BHCourier 082815 E-edition

Page 1

Beverly Hills Post Office Nightmare Continues! See Page 17 For Your Letters

BEVERLY HILLS VOLUME: L

NUMBER 35

$135 PER YEAR - $1.25 PER COPY

www.bhcourier.com

SINCE 1965

August 28, 2015

Dog Park Hearing Standing Room Only – All In Favor

THIS ISSUE

The Play’s Still The Thing: Theatre 40 Turns 50 This year, The Courier celebrates 50 years in the community. Throughout the year, we will honor the legacy of excellence in Beverly Hills’ heritage businesses that have called the City their home since 1965 or earlier.

BHEF welcomed its new boardmembers at an event at the Luxe Rodeo Drive. 4

Beverly Hills is gearing up for its annual Sept. 11 tribute. 10

The BHHS football team opens its 2015 season Friday against Oak Park. 18 •Fashion 8 •Real Estate 11 •Letters to the Editor 31

By Matt Lopez Late actress Susan French probably had no idea what kind of legacy she was starting when she gathered a group of friends together in her Santa Monica home some 51 years ago. It started innocently enough as a semi-regular gathering of French, John Houlton and their actor friends to read the works of William Shakespeare. Those get-togethers spawned Theatre 40, which began in 1965 and has served the Beverly Hills Community ever since. Theatre 40 is named after French’s former home at 40 Haldeman Road in Santa Monica Canyon, where the original gather-

David Stafford, Artistic & Managing Director of Theatre 40

ings took place. By 1965, the group decided to begin producing the plays they were reading, (see ‘THEATRE 40’ page 16)

Beverly Hills Elders: Barbara & Morton Bowman – Family & Art Part 50 in a series on Beverly Hills residents who have grown with the Centennial City

George Christy, Page 6 The 40th Annual Toronto International Film Festival Opens Sept. 10 With Jake Gyllenhaal’s Demolition And Aretha Franklin’s Documentary That Aretha Suppressed For Forty Years

CLASSIFIEDS • Announcements • Real Estate • Rentals • Sales • and More

25

By Laura Coleman On Oct. 27, the Barbara S. Bowman Collection of Japanese woodblock prints will make its debut at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Pavilion for Japanese Art. The stunning collection of some 100 prints by masters such as Hiroshige, Katsushika Hokusai and Utagawa Kuniyoshi was a gift by the longtime Beverly Hills resident and her husband. “I always had it in my mind [to donate the collection] because I think art should be for everyone and not hidden away,” Barbara said. For nearly four decades, Barbara and Morton Bowman, who this year marked 70 years of mar-

Barbara & Morton Bowman

riage, have amassed one of the greatest collections of Japanese prints in the United States. Influences of the iconic artistic style permeate their Beverly Hills home of 55 years, the walls of which are (see ‘BOWMANS’ page 18)

Zoet put the ball back on track. Zoet appeared to be moving sideways to stall any forward motion on the park. As Zoet began to get mired in details, Councilmember Lili Bosse, who promised a dog park last year when she was mayor, spoke up. “Our council direction was for you to take public comment, all the 47 letters that you received . . . The point of this meeting, that all these people came and took their day off for, was to share their thoughts if the park should be open to residents, and days and (see ‘DOG PARK’ page 10)

BHUSD Sells Out $76M Of Measure E Bonds In 3 Hours By Laura Coleman Buyers couldn’t act fast enough to purchase the $76 million in General Obligation (GO) bonds that the Beverly Hills Unified School District put up for sale Tuesday morning through Citigroup, with the bonds selling out in under three hours. The 2015 GO bonds, which are part of the $334 million school-building Measure E bond that taxpayers voted for in 2008, went up for sale Tuesday morning at 6:30 a.m. and by 9:30 a.m. they had all been sold, confirmed BHUSD Chief Administrative Officer LaTanya Kirk-Carter. The sale came just days after Standard & Poor’s upgraded the district’s bond rating to AA+ and Moody’s assigned the bonds an Aa1 rating. Both agencies touted the district’s strong fundamentals, specifically the strength of the local

Celebrity Photo Agency/Scott Downie

CUT THE CAKE— The Beverly Hilton celebrated 60 years last Friday night with a special party around the famous Aqua Star Pool. Pictured above: Beverly Hilton owner Beny Alagem, Councilmember Nancy Krasne and Mayor Julian Gold cut the cake. For more photos from the event, see pages 14-15.

By Victoria Talbot Tuesday’s Recreation and Parks Commission meeting was packed with community members who had taken the day off to voice their support for the dog park and express opposition to a plan that would close the park from sundown Friday to noon Saturday and on High Holy Days, and to close the park at sunset. It was standing room only and a few dogs were there, too. Following a passionate display of widespread support from the public, a heated exchange between Councilmember Lili Bosse and Community Services Director Steve

tax base, its basic aid status and its strong reserves “The very high credit ratings led to significant investor demand for the bonds,” said Board of Education member Lewis Hall. That high demand led to significant oversubscription, with the district receiving $186 million in orders compared to the $76 million in bonds available for sale. Priority was given to the 21 retail orders received from local Beverly Hills residents. According to Citigroup, the bonds received interest from a broad investor base which included retail/money managers, mutual funds, banks and insurance companies. The bonds had a final allinclusive interest rate of 2.58percent and a net repayment ratio of approximately 1.24 to 1. F R I E N D LY F O L K S — Briana Evigan, Alex Shaffer and Emily Ratajkowski paraded the Red Carpet during the premiere of Warner Bros. Pictures' We Are Your Friends at the TCL Chinese Theatre. For more photos, see George Christy’s column on page 6.


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.