gets stuck.

supports and other grips can be accessed. This is particularly

FAUCETS: Arthritic older hands will appreciate lever

important around tubs, sinks and showers, and please invest

handles or pedal-controlled faucets that have temperature

in a toilet that can comfortably support a large amount

and pressure controls to prevent scalding.

of weight. In showers, it’s particularly important to have a

KITCHEN: It’s a good idea to have wall support mounts and adjustable or variable height counters for food preparation. It’s also recommended to have bright-colored stripes on the edge of countertops to help with spatial orientation.

Make sure your wall cabinets are three inches lower than

In showers, it’s particularly important to have a shower seat that can accommodate a senior.

typical units. Pull-down shelving inside of them is ideal, and glass front doors are recommended. An open shelf for items that are used every day

shower seat that can accommodate a senior and avoid the need to stand, which can be disorienting in an environment where you often have your eyes closed. A fold-down seat in the shower is ideal. Make sure the shower does not have a curb as a barrier to entry and ideally is able to accommodate at least 36-inches of width.

An adjustable shower head with a long hose is also a good idea, and make the

is also a good idea, or you can devise a lazy susan or pull-out trays to aid seniors in

tub-shower controls easily accessible without long reaches. The shower stall should

finding items without a long reach.

have good lighting, be anti-bacterial, and most important, have slip-resistant guards.

For your appliances, makes sure the individual units have easy-to-read controls. It’s recommended that the microwave be at counter-height on installed in the wall. Also desirable: a side-by-side refrigerator/freezer, a side-swing or wall

Toilets should be higher than the standard, and it’s a good idea to have the toilet paper rolls changeable with one hand.

MISCELLANEOUS NEEDS: Some extras that you might not consider but are god-

oven, a raised dishwasher, and an electric cook top with level burners, front con-

sends to seniors on their own are easy-to-clean surfaces, an intercom system, a panic

trol and a downdraft feature that pulls heat away from the user. It’s also wise to

button that can reach police/fire, a central vacuum system, and a built-in recycler.

have a light that indicates when the surfaces of the burners are hot.

A front-loading washer/dryer is best for senior access, eliminating the need

Don’t feel overwhelmed by the long list. Most senior homes don’t have all of the features, and the degree of mobility your senior has will make some of the

to reach and potentially strain a muscle. A laundry chute is also a welcome addi-

issues irrelevant. The biggest issue for most seniors is loneliness – people aging in

tion to lugging heavy baskets.

place need to continue being a part of your community. There’s nothing more

BATHROOM: This is one of the key areas for seniors and potentially one of

enjoyable for elders aging in place than spending time with loved ones. Mak-

the most dangerous. The presence of water and the need to access areas that

ing access in their home easier and more enjoyable is one step you can take to

may challenge a senior with limited mobility are the main considerations. A slip

make sure that’s easily accomplished. ||||

36 | ARROYO | 08.14

arroyo

™

~HOME SALES INDEX~

+17.93% 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 CAÑADA 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.

june ’13 42 $655,500 1667 june ’13 51 $828,000 1860 june ’13 11 $538,000 1308 june ’13 138 $520,500 1376 june ’13 35 $1,460,000 2524 june ’13 171 $551,000 1429 june ’13 16 $1,850,000 2634 june ’13 16 $801,000 1587 june ’13 24 $748,000 1543 june ’13 504 $474

june

HOMES SOLD

2014

425

AVG. PRICE/SQ. FT.

2013

504

-15.67%

june HOMES SOLD

HOME SALES

june ’14 30 $627,000 1635 june ’14 36 $979,000 1570 june ’14 18 $632,000 1498 june ’14 135 $625,000 1522 june ’14 24 $1,410,500 2222 june ’14 143 $655,000 1569 june ’14 11 $1,888,000 2151 june ’14 9 $788,000 1940 june ’14 19 $1,082,500 1943 june ’14 425 $559

HOME SALES ABOVE RECENT HOME CLOSINGS IN THE PASADENA WEEKLY FOOTPRINT ADDRESS ALTADENA 2025 Braeburn Road 1060 Marcheta Street 2975 Lake Avenue 606 Hartwell Court 1356 La Solana Drive 1473 Carroll Drive 176 Jaxine Drive 2223 Glen Canyon Road ARCADIA 1060 Fallen Leaf Road 1001 Singing Wood Drive 1141 Highland Oaks Drive 2226 Cielo Place 312 East Camino Real Avenue 255 Hacienda Drive 145 West Floral Avenue 206 East Forest Avenue 1327 South 2nd Avenue 600 Arbolada Drive 1727 La Ramada Avenue 1407 South 10th Avenue 1300 Oaklawn Road 1618 Mayflower Avenue 610 East Camino Real Avenue 521 East Longden Avenue 1311 South 3rd Avenue 1708 Alta Oaks Drive 2015 South 8th Avenue 918 East Winnie Way 1933 South 3rd Avenue 338 East Forest Avenue EAGLE ROCK 5218 Monte Bonito Drive 4844 Hartwick Street GLENDALE 601 Caruso Avenue 501 Caruso Avenue 1516 Hillcrest Avenue 2000 Montecito Drive 3643 Hampstead Road 1800 Cielito Drive 1920 Deermont Road 3856 Sky View Lane 1718 Gladys Drive 1322 J Lee Circle 1536 Royal Blvd 1163 Western Avenue 1647 Lake Street 2146 Lenore Drive 624 East Maple Street 641 Woodbury Road 3355 Figueroa Street 3018 Paddington Road 901 Calle Simpatico 3261 Dunsmere Road 1333 East Mountain Street 1375 Greenmont Drive 2404 Prospect Avenue 419 Mesa Lila Road 359 Cumberland Road 2821 Kennington Drive 3604 Sierra Vista Avenue

CLOSE DATE

PRICE

BDRMS.

SQ. FT.

source: CalREsource

YR. BUILT PREV. PRICE PREV. SOLD

06/18/14 06/20/14 06/12/14 06/27/14 06/05/14 06/20/14 06/19/14 06/13/14

$2,300,000 $1,180,000 $1,017,000 $967,500 $923,000 $910,000 $905,000 $900,000

6 4 4 4 3 3 3 3

3716 2720 2642 2507 2172 1512 2592 1641

1926 1928 1906 1998 1925 1951 1949 1947

$1,225,000 $1,050,000 $1,050,000 $417,540 $730,000 $759,000 $650,000 $256,000

06/26/2001 03/31/2006 10/11/2007 04/29/1999 10/29/2009 01/28/2004 10/28/2003 06/23/1995

06/16/14 06/09/14 06/11/14 06/06/14 06/23/14 06/03/14 06/27/14 06/19/14 06/25/14 06/13/14 06/13/14 06/13/14 06/26/14 06/20/14 06/10/14 06/12/14 06/10/14 06/24/14 06/05/14 06/06/14 06/20/14 06/25/14

$7,780,000 $6,380,000 $4,180,000 $3,500,000 $3,450,000 $2,711,000 $2,218,000 $1,728,000 $1,680,000 $1,640,000 $1,320,000 $1,305,000 $1,300,000 $1,128,000 $1,080,000 $1,058,500 $1,020,000 $1,000,000 $958,000 $925,000 $920,000 $910,000

4 5 3 7 2 5 2 5 3 3 3 5 2 3 4 4 2 2 3 4 3 2

2934 5196 2343 6103 1183 3695 1341 3622 1248 2332 1814 3330 1925 1976 1566 1891 1523 1541 2206 1774 1650 1384

1950 1942 1952 1959 1940 1940 1941 1998 1921 1951 1958 1987 1950 1947 1954 1950 1954 1951 1950 1960 1956 1940

$1,925,000 $1,910,000 $1,299,000 $345,000 $3,280,000 $88,000 $640,000 $1,100,000 $1,000,891 $971,000 $829,000 $540,000 $525,000 $161,000 $779,000 $558,000 $300,000 $890,000

07/05/2012 09/23/1998 03/05/2013 10/30/1985 03/05/2014 08/05/1975 03/07/2013 09/14/2009 05/18/2007 09/20/2010 01/15/2010 07/22/1988 07/02/1998 07/31/1987 11/21/2007 09/09/2003 10/29/1999 11/27/2007

$800,000 $685,500 $433,000

04/10/2013 06/14/2012 05/15/2003

06/12/14 06/26/14

$1,211,500 $922,000

3 3

2776 1812

1948 1960

$227,500 $752,000

06/06/2000 05/27/2005

06/11/14 06/11/14 06/13/14 06/13/14 06/09/14 06/13/14 06/18/14 06/30/14 06/26/14 06/18/14 06/16/14 06/10/14 06/11/14 06/10/14 06/05/14 06/03/14 06/27/14 06/25/14 06/30/14 06/12/14 06/06/14 06/02/14 06/05/14 06/25/14 06/11/14 06/02/14 06/23/14

$2,268,000 $1,900,000 $1,837,500 $1,730,000 $1,700,000 $1,670,000 $1,425,000 $1,355,000 $1,266,000 $1,200,000 $1,180,000 $1,125,000 $1,100,000 $1,087,000 $1,038,000 $1,017,500 $970,000 $965,000 $960,000 $955,000 $955,000 $925,000 $911,000 $910,000 $905,000 $900,000 $900,000

2 2 3 6 8 3 4 4 4 4 4 7 2 4 8 4 3 3 3 4 5 3 0 3 2 3 3

1894 1893 3281 3918 5300 3041 2807 3171 3266 2645 2708 3201 1191 2856 5520 2829 2839 1866 2397 4017 3133 2375 0 2004 1924 3394 1632

2008 2008 1930 1925 1979 1961 1966 1995 1991 1965 1938 1984 1938 1977 1927 1940 1958 1936 1990 1981 1935 1958

$950,000 $950,000 $1,800,000

10/31/2011 10/31/2011 11/16/2004

$1,375,000 $549,000 $497,500 $639,000

08/09/2012 06/14/2001 08/30/1996 02/22/2002

$570,000 $335,000 $580,000 $605,000 $260,000 $375,000 $1,060,000 $1,095,000 $920,000 $650,000

08/25/2000 09/08/1986 10/20/2000 08/25/1989 04/08/1996 07/26/1994 12/06/2007 06/23/2006 07/26/2006 03/01/2002

$750,000 $805,000 $787,000

12/10/2008 04/13/2007 04/13/2012

1967 1955 1982 1925

continued on page 39

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 2014. Complete home sales listings appear each week in Pasadena Weekly.

08.14 ARROYO | 37

38 | ARROYO | 08.14

HOME SALES ABOVE RECENT HOME CLOSINGS IN THE PASADENA WEEKLY FOOTPRINT

source: CalREsource

continued from page 37 ADDRESS CLOSE DATE LA CAĂ‘ADA 4358 Fairlawn Drive 06/11/14 5337 Mountain Meadow Lane 06/30/14 5219 La Canada Blvd 06/12/14 4836 Commonwealth Avenue 06/27/14 733 Craig Avenue 06/30/14 743 Craig Avenue 06/30/14 881 Greenridge Drive 06/23/14 4097 Robin Hill Road 06/27/14 4318 Bel Aire Drive 06/30/14 4768 Rosebank Drive 06/20/14 628 Knight Way 06/24/14 4928 Del Monte Road 06/04/14 206 Mero Lane 06/17/14 1439 Descanso Drive 06/30/14 4376 Beulah Drive 06/30/14 5155 Stoneglen Road 06/20/14 935 Big Briar Way 06/11/14 5203 Crown Avenue 06/18/14 4397 Cornishon Avenue 06/13/14 1216 Lanterman Lane 06/12/14 4608 Castle Road 06/05/14 PASADENA 795 Oak Knoll Circle 06/19/14 1233 Wentworth Avenue 06/27/14 755 Pinehurst Drive 06/25/14 595 Landor Lane 06/06/14 608 Vallombrosa Drive 06/06/14 300 South Orange Grove Blvd #1 06/09/14 123 Hurlbut Street 06/03/14 2996 San Pasqual Street 06/04/14 531 South Greenwood Avenue 06/09/14 407 Bellmore Way 06/04/14 838 Michigan Blvd 06/17/14 802 Michigan Blvd 06/16/14 920 Granite Drive #115 06/24/14 1170 Laurel Street 06/11/14 623 South Michillinda Avenue 06/02/14 3625 Landfair Road 06/23/14 920 Granite Drive #305 06/30/14 670 South Arroyo Blvd 06/16/14 211 South Orange Grove Blvd #9 06/12/14 321 Alpine Street 06/26/14 693 Santa Barbara Street 06/03/14 240 San Miguel Road 06/12/14 1517 Poppy Peak Drive 06/12/14 1395 Linda Vista Avenue 06/18/14 1207 Linda Vista Avenue 06/23/14 1215 East Woodbury Road 06/12/14 1888 Kaweah Drive 06/26/14 665 Old Mill Road 06/13/14 108 South Grand Avenue 06/04/14 986 Cornell Road 06/10/14 765 Del Monte Street 06/11/14 3616 Thorndale Road #R 06/04/14 3025 Wallingford Road 06/10/14 2437 San Pasqual Street 06/20/14 3765 Valley Lights Drive 06/20/14 950 South Orange Grove Blvd #D 06/26/14 332 South Orange Grove Blvd 06/20/14 218 Arroyo Terrace 06/04/14 885 South Orange Grove Blvd #24 06/06/14 290 Sequoia Drive 06/04/14 1990 North Altadena Drive 06/16/14 357 Wenham Road 06/17/14 SAN MARINO 1903 Windsor Road 06/11/14 2285 Huntley Circle 06/05/14 2355 Roanoke Road 06/11/14 1626 Lorain Road 06/30/14 2145 Homet Road 06/27/14 1659 South Oak Knoll Avenue 06/16/14 2380 Sherwood Road 06/04/14 1340 Belhaven Road 06/13/14 615 Plymouth Road 06/16/14 1770 South Los Robles Avenue 06/02/14 SIERRA MADRE 463 Auburn Avenue 06/24/14 290 Sierra Woods Drive 06/09/14 533 Key Vista Drive 06/16/14 SOUTH PASADENA 1030 Adelaine Avenue 06/11/14 1951 Leman Street 06/23/14 306 Camino Del Sol 06/06/14 709 Hermosa Street 06/02/14 510 Martos Drive 06/06/14 839 Stratford Avenue 06/23/14 1231 Monterey Road 06/26/14 371 Grace Drive 06/19/14 175 Mockingbird Lane 06/27/14 2001 Fletcher Avenue 06/16/14 2056 Amherst Drive 06/12/14 905 Monterey Road 06/20/14 1833 Gillette Crest 06/02/14

PRICE

BDRMS.

SQ. FT.

YR. BUILT PREV. PRICE PREV. SOLD

$2,850,000 $2,760,000 $2,705,000 $2,465,000 $2,120,000 $2,120,000 $1,920,000 $1,910,000 $1,905,000 $1,890,000 $1,580,000 $1,441,000 $1,380,000 $1,359,000 $1,299,000 $1,255,000 $1,175,000 $1,175,000 $1,062,000 $985,000 $926,000

5 5 6 2 2 4 3 4 4 6 4 4 5 4 3 5 3 3 4 2 2

4527 4169 4303 1187 1346 2348 4258 4225 3212 4473 2699 2276 2434 2364 1618 2168 1878 1773 1552 1712 1584

2007 2001 1948 1950 1924 1908 1985 1961 1944 1951 1955 1951 1951 1950 1925 1952 1967 1958 1954 1955 1949

$6,629,000 $4,239,500 $3,200,000 $3,050,000 $2,678,000 $2,600,000 $2,240,000 $2,090,000 $1,750,000 $1,700,000 $1,613,000 $1,585,000 $1,575,000 $1,505,000 $1,468,000 $1,390,000 $1,385,000 $1,369,000 $1,328,000 $1,275,000 $1,265,000 $1,250,000 $1,221,500 $1,170,000 $1,160,000 $1,145,000 $1,128,000 $1,127,000 $1,125,000 $1,100,000 $1,075,000 $1,060,000 $1,034,500 $1,000,000 $998,000 $970,000 $969,000 $950,000 $925,000 $917,500 $902,000 $900,000

7 4 3 4 6 4 1 4 4 4 4 6 3 3 4 3 2 4 2 5 9 3 3 3 2 4 3 2 3 2 3 3 3 4 3 4 2 3 2 4 2 3

9038 6319 3683 3800 4715 4831 627 3066 3006 2476 2928 2402 2470 1576 3090 2506 1550 2363 2311 2234 3875 1943 1552 2058 1757 2570 3193 1476 2258 2016 2328 1757 1918 2455 2182 2233 1960 2182 2160 1721 2464 1612

1922 1917 1960 1926 1951 1991 1906 1936 1926 1947 1929 1927 2009 1948 2007 1950 2009 1924 1975 1913 1962 1939 1926 1924 1949 1911 1991 1951 1980 1926 1949 1939 1959 1938 1956 1954 1974 1979 1973 1948 1953 1941

$3,600,000 $2,850,000 $2,450,000 $2,380,000 $2,250,000 $1,888,000 $1,700,000 $1,575,000 $1,230,000 $1,102,000

4 4 3 3 3 4 2 3 3 3

3404 3607 2214 2528 2323 1992 1709 1836 1301 1418

1929 1948 1940 1949 1948 1927 1938 1950 1924 1953

$1,650,000 $1,200,000 $920,000

4 4 4

3459 4346 1940

2005 1985 1965

$1,740,000 $1,670,000 $1,576,500 $1,410,000 $1,315,000 $1,300,000 $1,300,000 $1,255,000 $1,105,000 $1,082,500 $1,075,000 $950,000 $942,000

3 3 5 4 3 3 5 4 4 2 4 2 6

2291 2297 2373 1565 2578 1943 2493 2442 3026 1262 1675 1152 2257

1948 1914 1964 1910 1963 1909 1904 1954 1946 1923 1924 1922 1947

$2,441,000 $2,760,000 $2,400,000 $575,000

03/29/2013 06/30/2014 07/20/2007 12/05/2012

$950,000 $1,519,000 $1,325,000 $750,000 $527,000 $870,000 $710,000 $1,250,000 $965,000

05/27/1992 03/03/2005 03/17/2009 08/14/1995 08/31/1993 03/19/2004 09/21/2004 10/27/2011 11/16/2009

$581,000

04/09/2002

$750,000 $749,000

10/09/2003 03/17/2004

$1,394,540 $741,500 $2,370,000 $1,850,000

12/01/1989 03/11/1998 02/28/2008 11/29/2011

$1,640,000 $799,000

12/29/2006 11/29/2001

$92,000

04/15/1977

$385,000 $1,150,000 $289,000 $1,275,000 $1,200,000 $850,000 $1,030,000 $908,000 $885,000 $629,000 $975,000

09/18/1997 09/26/2007 06/01/1999 12/30/2010 04/17/2014 09/04/2009 06/01/2006 04/30/2012 04/29/2011 06/18/1998 02/12/2009

$275,000 $1,050,000 $887,000 $875,000

06/12/1996 03/09/2006 06/24/2005 05/04/2010

$770,000 $515,000 $262,000 $925,000 $540,000 $950,000 $445,000

08/26/2004 09/17/2002 04/21/1987 09/07/2006 08/16/2001 06/12/2007 09/19/1996

$895,000

05/19/2006

$875,000 $749,500

07/20/2007 03/16/2007

$1,790,000

12/21/2004

$775,000

03/26/2004

$1,450,000 $685,000 $325,000

05/18/2006 02/20/2004 12/22/1986

$950,000

06/29/2010

$279,000

09/12/2003

$889,000

06/17/2005

$1,600,000 $340,000 $499,000 $450,000 $440,500 $132,000 $579,000 $1,020,000

09/22/2006 04/03/1997 01/08/1999 08/03/2001 06/19/2001 11/25/1980 05/07/2002 03/13/2006

$970,000 $351,500

12/18/2013 03/11/1999

$305,000

01/05/2001 08.14 ARROYO | 39

—ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT—

Education A DIRECTORY OF LEARNING OPTIONS

–continued from page 26 Kidspace Children’s Museum In 1979 Kidspace Children’s Museum was established as a hands-on, participatory children’s museum, dedicated to enriching the lives of children. 35 years later, Kidspace has grown to be an industry leader in the field of informal, free-choice education and continues to seek out new ways to bring children and families together to learn and play.

Southern California’s premier children’s museum offers over 3 acres of interactive learning environments with age-appropriate programs and activities for children 10 and younger.

(626) 449-9144 480 N. Arroyo Blvd., Pasadena - www.kidspacemuseum.org

La Salle High School La Salle High School is dedicated to excellent student performance in academics, arts and athletics. La Salle Summer Academic Institute is for 5th to 12th graders. Courses provide opportunities to home skills and learn new concepts in the more relaxed environment of summer. Students earn high school academic credit in some courses, and many courses satisfy UC standards. Sports Camps are available throughout the summer for student athletes. (626) 696-4300 www.lasallehs.org

Lycée International de Los Angeles Students at LILA (Lycée International de Los Angeles), an international French school with five campuses: Pasadena, Burbank, Los Feliz, Orange County, and West Valley, benefit from a full bilingual immersion program. A bilingual education paves more pathways in the brain, resulting in better academic performance. LILA is a preschool through 12th-grade school committed to academic excellence in a nurturing and intimate environment that encourages personal initiative, creativity and curiosity. Students are challenged through the rigorous and well-balanced bilingual curricula of the French and International Baccalaureate institutions. LILA aims to develop confident, caring, and open-minded critical thinkers who will thrive in a diverse competitive world. www.lilaschool.com - (626) 695-5159 admissions@lilaschool.com

Maranatha High School Maranatha High School Celebrates 50 Years! This year, Maranatha celebrates 50 outstanding years of intentionally Christian, college preparatory education. The school not only offers 31 AP and Honors courses and a 1:1 iPad eLearning program, but 18 competitive sports and award-winning performing and visual arts programs as well. At Maranatha, faith is integrated in every aspect of living, learning, and serving, leading to authentic student transformation. Come visit the gorgeous campus near Old Town Pasadena and experience the Maranatha difference!

626-817-4000 www.maranatha-hs.org Maranatha’s Admissions Open House will be on Saturday, November 10 with the program starting at 10:00 a.m.

–continued on page 42 40 | ARROYO | 08.14

08.14 | ARROYO | 41

—ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT—

Education A DIRECTORY OF LEARNING OPTIONS

–continued from page 40 Music School To Go Music School To Go provides quality in-home private music lessons at your convenience.

At Music School To Go we believe that one-on-one private instruction is the most effective way to enhance a student’s learning experience. Our instructors are professionally trained musicians and educators who care about your success and love for music. We pride ourselves in our ability to nurture the talents of children, teens and adults - tailoring the lessons to the individual needs of each student.

(818) 914-4950 – (818) 324-1620 www.MusicSchoolToGo.com

Nova 42 Academy Nova 42 Speech and Debate and Language Arts Academy is a fun educational sanctuary, dedicated to the academic and real-world success of your child. We develop character and critical thinking through our well-regarded speech and debate classes.

We develop logic and smart test-taking skills through our effective ISEE, PSAT, SAT, GRE, and many other test prep tutoring. Most importantly, we develop your child’s confidence, not just in speech, but also through college counseling and other specialized classes, so that he or she can be successful in all endeavors. Come check us out!

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Our School Our School was established in 1977 and is a product of over thirty six years of experience.

The materials are selected to expose your child to progressive educational steps, warm and understanding teachers with an education to better your child’s individual needs. It is our goal to provide your child with a well-rounded program to meet their social, emotional and academic needs as well as a warm and comforting environment.

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Pacific Oaks Children’s School For nearly 70 years we have been at the forefront of early childhood education—providing a range of progressive programs for children six months through six years of age.

Founded on the principles of social justice and inclusion, and committed to the belief that every child has value and infinite potential, we have become internationally known for our pioneering accomplishments in the areas of anti-bias education, emergent curriculum, and peaceful conflict resolution. Pacific Oaks offers a wide variety of programs in part-time as well as full-day formats.

Request a tour today - (626) 397-1363, 714 W California Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91105 www.pacificoakschildrensschool.org

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—ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT—

Education A DIRECTORY OF LEARNING OPTIONS

–continued from page 42 Pasadena Christian School Pasadena Christian School providing education from preschool to 8th grade (and a new transitional kindergarten), our goal is to provide students with the academic training and spiritual nurture to become life-long learners with a commitment to serving Christ and our community. With specialized instruction in art, music, computers, physical education, science, and language we work together with the family and the local church community to teach our students to pursue excellence in whatever they do.

1515 N. LOS ROBLES AVENUE PASADENA- (626) 791-1214 WWW.PASADENACHRISTIAN.ORG

Pasadena Language Center We offer over 30 languages for adults and children. Our small group classes are perfect for beginner, intermediate and advanced students. Our language programs include weekly classes, intensive classes, weekend intensive, full immersion classes, kids classes, ESL classes, or private instruction. We keep the rates affordable so that anyone can learn a new language.

Pasadena Language Center, 46 Smith Alley, Suite 240, Pasadena. Call (626) 844-5003 or visit www.pasadenalanguage.com

Pasadena Waldorf School Ignites a life-long love of learning; the arts -infused curriculum advances from play-based early childhood classes to a vigorous academic program through middle and high school. Lively lessons inspire creative thinking, and students distill concepts of knowledge through joyful learning experiences. Call the Admissions Office (626) 794-9564 to tour the school many a parent has said is “the kind of school I wish I went to.”

209 E. Mariposa St., Altadena 91001 www.pasadenawaldorf.org

Patterson Educational Therapy Services When your child is struggling at school, the problems may be related to how he or she learns, not the ability to learn. Reading may be impaired because of dyslexia, and there are ways to re-learn to read. How your child remembers new ideas, organizes materials, or constructs a writing assignment can also be re-learned. As educational therapists and credentialed teachers, Carolyn and Julie can assess your child’s needs and strengths for academic success.

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—ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT—

Education A DIRECTORY OF LEARNING OPTIONS

–continued from page 44 Saint Anthony School “A Tradition of Excellence since 1948” Saint Anthony School has excelled in the FIRST IN MATH online program for four years in a row. Our team spirit from Kindergarten through Eighth Grade has created friendly competition to earn the Math Classroom Trophy. Our Kindergarten through Eighth Grade writing program strengthens writing skills. Have fun with Math and Writing! Join our school family.

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Saint Mark’s Saint Mark’s is a coeducational Episcopal parish day school located in Altadena, CA enrolling 350 students from preschool through grade six. We seek families who wish to partner with our devoted faculty and staff in a united effort to provide students a rigorous academic instructional program coupled with a strong moral foundation. A Saint Mark’s education is an extraordinary value and provides a genuine opportunity for families seeking excellence in education today.

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University of Redlands Where your dreams become aspirations and your aspirations become achievements— that is the Redlands experience. Since our founding in 1907, we haven’t wavered from our promise: a transformative education in an environment of academic rigor and personal responsibility, where you can blend what you learn in the classroom with life skills that will help you affect positive change in the world. We are Redlands, where curiosity finds inspiration; where selflessness becomes service; where small classes encourage debate and debate sparks insight; where creativity and innovation open doors and change lives; and where diversity enriches us all. We are Redlands, where we care more about who you will become than who you used to be; where we take good students and turn them into great people. www.redlands.edu

YMCA of the Foothills Recent studies highlights that parent expectations of what skills children need for kindergarten rose dramatically in the past five years. In response, the Y strengthens its focus on academic preparation in combination with social and emotional development. Y preschool boosts early learning by focusing on the core elements which contribute to social development and individual growth. These include: large and small group time, choice and transition time, physical activity, healthy eating and personal care routines.

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SCHOOLING PARENTS Does Parental Participation in Schools Help Kids?

BY ILSA SETZIOL

O

n a balmy Friday morning in June, fifth-graders at Marengo Elementary dance around maypoles festooned with a rainbow of ribbons. The South Pasadena public-school campus looks beautiful — there are refurbished benches, a new garden and a cooler, green playground surface replacing the old cracked asphalt.

Milling about are a couple of dozen dads in bright orange shirts and caps, who have arranged their work schedules so they can be here at the spring dance event. The shirts identify the dads as DUDES, members of South Pasadena’s Dads Uniting Dads in Education and Service. They take special pride in the campus improvements, because they made them happen. Co-founder Ed Donnelly says the group focuses on “creating a great environment for the kids” and “setting a good example by being involved.”

Since its founding two years ago, DUDES has undertaken several campus improvement projects and special events in South Pasadena’s elementary schools. There are now 130 dads at the ready with tools, paint, recording equipment and the willingness to M.C. or be dunked and doused — you name it. Educators say this kind of parental involvement in schools is important, perhaps essential, in this era of limited school funding. Some schools even rely on parents to teach curriculum casualties of budget cuts, such as art and music.

A recent study, however, questions the merits of all this parental effort. Sociologists Keith Robinson at the University of Texas, Austin, and Angel L. Harris of Duke University evaluated 63 different forms of parental involvement — volunteering in the classroom, contacting the school about a child’s behavior, helping decide on an older kid’s classes, etc. — and concluded that most did not improve student achievement. Help with homework? Not only not helpful, it could backfire, according to the researchers.

Educators, naturally, are skeptical.

“I want my child’s teacher to see me as a partner in the education,” says Pasadena parent Hilda Ramirez Horvath, “because there are things I can do at home to support what’s going on in the classroom.” In addition to being a mom, Horvath works as a parental engagement coordinator for Pasadena Unified School District. Horvath and two community liaisons set up parent workshops and activities, facilitate parent-school dialogue and help parents navigate the school system. She points to a PUSD parent leadership class called Project to Inspire as especially useful for recent immigrants. “We had parents who didn’t know much about school beyond you have to get [the kids] there,” she explains. Among other things, parents were encouraged to question teachers and staff. “In fact, we expect it — we want it,” she adds.

Parents who’ve participated in these programs have in turn mentored other parents.

Horvath says parental involvement on campus often becomes a springboard to broader participation, including strategic planning at the district level and political action on education issues. And next year, PUSD will focus on training teachers — improving their skills in working with parents and having faculty (in lieu of consultants) lead parent workshops.

American educators began encouraging parental involvement in the 1960s, according to Dr. Angela Hasan of USC’s Rossier School of Education’s Teacher Education –continued on page 50

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Staff from PUSD’s Health Program show parents and young students how to prepare healthy breakfasts.

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South Pasadena’s Dads Uniting Dads in Education and Service (DUDES) –continued from page 49

Program. “In President Johnson’s era, parents were asked to come into schools because [schools serving low-income students] were so horrible [they] weren’t meeting the needs of those children.”

Both President Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act and President Obama’s Race to the Top promote parental involvement as one solution for the achievement gap between affluent white kids and children of lower socioeconomic status. Robinson and Harris say their study puts the lie to the idea that kids of color would do better if their parents were more involved. “Our research shows that these parents tried to help their children in school just as much as the parents [of white and high-performing Asian kids],” they wrote in an April 12 New York Times opinion piece.

“You hear this grossly negligent stereotype that low-socioeconomic-status parents don’t care about their kids’ [education],” says Margo Pensavalle, Ph.D., who teaches diversity in the Rossier School’s master’s program. “That has never been my experience.” The main problem, as she sees it, is that schools and classroom materials still “mimic a white-middle-class experience,” and too often “teachers fail to teach in ways the kids can relate to.”

But Pensavalle says the study’s methodology couldn’t parse the complexity of the parental engagement issue. (The study compared the test scores and grades of kids whose parents reported being very involved with those whose parents said they were less involved.) “Whether parental help extends kids’ learning is a very difficult thing to measure,” she says. “There are loads of kids whose parents are involved and they do well,” she observes. But there are also “loads of kids who do really well and we might not consider their parents [to be] involved, but we don’t [really] know what they do at home.”

For instance, these parents might be highly effective at boosting their kids’ confidence, or just be great role models. “The best predictor of when your kid will read,” says clinical psychologist Linda Bortell, “or what attitude your kid will have when reading, is seeing their parent read.”

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The involvement study also didn’t factor in tutors, and it couldn’t measure intangibles such as creativity.

Photographer Darcy Hemley of Eagle Rock is one of several parent volunteers who teach art at Odyssey Charter School in Altadena. She pitches in because she believes “it’s necessary and nice for kids to get some art on a weekly basis.” She also sees her involvement as providing emotional support for her 8-year-old daughter.

And DUDES co-founder Mark Deetjen says his members aren’t just building benches — they’re cobbling together social cohesion in a school district that is ethnically and economically diverse. “You give a sense of community to the kids,” he says, “so instead of having all the cliques, they see the dads all together.”

According to USC’s Pensavalle, parents can also help teachers improve their cultural awareness and sensitivity. “We know that when kids can relate culturally to classrooms, they do better,” she says.

Having parents on campus also keeps schools accountable, says USC’s Hasan: “Parents need to be the audience; they’re the eyes that assess the school.” At a minimum,

they can ensure the bathrooms are clean.

What’s more, parental involvement likely benefits all kids at a school, even if it can’t be shown to advance the academic achievement of a particular child. “I think if we raise the water,” says Horvath, “it lifts all boats.”

Flintridge Preparatory School in La Cañada Flintridge, a prestigious private middle and high school, brims with capable kids. Co-Dean of Faculty Sarah Cooper says she hasn’t noticed a correlation between the highest achievers and any obvious, hands-on involvement of their parents.

Parental engagement in schools typically drops off in middle school. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, according to Cooper. “We really see [it] as a transition from elementary school, where parents tend to check a lot of homework,” she says, “to a very independent way of learning.” Teens need to try work out their school issues on their own, if they can, she adds. “It develops, we think, resilience.”

This need to develop independence might explain why Robinson and Harris found that older children who received more frequent parental help with homework fared worse academically than those whose parents said they provide little to no assistance.

Robinson posits that parents may not remember or understand the homework material themselves. Let’s also consider that kids with learning differences may need parental support to keep up.

Regardless, the mountains of homework most schools assign these days tempts some parents to swoop in to get it done. (Many educators question the value of all this homework, yet the problem persists.)

Hasan advises parents to pay attention to the quality and difficulty of what’s been assigned. “If you give homework that they have not mastered, you do more harm than good,” she says. Rather than fearing punishment, says Pensavalle, kids should be able to tell teachers, “‘I didn’t finish my homework, because I didn’t really understand it.’”

So where does this leave concerned parents? Robinson and Harris did point to a

PHOTO: Nicole Trevor

few things they think generally work: requesting a specific teacher (though most schools frown on this), reading to young children, discussing the school day with your child and expecting him or her to go to college. They say that, rather than give a “blanket message” about appropriate involvement, schools should help parents find “creative ways to communicate the value of schooling.”

And when they do that, they should be sensitive and alert to the needs of individual children. Parental expectations for some kids may be too low, for others, too high. Bortell, who counsels kids in her South Pasadena office, says some affluent parents are putting the screws on their kids over academics.

She advises promoting a love of learning, “which is different A student checks in with a parent volunteer assisting in from a love of performance and grades.”

Book Day, a longstanding tradition at Flintridge Prep.

Still, Robinson and Harris aren’t telling parents to put down the paintbrushes and tune out at homework time. In an Cooper, who teaches history, encourages middle school parents to foster curiosity interview with Larry Mantle on KPCC-FM, Robinson said educators should instead about school subjects. “I love hearing, ‘I talked with my parents about affi rmative acask, “How do we make parents more effective?” tion,’” she says, “or ‘I saw this article about Ukraine and we had a discussion about it.’”

It’s a question some have already embraced. In one project, Hasan and colleagues So busy parents should take heart: Some true interest, some thoughtful time worked with parents in South Gate, Lynwood and Compton. After a year, the parents together, could be as effective (or more) than a more hands-on approach. Just reported back on the skills or advice that helped most. Number one? Getting comfortmake sure someone is there to set up the carnival, paint the benches, drive kids on able questioning their children. “It’s not about you having to know what geometry is,” she says. “It’s about asking and asking and the student having to tell you what it’s about.” the field trip…. ||||

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Mountain Man

Chuck Ballard has spent more than 50 years helping lost and injured hikers as a member of the Altadena Mountain Rescue Team.

BY TARIQ KAMAL

A

fter the deadly Station Fire raged across Angeles National Forest and nearby communities in 2009, the Altadena Mountain Rescue Team’s workload just about doubled — hikers and climbers pushed out of the burnt acreage were crowding into the team’s jurisdiction, which includes 20 canyons, triggering as many as 90 rescues a year. A call that came in during this busy period prompted Chuck Ballard, the team’s senior member, to begin coordinating a search. With only a few of the 25-plus members available, Ballard concluded they were shorthanded, recalls team Captain Rich DeLeon. “He jumps in the truck and says, ‘OK, let’s go!’ And we said ‘Chuck, have you forgotten? We can’t take you!’ If we’d let him, he would have gone out and hiked as far as he could. He has that burning desire.”

Never mind that Ballard is 87 years old. Now desk-bound, nearly 20 years removed from the decades he spent in the field, he remains an indispensable part of the team and an inspiration to his fellow rescuers. “Chuck is, without fail, one of our most reliable members,” DeLeon says. “He is often the first person there. He can still coordinate an entire rescue.”

So when Ballard and his wife, Rae, moved from their longtime home up the road from team headquarters to nearby Duarte in July, the move caused some consternation among crew members, including DeLeon and Alexia Joens.

“It was a shock to us that he was moving, when he told us he wouldn’t be there for everything the way he is now,” says Joens. “I just figured, quite honestly, that he would always be there for us. The good news is, he’s not retiring.”

And that’s a relief for team members like DeLeon, a

17-year veteran, who says it’s difficult to imagine Altadena Mountain Rescue without Ballard in the picture. “We’re going to miss his regular presence and how dedicated a person he has been over his lifetime,” DeLeon adds. “He has always done it very willingly and cheerfully. That guy is amazing.”

And the team’s task is more challenging than ever. Its territory includes Millard Canyon and Eaton Canyon, which draws 450,000 climbers a year and has been a flashpoint for controversy over safety — Angeles National Forest officials recently announced a plan to close the canyon above the fi rst waterfall on Aug. 1 because the half-mile trek to the second waterfall is so dangerous it has caused five deaths and dozens of injuries.

Safety is job one for the the all-volunteer crew headquartered in the Altadena Sheriff ’s Station at the southern edge of Angeles National Forest. The team’s mission is to search for and rescue lost and injured climbers and provide security, evacuation support and traffic control during emergencies. When a call comes in, the operations manager is tasked with assembling a team and coordinating with law enforcement agencies as well as other air- and land-based rescue teams. Available crew members assemble at the sheriff ’s station, change into uniform and strap on their 30-pound field packs while the operations manager determines how to proceed. Callers can provide clues to their location and can sometimes be “pinged” by their cellphone provider; searches for missing subjects typically begin by locating their vehicle and checking for footprints. From there, the team ventures –continued on page 54 08.14 ARROYO | 53

–continued from page 53

out along the most likely paths, shouting the subject’s name. Injured climbers are treated and hauled out on a specially built litter or airlifted to safety. “Cliffhanger” rescues may require team members to climb up or rappel down ridges. When a body is found, they must treat the area as a crime scene, take photos and get authorization from the police and the coroner before they can remove it.

Not surprisingly, the recruitment standards for the Altadena team are at least as rigorous today as they were when Ballard joined in 1964, after graduating from the Los Angeles County Sheriff ’s Reserve Academy, where he earned his emergency medical technician (EMT) certificate and completed the team’s rescue training

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program. Over the years, Ballard has worked two day jobs — Bank of America branch manager and registered nurse in Huntington Memorial Hospital’s pediatric unit, a job he took after enrolling in Pasadena City College’s nursing program at age 58. Teammate Joens believes Ballard’s desire to help his neighbors motivated him to change careers. “I don’t think there’s anyone out there that doesn’t have a tremendous amount of respect for Chuck,” she says.

Ballard’s calm demeanor has been a boon to his under-the-gun peers, who participate in one or two missions every week during the height of the summer climbing season, according to DeLeon. Having seen him in action countless times, DeLeon –continued on page 56

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–continued from page 54

says, the man is unflappable.

“He doesn’t have to fl ip a switch. Chuck is pretty much the same guy all the time.”

The modest Ballard prefers to discuss the work of the team and its associated agencies rather than his own accomplishments or heroics. Asked about his first operation, he responds that it was “probably a search,” describing his role simply as “team go-fer.” But as the decades rolled on, Ballard took on the mantle of leadership. He would complete three three-year rotations as team captain and, when the years began to catch up to him, took over as base camp operator and operations leader.

“The team was founded in ’51. The procedures were pretty well established by the time I joined,” Ballard says. “But our skills are greater now than they were 40 or 50 years ago. It used to be a call would come in and the station would call the duty officer, who would then have to call the entire list by phone.

Finally we got CB radios and then I guess about 30 years ago we had pagers, which sped up the process greatly.”

As reserve sheriff ’s deputies, most team members are not volunteers — technically. Ballard drew a $1 annual salary (“minus taxes,” he notes) from the county until the age of 72, when he officially retired and became one of three full-time volunteers. The paycheck ensures that rescuers are county employees and thus eligible for workers’ compensation benefits. Mountain work is inherently dangerous, and Ballard discourages applicants whose talents would be put to better use elsewhere. “Some of them want to be a cop and that becomes obvious fairly soon. We suggest they go to the green reserves, the ones that look like deputies,” he says. “We’ve got red shirts and climbing boots and red hardhats.”

Asked whether hikers are becoming more aware of the dangers, Ballard replies, “On average, no, and I think it may be going down. Typically our subjects are teenage boys. Among other things, they’ll take chances that they shouldn’t.” The prevalence of mobile phones and improved reception in the canyons has made it easier to call for help, he adds, but that’s a double-edged sword. “They’ll go up in Eaton or Millard and get up on a ridge and think, ‘This is kind of steep. I don’t like this.’ So they’ll get on the cellphone and get bailed out. It used to be they would bail themselves out. I can’t prove it but I think some of these teenagers want a free helicopter ride.”

In typical fashion, Ballard is matter-of-fact about the passage of time and his changing role. “I haven’t been in [the field] lately because I just don’t have the stamina anymore. I’m 87, so I wear down a little too fast.” With another chapter completed, he is ready to move on. “I appreciate the call and nice talking with you.

But if you don’t mind, I’d better get back to work.” ||||

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KITCHEN CONFESSIONS

Yo-mami You know it when you taste it, but what exactly is that indescribably delicious flavor known as umami?

BY LESLIE BILDERBACK This might come as a shock, but I am a little annoyed.

While dining out recently, I overheard a guy at a nearby table describing his food with a generous pinch of pretension. I won’t call him a foodie, because that term makes me cringe — but that’s clearly what he was. The difference between a foodie and a culinary enthusiast, gastronome or gourmet is that a foodie needs everyone to know he is a align with the four known tastes. After years of experiments, Ikeda succeeded in isolating a glutamic acid. This molecule was tasteless. But when ionized by cooking or fermenof the meal, which included “this sauce has lovely umami.” tation, the molecule became an amino acid (the component of protein) that could be detected by the tongue.

Really? You couldn’t just say, “It tastes good”?

Though this amino acid, known as L-glutamate, could be detected, it wasn’t really yummy. Ikeda’s genius was in his search for the stable molecule that would bind And this is how I knew that guy didn’t know what umami is. Luckily for you, I do. with L-glutamate and render it delicious. After many experiments, he discovered that This incident, the ubiquity of the word umami (thanks in a large part to the popular the naturally occurring salt found in seaweed did the trick. In 1908 he successfully burger restaurant chain) and my desire to release you from ignorance has prompted the combined these elements to form an odorless yet delicious powder called monosodium following food history lesson. glutamate (MSG), which he successfully patented.

In the early 1900s Kikunae Ikeda, a chemistry professor at the Imperial University This explained the deliciousness of dashi, as well as other historically delicious inof Tokyo, was curious about his wife’s dashi. Dashi is a broth used gredients — including protein-based stocks of French cuisine (used in Japanese cooking the way Western kitchens use chicken stock. It unendingly by Escoffier during this same period) and garum (which is is made by simmering a type of dried kelp, called kombu, in water. equivalent to modern fish sauce), responsible for flavor and fortunes in Ikeda knew that the dashi made everything taste great. However, the ancient world. it did not fit into any of the recently identified taste areas of the Unfortunately, Western science ignored Ikeda’s findings. MSG tongue — sweet, salty, sour or bitter. was soon widely used in manufactured foods like bouillon cubes, The taste areas Ikeda referred to were first discovered in Vegemite (mostly leftover brewers’ yeast extract, which is almost 1901 by the German scientist D.P. Hanig. He experimented on pure L-glutamate) and “seasoning salt.” Short-cut cooks everyvolunteers and concluded that taste varied around the tongue. where used it to simulate a long and careful rendering of flavor.

A Harvard historian translated Hanig’s paper, deduced levels of Still, the bogus tongue map prevailed, and there was no room on sensitivity and plotted them on a graph. The graph was then tranit for umami. In 1974, scientist Virginia Collings showed that all scribed onto a diagram of the tongue. Areas of high sensitivity were flavors can be detected in numerous spots in the mouth, but by then identified, while areas of lower sensitivity were just ignored. This the tongue map was ingrained in the junior-high science curricubecame the modern tongue map, an oversimplification describing lum, which is immutable. specific areas of the tongue as receptors for specific tastes. At the Finally, at the turn of the 21st century, umami receptors on the turn of the 20th century, it was considered groundbreaking. But if tongue were isolated. Like those for sweetness, saltiness, souryou have ever tried to test the tongue map, you know it's a load of ness and bitterness, the human tongue has receptors that taste only crap. Ikeda, who knew a load of crap when he tasted one, suspected deliciousness. People taste umami through receptors for glutamate, The dubious tongue map, which claims it was incomplete. which is why, although it is commonly found in its salt form, it is not that 1 tastes bitter, 2 tastes sour, Dashi fit none of the prescribed tastes. It was simply delicious. To detected as salt by the tongue. Today, scientists agree that each taste 3 tastes salt and 4 tastes sweet describe it, Ikeda coined the term umami, from the Japanese umai bud contains 50 to 100 receptors for each taste, but the degree of which means “delicious” and mi which means “taste.” To find it, he distilled seaweed variation is still unknown. Although the tongue map has finally been refuted, the science broth in an attempt to isolate its mysteries. He worked with other foods too, noting that of taste is still less understood than those of sight, hearing and touch. in every cuisine there was a delicious component — like cheese or meat — that failed to –continued on page 58 foodie. Hence, the loud-enough-for-all-to-hear description

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KITCHEN CONFESSIONS

–continued from page 57

Of course, cooks have long known about L-glutamate, even if they didn’t have a name for it. Seasoning “to taste” is how we bind naturally occurring amino acids to salt and render them palatable. Like the process of procreation, man came about this idea naturally and spontaneously. That’s because the human body is damn smart.

The tongue craves taste in relation to what the body needs. Umami is an amino acid, as is meat. Humans need the protein of meat to replenish the body after a long day of hunting woolly mammoths and building pyramids. (And yes, meatless cultures figured out how to simulate this protein eons ago by combining grains with legumes.)

An orange tastes so good after a vigorous workout because fruit is rich in energy-giving carbohydrates. Salt balances our bodily fluids and carries nutrients throughout our system. Bitterness and acidity are a warning against the toxicity of spoiled foods.

No, our cave-dwelling ancestors were not craving Butterfingers like I do today. And they would never have developed my love affair with coffee. Taste evolved like every other aspect of humanity. We taught ourselves to enjoy bitter, acidic, fermented and astringent flavors because we enjoyed their effects. You can see this in action by observing the microsegment of the human population that was brought up on, and has a high tolerance for, highly spiced foods. Over time we ignore the body’s warnings in the name of flavor.

In this age of globalization we can no longer behave like the tongue-map champions who ignored Ikeda’s cultural differences. Our tongues are the same, but our tastes are classified differently from country to country. In China, hot is considered a taste sensation. India adds spicy and astringent. French researchers are working to isolate the receptor for fat. Some consider metallic a taste, and there are even those working to isolate a neutral flavor, as is found in water.

But really, unless you are a scientist, there is no reason for you to isolate flavors.

Sure, by all means, learn about what you eat. Be smart about your food choices, and learn to appreciate the great practitioners of culinary art. But do it for yourself. Don’t do it to impress your friends, or your waiter. Because, guess what? It doesn’t impress either. Kikunae Ikeda didn’t experiment for years so that you could brag about your remarkable palate and post pictures of your meals on Instagram. He knew what I know — no one really cares what you ate last night. |||| Leslie Bilderback, a certified master baker, chef and author of Mug Cakes: 100 Speedy Microwave Treats to Satisfy your Sweet Tooth (St. Martin’s Press), lives in South Pasadena and teaches her techniques online at culinarymasterclass.com.

Homemade Dashi Discover the deliciousness of Ikeda’s obsession. Kombu is a long, grayish-black dried seaweed, sometimes labeled simply as kelp. Katsuobushi is a dried fl ake made from the bonito, a small, strongly fl avored tuna. You can fi nd these ingredients at Japanese markets and some better-stocked supermarkets. Once you have a batch of dashi, use it for the base of homemade miso soup, noodle broths and other nimono (simmering dishes). There are other dashi recipes, including niboshi (made from small dried sardines) and hoshi-shiitake (made from dried shiitake mushrooms), both of which are loaded with L-glutamates.

INGREDIENTS 6 4-inch pieces of kombu seaweed 6 quarts of water 4 cups katsuobushi (bonito flakes) METHOD 1. Combine kombu and water in a large soup pot and set aside to soak for 20 to 30 minutes, until softened.

2. Set the pot over medium heat and bring to a low simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the kombu after 10 minutes and discard. Increase the heat and let the liquid boil for 3 to 4 minutes. Reduce to a simmer, add katsuobushi and cook, stirring, for 10 minutes.

3. Pass liquid though a fine-mesh strainer lined with cheesecloth. Cool completely and store in the refrigerator for a week, or freeze for up to a month.

(The katsuobushi can be reused in niban dashi, or “second stock.” It is a less flavorful dashi, used not for soup broth but in other cooking applications where a weaker umami is desirable.)

For miso soup, simmer 2 quarts of dashi. Ladle a cup of warm dashi into a bowl with ¼ to ½ cup of miso paste. Stir to dissolve, then return to the simmering pot. Whisk to combine, add sliced firm tofu and sliced scallions, and simmer until warmed through. Enjoy!

58 | ARROYO | 08.14

THE LIST

A SELECTIVE PREVIEW OF UPCOMING EVENTS COMPILED BY JOHN SOLLENBERGER Diverse Levitt Bill From Divas to Dustbowl

The Huntington Library, Art Collections

Levitt Pavilion Pasa-

405-2100 or visit huntington.org.

and Botanical Gardens is located at 1151 Oxford Rd., San Marino. Call (626)

dena bids farewell

children’s music and more. Con-

A Noise Within Summer Series Closes

certs are scheduled for Wednesdays

Aug. 4 — A Noise

to summer with free concerts featuring jazz to rock, Americana, world, blues,

through Sundays. A few of this month’s

Within finishes its

highlights:

free summer series

Aug. 1 — Dustbowl Revival performs

of play readings with The Lady’s Not

Americana music at 8 p.m.

for Burning by Christopher Fry at 7 p.m.

Aug. 3 — Scott Healy plays jazz at

This pungent pastoral comedy reflects

7 p.m.

the exhaustion and despair at the end

Aug. 6 — The Bob Baker Marionettes

of World War II. William Dennis Hunt

perform a children’s theater event at

directs.

7 p.m.

A Noise Within is located at 3352 E.

Aug. 9 — The Mariachi Divas all-woman

Foothill Blvd., Pasadena. Call (626) 356-

mariachi group plays Latin music at

3100, ext. 1, to RSVP. Visit anoisewithin.

8 p.m.

org for information.

Aug. 14 — An eclectic rock double bill with the Dwight Trible Ensemble and SK Kakraba starts at 8 p.m.

Aug. 17 — Richard Smith plays tango music at 7 p.m.

Aug. 21 — The Omega String Quartet plays classic rock at 8 p.m.

Aug. 23 — John Fullbright closes out the

GET YOUR KICKS ON ROUTE 66, OR AT OTHER AUTRY PICKS

Jazz, World Music Series Close at Descanso Descanso Gardens’ Music on the Main summer jazz and world music concert series come to a

season with Americana folk rock at

Ongoing through Jan. 4 — Route 66: The Road and the Romance continues at the

close this month. Music on the Main

8 p.m.

Autry National Center. The exhibition features historical artifacts of the 2,400-mile-

concerts start at 6 p.m. Thursdays,

Levitt Pavilion Pasadena is located in

long highway from Chicago to L.A., often referred to as “The Mother Road.” Route

World Rhythms concerts at 6 p.m. Tues-

Memorial Park at Raymond Avenue

66 was in operation from 1926 through 1985, by which time it had been swallowed

days. Free with Descanso admission of

and Holly Street. Call (626) 3230 or visit

up by the interstate highway system. It played a role in moving millions of people

$9 for adults, $6 for seniors and students

levittpavilionpasadena.org.

west from the American heartland during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl

and $4 for children 5 to 12; children 4

of the ’30s. Items include the oldest existing Route 66 shield, an early Jackson Pol-

and younger are admitted free.

Posters Pumped U.S. up for World War I

lock landscape painting, a Ford Model T engine, an antique gas pump, the hand-

Aug. 5 — World Rhythms features Sam-

written page from The Grapes of Wrath manuscript that introduced the highway,

ba Society performing vintage Brazilian

Aug. 2 — The Huntington Library, Art

John Ford’s best director Oscar for the film version of The Grapes of Wrath, a guitar

sambas reminiscent of the 1970s.

Collections and

owned by Woody Guthrie, the original typewritten scroll of Jack Kerouac’s On the

Aug. 7 — Music on the Main features

Botanical Gardens

Road, a classic 1960 Corvette and more.

young jazz drummer Sammy Miller and

presents Your Coun-

Aug. 7 and 14— The Autry’s Sizzling Summer Nights dance parties on Thursday evenings

his band.

try Calls! Posters of

from 6 to 9 p.m. feature dancing to top L.A. salsa and Latin fusion bands, a free salsa

Aug. 14 — Latin jazz percussionist and

the First World War

dance lesson with instructor Enio Cordoba, a separate children’s dance floor and food

vocalist Louie Cruz Beltran and his band

today through Nov.

and drink available for purchase. Conjunto Oye performs on Aug. 7 and the Johnny Po-

perform at Music on the Main.

3. Marking the war’s centennial, the

lanco y Su Conjunto Amistad band plays on Aug. 14. Free with regular Autry admission

Aug. 21 — Music on the Main features

exhibit refl ects ways that World War I

of $10 for adults, $6 for students and seniors and $4 for children 3 to 12; children younger

Aubrey Logan’s high-energy vocals

was waged off the battlefi eld through

than 3 and Autry members are admitted free.

and trombone-playing in a blend of

the innovative use of graphic art

Aug. 21 — In conjunction with the Route 66 exhibit, the museum offers a tour of

jazz and pop.

designed to ramp up patriotism and

downtown L.A.’s best neon signs, installed to alert weary travelers to motels and diners

Descanso Gardens is located at 1418

national service. The works range from

before Internet search engines and cellphones. Tour-goers will meet at the Autry and

Descanso Dr., La Cañada Flintridge.

calls to buy Liberty Bonds to appeals

hop aboard an open-topped bus with representatives of the Museum of Neon Art for

Call (818) 949-4200 or visit

to enlist in the military, produce food

a lively investigation of this unique art form. A 6:30 p.m. wine reception, with open mu-

descansogardens.org.

and work together as a team. The

seum galleries, kicks off the event. The bus leaves at 7:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased

exhibit’s colorful and striking posters,

at theautry.org for $50 ($35 for members).

spanning 1914 to 1918, were taken from

The Autry National Center is located at 4700 Western Heritage Way, Griffith Park.

Musicals, Movie Tracks in Cal Phil Swan Song

the Huntington’s print and ephemera

Call (323) 667-2000 or visit theautry.org.

Aug. 9 — The orchestra salutes such

collections.

–continued on page 61 08.14 | ARROYO | 59

60 | ARROYO | 08.14

THE LIST

FUSION FRIDAYS FINALE Aug. 15 — Pasadena’s USC Pacific Asia Museum closes out its Fusion Fridays summer series with deejays spinning tunes in the courtyard, a cash bar with Angel City Brewery beer, prizes, food trucks and special performances. This evening features a performance by world music band Bedouin X. Cocktail or Asian attire is encouraged. The event runs from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. The cost is $15 (free for members).

USC Pacific Asia Museum is located at 46 N. Los Robles Ave., Pasadena. Call (626) 449-2742 or visit pacificasiamuseum.usc.edu.

–continued from page 59

movie and TV hits as Pirates of the Carib-

home-grown or

bean, Game of Thrones and Titanic in

self-picked fruit and

a concert of themes and soundtrack

clean, empty glass

selections. Also on the program is

jars to create fresh

Saint-Saëns’ Symphony No. 3 (“Organ

jam in teams of three

Symphony”), used in numerous movies.

to five people. Admission is free.

Elizabeth Pitcairn is featured violin soloist.

One Colorado is located at 41 Hugus

Aug. 23 — Broadway stars Randall Keith

Alley in Old Pasadena. Call (626) 564-

and Joan Almedilla sing selections from

1066 or visit onecolorado.com.

popular musicals including Chicago,

guitarist Adam Del Monte performs

Ragas, Quartets Close Norton Simon Season

Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez” and

Aug. 15 — North Indian classical singer San-

other selections, including Ravel’s “Bo-

dip Ghosh is accompanied by Jyoti Prakas

lero” and Chabrier’s

on tabla and Narendra Kulkarni on harmo-

“España.”

nium in a 7 p.m. concert of evening ragas

Gates open at 5:30

conveying benevolence and devotion.

p.m. for pre-concert

Aug. 22 — The California String Quartet

dining and live jazz.

returns for a 7 p.m. performance of

Concerts start at 7:30

Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 6 in

Evita and Cats. Classical and flamenco

p.m., repeating at 2 p.m. the following

B-flat major, Op. 18,

day at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Ticket

and Debussy’s String

prices start at $20.

Quartet in G minor,

Santa Anita Park is located at 285 W.

Op. 10.

Huntington Dr., Arcadia. Call (626) 304-

Both concerts are

0333 or visit calphil.com.

free with museum admission of $12 for adults and $9 for

Jamming at One Colorado

seniors; members, students and chil-

Aug. 10 — One Colorado and Fallen

dren 18 and younger are admitted free.

Fruit (fallenfruit.org), a collaborative

The Norton Simon Museum is located at

art association using fruit as a medium,

411 W. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena. Call

host a public jam-making session from

(626) 449-6840 or visit nortonsimon.org.

11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Guests should bring

–continued on page 62 08.14 | ARROYO | 61

THE LIST

SONGS unSUNg Aug. 17 — The classical vocal professionals’ networking organization Lauri’s List presents the final unSUNg (Songs Uncommon and New) concert of the summer at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Glendale at 6 p.m. The August performance of new and neglected vocal chamber music includes works by Steven Snowden, Alan Berman, David Avshalomov, Max Kaplan and Mark Abel. Tickets cost $15. The concert will be recorded and is not suitable for young children.

St. Mark’s Episcopal Church is located at 1020 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale. Call (626) 392-4441 or visit laurislist.com/unsung.

–continued from page 61

Hooray for Hollywood

(626) 793-7172 or visit

Aug. 16 — The Pasadena Pops cel-

pasadenasymphony-pops.org.

ebrates Hollywood with selections

Columbia Pictures and Disney films at

Opera in the Park

the Los Angeles County Arboretum.

Aug. 24 — Pacifi c

Works include music from 42nd Street,

Opera Project and

from Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox,

The Sound of Music, Funny Girl, Mary

62 | ARROYO | 08.14

the Independent

Poppins and more. Guest artists include

Shakespeare Company join forces at

Debby Boone, Alan Bergman, Maureen

6:30 p.m. for a free performance of

McGovern and

Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night in Griffi th

Kevin Earley. Michael

Park. The evening

Feinstein conducts.

opens with selec-

Ticket prices start

tions from “Trouble

at $20. Gates open

in Tahiti” and other

at 5:30 p.m. for

Leonard Bernstein

pre-concert dining. Guests may bring

compositions.

picnics or purchase food from vendors

The performance takes place on

onsite. Concerts start at 7:30 p.m.

Crystal Springs Drive in Griffith Park. For

The L.A. County Arboretum is located

information and directions, visit

at 301 N. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia. Call

iscla.org/griffith-park-festival/. ||||

08.14 | ARROYO | 63