Reader Letters About The Post Office Keep Flooding In! See Page 18
BEVERLY HILLS NUMBER 38
THIS ISSUE
Bichon/Maltese mix Tanner is one of this week’s Freshpet Adoptable Pets. 4
Beverly Hills held its annual 9/11 Memorial Ceremony last Friday night. 4
Beverly Hills welcomed IO by Carol Bove to its Fine Art collection. 5
Meet the Will Rogers Award nominees for Best New Residential Development. 5
Robinson Gardens celebrated “Moonlight & Roses” last weekend. 19 •Health & Wellness •Birthdays •Letters to the Editor
14 20 31
George Christy, Page 6 The Moonlight And Roses Gala At The Robinson Gardens In Beverly Hills Honored BH Courier’s Marcia Wilson Hobbs And The Gardens’ Superintendent Timothy Lindsay
CLASSIFIEDS • Announcements • Real Estate • Rentals • Sales • and More
25
$135 PER YEAR - $1.25 PER COPY
•
www.bhcourier.com
SINCE 1965
September 18, 2015
Beverly Hills Police Identify Qatar Sheikh Khalid Hamad Al-Thani In Connection With Reckless Driving Viral Video By Victoria Talbot & Matt Lopez Beverly Hills Police Chief Dominic Rivetti, at a press conference Thursday morning, identified Qatar National Sheikh Khalid Hamed Al-Thani in connection with a reckless driving video that went viral this week depicting a yellow Ferrari LaFerrari and white Porsche 911 GT3 dangerously speeding through Beverly Hills streets. Rivetti said Al-Thani has been identified with the Ferrari and that the department is still following leads on the driver of the Porsche. The incident on Saturday evening involved two vehicles, including a Porsche 911 GT3 and a $1.5 million Ferrari LaFerrari drag racing, ignoring stop signs, possi-
bly even tapping bumpers together and narrowly avoiding another driver on the 700-block of North Walden Drive and Elevado Drive. The incident was filmed and uploaded to YouTube, creating a viral outrage as people learned the drivers were from Qatar and claimed to have diplomatic immunity. When officers arrived at the scene at 6:45 p.m. Saturday, following calls of reckless driving at a high rate of speed, “an individual who indicated that the vehicles belonged to him and denied driving recklessly . . . claimed to have diplomatic immunity,” recounted Rivetti. Rivetti said it is unclear if AlThani is the one who claimed (see ‘RECKLESS DRIVING’ page 7)
Beverly Hills Elder: Vicki Reynolds Pepper– The Mayor Who Built The Wallis Part 53 in a series on Beverly Hills residents who have grown with the Centennial City By Laura Coleman Born in Los Angeles at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital, just like her mother, three-term Beverly Hills Mayor Vicki Reynolds forged a path that inextricably tied her to the future of the City. “Being part of this community is very important to me and our family and I just feel very fortunate,” she said. Vicki originally came into the City in the 10th grade together with her mother and younger sister after her parents separated. After moving multiple times, her family eventually sold their home to Kirk Douglas. She still remembers when he came to the house. She was 20 and to test out PAGING DR. ADLER— Dr. Robert Adler, chief medical officer of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Health System and an icon in the California pediatric medical community, was honored last night. See page 14 for the full article. “Bob is knowledgable, gracious, endlessly patient and available 24/7 to help families in crisis,” notes Marcia Wilson Hobbs, president/publisher of The Courier. Bob and his wife Agie live in Beverly Hills.
Exclusive To The Courier
Victorino Noval Foundation Sets Record Straight On Billion-Dollar Beverly Hills Vineyard Victor Noval, General Manager of Secured Capital Partners and founder of the Victorino Noval Foundation, which is known for hosting numerous charitable events at The Vineyard Beverly Hills, went on the record to TheCourier this week with the following statement: “Stories reporting that The Vineyard is for sale, that the price is $1 Billion, and that its ownership is in dispute and other misinformation, are simply untrue.” Following many years of litigation, Secured Capital Partners, a California-based LLC,
reached a settlement agreement with Tower Park Properties, LLC and the Mark Hughes Family Trust in 2013. Noval continued, “There are no plans to sell The Vineyard Beverly Hills in the foreseeable future. The property, at the size of Disneyland in 90210, is simply not replaceable and therefore is not currently for sale. The only plans are to continue to offer The Vineyard as a special event site which we hope will benefit the community and charitable organizations everywhere.” (see ‘VINEYARD’ page 10)
El Rodeo School To Remain Closed Through Weekend
Vicki Reynolds Pepper
the speaker system, he asked her to dance–so there she was, (see ‘VICKI REYNOLDS’ page 22)
By Laura Coleman Following Wednesday evening’s emergency Board of Education meeting, El Rodeo is expected to remain closed at least until Monday. Superintendent Steve Kessler made the decision to close down the K-8 school early Wednesday morning after he was informed that the cupola atop El Rodeo’s tower had shifted and risked falling down in the event of
Celebrity Photo Agency/Scott Downie
VOLUME: L
even a minor earthquake. After Kessler consulted with several district officials, at 8:15 a.m. Wednesday, El Rodeo Principal Kevin Allen emailed families that the school was being closed immediately. At Wednesday’s meeting, which was attended by more than 50 people who crowded into the district office board room, multiple parents voiced (see ‘EL RODEO’ page 9)
H A Z A R D O U S D U T Y PAY? — Did Jake Gyllenhaal and Josh Brolin receive hazardous duty pay for freezing their butts during the filming of Everest, which opens soon. They attended the Universal Pictures premiere, along with Laura Dern, at The TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX. For more photos, see George Christy’s column on page 6.