LC Real Estate 11 2024

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A 1940 jewel, Clinton Manor is being considered for Monument status. Page 4

New Covenant Academy girls’ volleyball team heads to playoffs. Page 11

Neighborhood rallies for Save Beverly Fairfax at block party

The 300 block of North Sierra Bonita Avenue was abuzz on Sun., Oct. 13. Neighbors were chatting over free donuts; children were holding giant lollipops in one hand and balloon animals in the other; and dozens of dogs, big and small, were present. Giant balloon bouquets welcomed everyone to the Save Beverly Fairfax annual block party, where neighborhood conviviality was the order of the day.

There were plenty of activities to entertain the more than 200 in attendance, with a spin art station, a fill-yourbag-with-candy bar, a truck offering free coffee and donuts, a table of pale blue Beverly Fairfax caps for the taking, balloon animals made to order, a step-and-repeat banner for a colorful, balloon-trimmed photo op, a raffle with prizes donated by local restaurants and businesses and a dedicated space for pooches to quench their thirsts and chow down on doggie biscuits.

Dale Kendall, president of Save Beverly Fairfax, looking delighted with the turnout, had a few things on his mind. “I would like to see more safety in our area. To protect and

preserve our historic district and surrounding area — that’s our mission. But our new campaign is to have our historic streetlights restored. They were removed in the early 1970s. We have a petition here for people to sign.”

Community concerns

Residents of the Beverly Fairfax Historic District, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, told the Larchmont Chronicle about

their love for the community and their concerns. “We’ve lived 10 years in the neighborhood,” said Sam Azulay. “I like the diversity. I love the walkability to restaurants, parks and shopping, but I’m not enjoying the crime and homelessness.” When asked what she thought about the

planned Television City expansion, which is expected to impact the area, Azulay of-

fered, “I love that they’re developing the city, but the plan

(Please

Above: ALLIE MAYES and Chad Sullivan were on Sierra Bonita Avenue for the party with their son Wyatt Sullivan, 3, waving his elephant balloon.
Right: STEPHANIE RITTER displayed her spin art masterpiece.
SWEET CHOICES at the candy bar confronted Alfie and Ona Campbell.
AZULAY FAMILY, from left: Milan, 9, with parents Sam and Jon and dogs Olive (golden) and Enzo (white).

Katy Yaroslavsky and Dale Kendall, president of Save Beverly Fairfax, both spoke

Save Beverly Fairfax

(Continued from Page 2) that they have is disrespectful to the neighborhood. I have a lot of concerns.” Her husband Jon Azulay stated, “It’s good for employment.”

Cheryl Humphreys is worried about the expansion’s effect on traffic. “We are not looking forward to the through traffic that will clog up the streets.”

“I have been working with CBS [regarding the expansion] for many years,” Kendall stated. I still feel it’s too big for our residential area because of the size and the height, but

mostly the traffic. I feel that it’s irresponsible for the city to approve a project that size for our neighborhood, which is already in gridlock traffic.”

Katy Yaroslavsky, who represents the Beverly Fairfax community as City Councilmember for District 5, spoke to the crowd, inviting people to contact her office if they wanted to talk about sidewalk repairs, fixing streetlights, trimming trees or public safety, explaining, “Our job is to make the city a more habitable, kinder, healthier, safer place for all of us.”

More on TVC

Addressing the issue of Television City’s plans, she

stated, “It has been there for a very long time. The current owners have come up with a plan to revitalize it. My job is to make sure that we’re supporting our local economy. The biggest driver of our local economy is the entertainment industry. I support that. My job is also to represent all of you and make sure the impact of the project is mitigated and the positives are accentuated.”

After noting that there was still an opportunity to weigh in before the project comes to the City Council’s Planning and Land Use Management (PLUM) Committee, Yaroslavsky assured those in attendance, “We will have the best traffic mitigation plan in the city. It will be enforceable. We’re going to make sure that heights along Beverly and Fairfax are lowered, and we’re going to make sure that it’s safe and well-lit and provides a lot of jobs for Angelenos.”

Yaroslavsky also enumerated to the Chronicle some specific means to mitigate the expansion’s negative impacts on traffic: “Shuttles from the Metro, car sharing, bicycle lanes, transportation improvements in the neighborhood. For example, cars leaving CBS can’t go straight out of the gate into the neighborhood.”

New TVC appeals filed

By the Oct. 15 deadline, there were six appeals filed of the Los Angeles City Planning Commission’s recent approval of a major real estate development project proposed at the former CBS TV studio at Beverly Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue.

“The process has been opaque and poorly managed.

The project is out of scale and out of character with the neighborhood, the uses are poorly defined, and the zoning constitutes a blank check for future development,” Shelley Wagers, of Neighbors for Responsible TVC Development, one of the appellants, wrote in an email to the Chronicle

The group, representing a coalition of residents, businesses and community groups, will speak on behalf of the community at the Planning and Land Use Management (PLUM) Committee hearing, the date for which had not been announced by press time.

The other appellants are A.F. Gilmore Co., Beverly Wilshire Homes Association, Mayer Beverly Park LP, Save Beverly Fairfax and The Grove.

Three Letters of Determination, which certified the TVC 2050 Project and denied nine

prior appeals, were issued Oct. 3 by the Planning Commission.

Next up: PLUM

The vesting tentative tract map, or subdivision for the project, is appealable to the Los Angeles City Council. Prior to review by the full council, the matter will be before the PLUM Committee.

On Sept. 12, near the end of the Planning Commission’s six-hour hybrid public hearing in City Hall and via Zoom, the size and scope of the proposed 1.75 million-squarefoot project were trimmed by the developer in response to requests made by City Council District 5 Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky.

Her requests included prioritizing entertainment business-related uses for a controversial additional halfmillion square feet of new general office space at the site.

Appellants at that hearing were disappointed. “[Councilmember] Yaroslavsky had assured us that the proposed project would be significantly reduced in size and that studio uses would be baked in, not something to ‘prioritize.’ We are disappointed that she gave this her support,” Wagers told us.

COUNCILMEMBER
at the event.

Will Clinton Manor become Larchmont area’s newest monument?

On Oct. 16, the Cultural Heritage Commission took under consideration an application for Historic Cultural Monument (HCM) designation of the Clinton Manor Courtyard Apartments. This 1940 jewel of Colonial Revival is the oldest and largest courtyard apartment complex adjoining the Larchmont Village neighborhood and in Greater Wilshire. Long overlooked, perhaps due to its discreet façade on the south side of Clinton Street between Wilton Place and Van Ness Avenue, the complex is a surviving testament to our community’s connection to Hollywood’s Golden Age.

The exceptional HCM application was written and submitted by Melissa Butts, on behalf of the Clinton Manor Coalition, a group formed by concerned residents, including Butts, initially in response to proposals for the demolition of the complex’s service areas and the construction of 23 “recre-

ational areas” — a tactic often used to create spaces to later be reclassified as accessory dwelling units (ADUs). At the time of writing, the ADU application had been withdrawn by the apartment project’s owner.

The Clinton Manor Apartments HCM nomination is a fascinating read, placing the apartments at the center of a story of competing visions of community and experiments in housing design. In the late 1930s, the diverse working-class neighborhoods surrounding the studios were often viewed with suspicion by developers and lenders. They labeled the neighborhoods north of Melrose as “low-rental workingman’s district” with cheap bungalows and run-down apartment buildings often “to be operated on a ‘bawdy house’ basis.” The area to the south, typified by moderately priced homes with “pride of ownership,” was seen by developers as being in decline, with blocks broken up with new apartment buildings and the “infiltration of subversive racial elements” from north of Melrose.

According to the nomination, the Aetna Building Company, proposed, for the area south of Melrose, on

Clinton, “a new rental community that would bring desirable qualities like green space, an orderly site plan, functional living arrangements, picturesque design, and modern amenities to apartment dwellers. The plan for Clinton Manor sought to balance competing visions of the neighborhood and to meet demands for new workforce housing near the studios. As some of its earliest tenants would attest, the rental rate proved to be a stretch, but the property nonetheless drew in working actors, production staff, salespersons, and service workers in addition to medical professionals and attorneys.”

Aetna engaged civil engineer Joseph J. Rees to oversee the design and construction

of the project. Rees is a fascinating character. A British trained immigrant from Poland, he would be responsible for more than 100 projects in greater Los Angeles, including the condemned Selma Las Palmas Courtyard Apartments, the Sycamore Chateau and the Fine Arts Theater. He even built his own home (now lost) three blocks west, on the northwest corner of Plymouth Boulevard, at 5455 Clinton Avenue. Aetna’s collaboration with Rees signaled the building company’s move into larger scale developments, resulting in Clinton Manor’s 72,000 square feet of residential space including 38 one-bedroom and 16 two-bedroom apartments.

The completed Clinton Manor is comprised of 4 residential structures and 11 service buildings and garages. The residential buildings form a grand landscaped courtyard with paths and hedgerows breaking up the expanse. Rees employed a Hollywood Regency spin on the Colonial Revival Style for Clinton Manor, which added theatrical and Streamline Moderne elements to the design. He further refined the ensemble with bay windows, awnings, delicate balustrades and other details. Interiors include kitchens with stainless steel countertops and porcelain sinks, living rooms with built in bookshelves and cabinetry, bedrooms equipped with closets with built-in shoe racks, and bathrooms that even had marble soap dishes.

Among the first to move in to Clinton Manor were Ruth and Elliot Handler, who — while working, respectively, as a studio stenographer and an industrial designer, started experimenting with plastics in their apartment and their garage on the property. The two would go on to found the industrial plastics and toymaking giant Mattel in 1945.

Perhaps it was there that Ruth, living among the palm trees and pink glamour of the Clinton Manor Apartments, first conceived her most famous creation, that she launched in 1959, Barbie! Letters of support for designation referencing CHC2024-6020-HCM can be sent to chc@lacity.org.

NORTH ELEVATION of one of the four Clinton Manor buildings (5184 Clinton St.) between Wilton Place and Van Ness Avenue.
AERIAL VIEW of Clinton Manor, the oldest and largest courtyard apartment complex adjoining the Larchmont Village neighborhood and in Greater Wilshire.

AIA/LA design awards event at new HQ

The American Institute of Architects Los Angeles Chapter (AIA/LA) will hold its annual Design Awards ceremony and celebration Wed., Oct 30, starting at 6 p.m.

The local architecture awards have been presented since 1927. But according to the Executive Director of AIA/ LA, Carlo Caccavale, who has organized the awards for the past 21 years, this year is extra

SOLD: This home at 435 S. Plymouth Blvd. in Windsor Square sold for $7,340,000 in September.

Real Estate Sales*

Single-family homes

434 S. Rimpau Ave.

435 S. Plymouth Blvd.

312 S.

$9,362,855

$7,340,000

$4,150,000

$3,951,072

$2,750,000

$2,725,000

$2,025,000

$1,900,000

$1,620,000

$1,600,000

$1,400,000

Condominiums

S. Gramercy Pl., #13

S. Manhattan Pl., #501

N. Rossmore Ave., #112

S. Gramercy Pl., #131

*Sale prices for September.

exciting. “We’ve always rented locations before. This will be the first time that our most important event of the year will take place in our ‘house,’” he said.

AIA/LA recently relocated its headquarters from The Wiltern building to a former bank building at 4450 W. Adams Blvd. The new building also serves as space for the nonprofit Architecture for Communities Los Angeles (ACLA). It is located on the southwest corner at Victoria Avenue, a block west of Crenshaw Avenue, in the historic West Adams neighborhood.

Though AIA/LA and ACLA are not completely moved in to the 1927 Neoclassical bank building, the new venue has already been host to conferences and exhibitions.

When the Center is fully operational, it will enable AIA/LA to expand its offerings and continue providing programming for advocacy, sustainability and professional development. It will also serve as a space for group

(Please turn to Page 8)

Heidi Duckler Dance performing in November

Heidi Duckler Dance, the Los Angeles-based site-specific dance company, performs “What Remains Un/Seen,” Sat., Nov. 2 at the Wende Museum and its garden in Culver City at 3 and at 6 p.m.

Marrying with the museum’s new exhibition, “Counter/Surveillance,” that continues to Oct. 2025, the performances include live music and soundscapes that echo throughout the garden.

Then, at the Bendix Building in DTLA on Sat., Nov. 16, the company will perform “Life Cycle of a Fever Dream,” at 4 and at 6 p.m., as part of the group’s “Truth or Consequences” series.

For tickets, visit heididuckler.org.

ORIGINALLY built in 1927 as a bank, the new AIA/LA and ACLA headquarters has been restored to become the AIA/LA and ACLA Center for Communities. Photos by Vittoria Zupicich
COURTYARD of the new AIA/LA headquarters is a venue for receptions and networking events.

The Benjamin Hollywood: a sumptuous restaurant with caveats

I was surprised when I first entered The Benjamin Hollywood, a new restaurant from Ben Shenassafar, one of the partners behind the popular streetwear brand The Hundreds. The stark white exterior appears to be an exclusive dance club, with a black-clad doorman checking reservations at the entrance, but the interior looks like a Golden Age of Hollywood supper club or old-school gentleman’s study. The restaurant is a stunning space with a large, 15-seat central bar, deco-style milk glass pendants hanging over the seating and seashell-shaped, sumptuous olive wool banquettes rimming the wood-paneled room. There are a few small, scattered tables and an outside patio, but the banquettes or the bar stools (where my husband and I sat) are the best places to enjoy the beautiful room and soak up the friendly atmosphere.

And that’s the biggest surprise of all — the friendliness of the place. Shenassafar and his business partners, Jared Meisler (from one of my favorite bars, The Roger Room, and The Moon Room, a bar located above The Benjamin) and Kate Burr (a culinary strategist with consulting

agency A La Mode), believe customer service is as important as the food. Despite its polished looks, we found The Benjamin Hollywood pleasantly casual. Everyone, from the person at the door, to the hostess, to servers and mixologists, is very welcoming.

Another good sign: the cocktails are spot on. I tried a “summer” martini with vodka instead of the recommended gin, dry vermouth, peach, bay leaf and lemon essence. Splendid! The whisper of peach and lemon turned my usual vodka martini into a cozy yet sophisticated drink. My husband, a mezcal-lover, ordered a martini with mezcal, orange curaçao, green chartreuse, lemon and pink Alaea sea salt (Hawaiian salt). It was smoky and delicious, and the long list of ingredients added interesting bright notes. They were each $22. Cocktails run $17 for a lemony yuzu and prosecco spritz to $40 for a Wolves single barrel whiskey Manhattan. If only the food lived up to the cocktails and atmosphere, which is not to say the food is bad. It’s not. Often it aims to match the impressive interior, with such menu items as onion dip with potato chips and caviar, $95, or Australian

On the Menu

wagyu in cognac cream sauce, $79. Other times, it courts a bar food aesthetic with $26 sweet and sour chicken wings. Too often it could be much better, especially since Executive Chef Johnny Cirelle cooked at Bestia, Bavel and Spago. His crab beignets are delicious, for example. Four large crab balls, with a slightly crisp exterior, are served with a dollop of yuzu kosho aioli (yuzu kosho is a Japanese condiment made from chiles and yuzu, a sour lemony citrus fruit) and a dab of salmon roe, $28. The crab mixture is sweet and rich, and the crab taste shines through. However, the crispy/creamy ratio wasn’t completely satisfying. We craved more crunch.

Hamachi crudo was a pretty dish of thin-sliced hamachi with pieces of pluots swimming in a passionfruit jus, topped with Thai basil, $28. Light and refreshing, it lacked the tang that would keep our

interest. Next time we’ll try starting with the chicken liver pâté with blackberry agrodolce, an Italian sweet and sour sauce, $26.

Our favorite dish of the night was the chopped wedge, $25, a salad common on menus everywhere. This one, however, was wonderful. Hardy lettuce, ripe tomatoes, briny pickled onions and meaty bacon lardons are tossed with an assertive blue cheese vinaigrette for a flavor-packed dish.

One of the reasons we were eager to try The Benjamin Hollywood is because of its $32 hamburger’s reputation. Photos on Instagram show a rosy-in-the-middle burger with gorgeously melting

cheese that looks irresistible. Atop the meat are seared onions, pickles, hickory sauce and what is called New School American cheese. The cheese, an upscale American slice with improved taste and extreme meltability, was co-created by Chef Eric Greenspan, perhaps best known for his award-winning grilled cheese sandwiches, and it is remarkably smooth. Unfortunately, the rest of the hamburger was boring. The patty was under-seasoned, mushy and lacked a deep beefy flavor. Even the oozy cheese couldn’t compensate for that.

The Benjamin Hollywood, 7147 Melrose Ave., 323-8889000.

Chevalier’s kicks off quarterly series

Chevalier’s Books kicked off its new quarterly series, “One Block One Book,” with a month-long celebration of connection and conversation featuring one book, “Colored Television,” a satire of Hollywood, identity and more by a former Larchmont local. The community program culminates Mon., Oct. 28, with a conversation between the book’s author, Danzy Senna, and New York Times bestselling author Nicola Yoon at The

Ebell of Los Angeles, 743 S. Lucerne Blvd. The event is $10 or free with book purchase. The One Block One Book program held October events at Chevalier’s and other local venues. A live show featuring work inspired by the book, a book club discussion and a panel of speakers on Diversity in Hollywood were also part of the group read. Stay tuned for Chevalier’s next book pick in the quarterly series. Learn more at the store at 133 N. Larchmont Blvd.

Childress’ good ‘Trouble’ makes theatrical debut 75 years late

Alice Childress (1916-1994) should have been August Wilson. The actress, novelist and playwright would have been the first Black woman to write — and star in — a play for Broadway, in 1957. But Trouble in Mind (at the Actors’ Co-op through Nov. 10) had to wait nearly 75 years for its debut because Ms. Childress refused to make changes in the script (about Black actors putting on a play about Black life, written and directed by white men!) that her white producers wanted.

Ms. Childress, like Wilson, chronicled the Black experience over decades, but her plays went unproduced. A 1974 ABC TV production of “Wedding Band,” her play about miscegenation, was banned by stations in seven southern states. Fame came with her novel — and later film — “A Hero Ain’t Nothin’ but a Sandwich” in 1978, and interest in her plays has, fortunately, steadily grown since.

The production at the Co-op is thoughtfully and lovingly produced and directed, and features a tight ensemble, especially Kimi Walker in Childress’ main role. The play creaks a bit structually, and the actors shy away from satire for fear of stereotypes, but “Trouble” advocates for the kind of “good trouble” the late John Lewis pushed for: justice and equality. What was unfortunately true in 1957 is, unfortunately, still true today. (323-462-8460;

actorsco-op.org.)

Like any senior citizen, I fear my memory is fading. So I went with interest to see Heading Into Night: A clown play about… [forgetting] at the Odyssey Theatre, devised by mime Daniel Passer and director Beth F. Milles, who developed it after being inspired by dementia care villages in the Netherlands. So far, so good.

Mr. Passer, in Bill Irwin-like mode, begins touchingly enough. Waiting at a bus stop, he keeps forgetting why he’s there and repeatedly misses his bus. “Have I been here before?” — the existential question Mr. Passer raises — is at the play’s heart. The point made, he spends the next hour taking his memories out of stacks of bankers’ boxes, ad nauseum, ad infinitum, until the show becomes a cloying, annoying string of mime bits. Marcel Marceau, the great French mime said, “mime…is the art of the essential.” “Heading Into Night,” sadly, sinks under an excess of the trivial. (Through Nov. 17; 310-477-2055; OdysseyTheatre.com.)

Finally, the Mark Taper Forum reopened on Oct. 2 with its revival of Green Day’s American Idiot, presented in collaboration with Deaf West Theater. (213-628-2772; centertheatregroup.org.)

Opening night was inclusive and welcoming, with staff signing as well as speaking to patrons, both deaf and hear-

Theater Review by

ing. The feeling was more that of celebrating a new community center than a major regional theater, but perhaps that was the intent.

The production itself was a pretty straightforward revival of the 2009 musical, with head-banging choreography and eye-watering, bass-boosting sound and lights that would not have been out of place at SoFi Stadium or Sphere in Las Vegas. The band in the elevated pit was great, as were the (hearing) singers and (deaf) actors who belted out / signed Green Day’s rage-infused, Bush-era, Iraq War, life sucks lyrics. But any political or social relevance the show once had has clearly evaporated.

It was hard enough to discern a plot or character development in the Broadway original, but being forced to focus on two performers for every role, plus constantly reading Billie Joe Armstrong’s sophomoric projected lyrics, only added to the muddle. Most of the audience seemed happy enough to tune in and drop out; the lack of plot or character depth apparently not a problem. That the breakout star of the night,

What to watch for Shem Bitterman’s The Civil Twilight premieres at Broadwater Studios through Nov. 24. Ann Hearn Tobolowsky directs the tale of a once-in-a-century storm that shatters an American Dream. (818-761-8838; RoadTheatre.org.)

The Wisdom of Eve is Mary Caswell Orr’s 1946 classic that “All About Eve” and the musical “Applause” were based on; in a limited run through Nov. 23 at the Whitefire Theater. (818-687-8559; whitefiretheatre.com.)

Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot comes to the Geffen Nov. 6 through Dec. 15. The production is a joint offering with Gare St Lazare Ireland, (310-208-2028; boxoffice@geffenplayhouse.org.)

Mars Storm Rucker, plays a love interest called “Whatshername” says it all. American Idiot plays through Nov. 16 and is on

track to become the Taper’s third-highest grossing show ever. Part of me couldn’t be happier; part of me couldn’t be more disappointed.

AIA/LA

(Continued from Page 5) members to make presentations to clients, work for a few hours or simply stop in for a relaxing break during the day. The actual presentation of awards will take place at RLA Church, 4409 W. Adams Blvd., across the street from the AIA/LA + ACLA Center for Communites building. At 7:30 p.m., attendees will return to the Center, where they will enjoy the organization’s

biggest party of the year.

“It’s a big networking event. Up to 600 people attend,” said Caccavale. There will be food, drinks, music and entertainment, a foosball table, a photo booth and a Scotch / whiskey tasting after dinner.

Prominent among this year’s awardees is 2024 Gold Medal winner Debra Gerod, FAIA, partner at Gruen Associates in Carthay Circle.

To learn more about AIA/LA or to purchase tickets for the event, visit aialosangeles.org.

THE MAIN HALL of the AIA/LA and ACLA Center for Communities hosted the 2024 2x8 students’ exhibition. Photo by Ryan Gobuty

Pope, Goebbels,

Conclave (9/10) : 120 minutes. PG. The Roman Catholic Church is one of the world’s greatest bureaucracies. But talk about inscrutable; the Church takes the cake. While its Pope is represented as God’s agent on earth (“Thou art Peter and upon this Rock I will build my Church”), the way a Pope is chosen is not waiting for a bolt from heaven indicating the chosen one. It is an arcane, secretive procedure in which the College of Cardinals gets together sequestered to make a choice. And the choice is made by semi-secret ballot. So, it’s a purely human endeavor, but it is completely hidden from the public.

Now comes along author Robert Harris and his book “Conclave,” screenwriter Peter Straughan and director Edward Berger to present their idea of what it might be like when one Pope dies.

What they produce is a bunch of politically motivated men put in seclusion until they reach a two-thirds majority vote. This film is a brilliant imagining of one such convocation after a beloved Pope has died. Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) is the dean of the College of Cardinals and runs the election. This one is a contention between the liberals, led by Cardinal Bellini (Stanley Tucci), and the conservative, Cardinal Tremblay (John Lithgow), who yearns for the old days, when the question “Is the Pope Catholic?” was rhetorical. But Tremblay is so manipulative he would make a slimy politician proud.

nursing homes and ‘Saturday Night’ in review

There’s not a dirty trick that is beneath him

The acting is superb, and the film’s first 115 minutes justifies a 10/10 rating. Unfortunately, it goes on for 120 minutes, and I rate that final 5 minutes 0/10, which averages out to my final 9/10. All I can say about the ending is to quote Moss Hart’s advice to budding playwrights: If you want to send a message, use Western Union.

Goebbels and the Führer (9/10): 135 minutes. NR. Without any peer, “Downfall” (2004) is the best movie ever made about Hitler. But this one comes a close second. It’s about Joseph Goebbels (Robert Stadlober), an unappealing little wart (at 5 feet, 5 inches) who was Hitler’s all-powerful Minister of Propaganda. This captures Hitler (Fritz Karl) as well as “Downfall” did, but it presents a view of the secretive Goebbels as a person and opens up unsuspected avenues of his personality. It’s a fascinating, not-to-be-missed movie. In German.

Stolen Time (8/10): 95 minutes. NR. This documentary reveals the tawdry story about for-profit nursing homes in Canada. Canadian attorney Melissa Miller has been suing some of the largest for-profit nursing homes in Canada since 2018.

Many knowledgeable people state their cases, like Brent Rigby, a private investigator who was hired to investigate systemic negligence by senior care companies Extendicare, Revera and Sienna Senior Living. He says, “There’s essentially no regulatory

At the Movies with Tony Medley

oversight and no repercussions at all for the complete systemic failure across all the companies while they bring in record profits.”

The stain of corruption is obvious. Mike Harris was Premier of Ontario from 1995-2002. He was responsible for privatizing long-term care in Ontario.

Now guess where he is. He is vice president of long-term care operations for Extendicare!

Ayesha Jabba, a social worker at one of the companies, says, “If there was an individual with responsive behaviors and causing trouble, I had a lot of pressure to harass the families to change the facility…try to get them out, try to get them elsewhere. Try to pressure the families to agree to get them elsewhere. Even though families may be living close by and it’s convenient for them. My role was to try to pressure them into going to another facility and make it as appealing as possible to leave our facility and go elsewhere. Which made me very uncomfortable.”

This is a must-see for anyone contemplating a nursing home.

Saturday Night (7/10): 109 minutes.  R. This is alleged to be the story of produc-

er Lorne Michaels (Gabriel Labelle) in the 90 minutes leading up to the debut show of “Saturday Night Live” 50 years ago. That is, it is “based on” the story. Apparently, there was a lot of chaos, and the show almost didn’t make it to air. But what we see here on the screen is extremely hard to swallow.

Directed by Jason Reitman from a script by Reitman and Gil Kenan, it is populated by an ensemble cast that includes Willem Dafoe, Matthew Rhys and J.K. Simmons in supporting roles. It is amusing and well acted, but it stretches credulity. For one thing, the timelines don’t make any sense. Lorne Michaels (LaBelle) leaves the studio 15 minutes before airtime, and what he does in those 15 minutes is simply impossible to perform in 15 minutes and get back in time for showtime.

There are some outstanding performances. J.K. Simmons presents Milton Berle in an exceedingly unfavorable light (maybe it’s accurate). Ella Hunt is a good Gilda Radner. Matthew Rhys is nothing like the George Carlin I knew. Privately he was nothing like his onstage character.

Similarly, Cooper Hoffman is not like the Dick Ebersol I knew. My only connection with television executive Ebersol was to interview him once for a Hollywood Reporter article I wrote. Then I ran into him again in an elevator 20 years later. I was with my friend, TV producer Bob Seizer, who had done some work for Dick. They said hello.

SUNDAY, NOV. 3RD, 11AM-3PM

Then Dick looked at me and said, “You’re Tony Medley.” I was stunned. We had only met for a one-hour interview two decades previously, and he remembered me and my name. I said, “Yes, boy you have a great memory.” I’ve always regretted not asking him how he could remember me after all those years and his many accomplishments.

The movie is interesting and humorous, but I don’t believe it. The night might have been chaotic, but what is presented here is hard to accept. As Robert DeNiro (as a character based on Irving Thalberg), said in “The Last Tycoon” (1976), “It’s the movies.”

FAIRFAX

161 S. Gardner St. 323-936-6191

JOHN C. FREMONT 6121 Melrose Ave. 323-962-3521

MEMORIAL

4625 W. Olympic Blvd. 323-938-2732

WILSHIRE

149 N. St. Andrews Pl. 323-957-4550

HOURS

Mon. and Wed., 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Tues. and Thurs. noon to 8 p.m.; Fri. and Sat., 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Libraries will be closed Mon., Nov. 11 in observance of Veterans Day.

201 S June St, Los Angeles, CA 90004

Upcoming season looks promising for Larchmont girls’ soccer

Know what the payout is for three oranges in a row in most Las Vegas slot machines? The bet times 100, which means if one dollar is fed into the slot and three oranges come up, the machine pays $100.

Larchmont Charter girls’ soccer coach David Brown must feel like he hit the jackpot with his present varsity team. Three exceptional players return from last season, and they hope to improve on a respectable 22-6 record.

Timberwolves

Larchmont Charter is one of Los Angeles’ smaller high schools. The enrollment in grades nine through 12 is just 518 students, which is impressive when considering that the girls’ varsity soccer team competes against schools with at least four times the number of students. During last season’s CIF (California Interscholastic Federation) City Section Girls’ Soccer Championships, the Larchmont Timberwolves defeated teams from Chatsworth, San Fernando and Garfield, all large public schools, before losing in the finals to Eagle Rock.

“Those schools’ coaches get to pick from 100-150 students who try out for soccer,” explained Brown. “Last year, I had 19 girls try out.”

The Timberwolves were the 2022 and 2023 Ocean League Champions, and they were the Division 4 City Champions in 2023. Brown was named Coach of the Year that season. This will be his fourth year as

Larchmont Charter’s varsity soccer coach. His coaching record at Larchmont, including middle school, is 70-9-1.

Upperclassmen

Veronica Tuscano is a senior and has led the Timberwolves in scoring the past three years. She was the 2023 LA Offensive Player of the Year and will be attending Cal State University Northridge (CSUN) in 2025 on a full athletic scholarship to play women’s soccer.

“Veronica is a lion when it comes to scoring,” said Brown. “She has a high soccer IQ, is fast, has great footwork and knows how to find the net.”

Tuscano and teammate Harper Brown began their soccer careers together in AYSO (American Youth Soccer Organization) when they were 5 years old, and their first coach was Brown, who also happens to be Harper’s father.

“Now that I’m coaching them both … life is full circle.”

Brown is a junior and has been named to the CIF LA AllCity team twice. Last season she scored 26 goals and had 48 assists.

“Harper usually plays more in the back,” said teammate Tuscano. “She doesn’t let anyone get past her easily. She

has a strong drive to win, and her assists are truly great.”

Indeed. Brown was ranked No. 10 in the nation for assists. “Harper is tough as nails,” said her father.

Tuscano and Brown share many of the same interests and are more like sisters than teammates. They enjoy art and writing and, for both, soccer is the only sport they participate in.

Sophomore Sunny Wade is not like that.

Underclassman

“I run track, but mainly to help with my endurance and acceleration when I’m on the soccer field,” explained Wade. Last season, as a ninth grader, she scored 22 goals in 24 games.

“Sunny is incredibly fast and always tries to move forward,” said Tuscano. “We link really well together up top. She’s also great at listening

The Plymouth School

to advice and implementing it into the game.”

“Sunny will come into her own by this season,” said Coach Brown. “She’ll develop into her potential.”

Seems that Coach Brown has the key ingredients for another successful season, and maybe more.

“I’m excited to see what the upcoming season has in store,” said Harper Brown.

“I always tell the girls to embrace pressure,” said Coach Brown. “Pressure makes diamonds.”

Wonder what the payout is in Las Vegas for three diamonds in a row?

PILGRIM

By Allison Pak 11th Grade

Register soon for spring softball

Wilshire Wildcats fall softball season’s spring registration is expected to begin in mid-November. The teams practice once a week at the Lemon Grove Recreation Center, and interested girls, from age 6 through 12th grade, may register soon at wilshiresoftball. com.

LE LYCÉE FRANÇAIS DE LOS ANGELES

8th

At the beginning of the school year, Le Lycée Français de Los Angeles is always very busy.

It’s open house season and Pilgrim’s is on Nov. 2. If you have friends with children ages 18 months through 12th grade, please send them our way! Pilgrim prides itself on its focus on personal attention, joyful experiences and mastery.

The admissions application deadline is Dec. 22, 2024. Please reach out to Ms. Samantha Powell for more information about Pilgrim School at spowell@pilgrim-school.org

Outdoor Education is taking place on Oct. 24 for preschool through grade 8. The high school homecoming dance is on Oct. 25.

Pilgrim School, Hollywood Schoolhouse and Los Encinos School are also hosting Anxious Nation at Pilgrim. The producer and director will be here on a panel for a conversation.

In September, the elementary, middle and high schools held their Student Council and Student Representative Elections. We would like to congratulate the elected Student Council Board members and all the candidates. Everyone was excited for their first field trips. In October, the 6th graders went to the Getty Villa for their Latin and Greek classes, while the 8th graders and the high school went to see Euphrate, a French play at our school’s theater, Theatre Raymond Kabbaz. Our school also went on an overnight trip to Big Bear as an environmental and leadership experience.

For Halloween, students and parents have worked together to create fun games and several haunted houses.

The volleyball season has already started, and our high school team is two games away from the playoffs. Go Lions!

AFTER HIGH SCHOOL, Veronica Tuscano will play at CSUN. Photos by Todd Vitti and Sheryl Mathea
HARPER BROWN was ranked No. 10 in the country for assists. SOPHOMORE Sunny Wade played varsity as a freshman.

New Covenant girls’ volleyball takes first place in CIF Division 9

New Covenant Academy’s girls’ volleyball team — one of 22 teams in Division 9, California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Southern Section — has ranked first in the league. As a result, the team will be in the upcoming playoff games.

It is not the first time the team has accomplished this feat. NCA also claimed the spot in 2018 and 2019.

Three years ago, Abigail Johnston, also an English teacher at the school, took over as the team’s coach. According to the school’s media director, Charlie Lowery, who also works closely with NCA’s athletics department, Johnston has promoted a culture of positivity, skill, determination and winning.

“We’ve been working incredibly hard over the past three years leading up to this season, starting with basics such as passing, setting and hitting and leading up to using multiple offenses and different plays,” Johnston told us.

Coach Johnston sees this ranking as being the result of the team’s hard work. “They care deeply about the game, their teammates and the school they represent off the court,” she said.

Lowery believes the 16 play-

ers (four seniors, three juniors, five sophomores and four freshmen) came into this season determined to make the playoffs because, last year, the team missed the chance by a hair.

NCA was tied with The Waverly School for a playoff spot in 2023. A simple coin toss determined which team was moved forward, and it was not NCA.

CIF takes the first and second place of the league’s 22 teams to the playoffs, and it is quite an accomplishment to head into the final games as a first-place team.

As of this printing, the date and location of the Division 9 CIF Southern Section playoffs have yet to be determined. Lowery predicts they will take place in the next couple of weeks.

Troop 145 holds court in person, honors awarded

Windsor Square residents and brothers Jacob and Bryan Kim, along with fellow Troop 145 Eagle Scout Sean Kim, were honored at an Eagle Court of Honor Sept. 28.

“This was the first time the troop was able to hold its Eagle Court of Honor since the pandemic, so it was an especially momentous occasion,” said Douglas Kim, assistant Scoutmaster and former Scoutmaster of Troop 145.

For his Eagle Scout project, Bryan, a junior at Larchmont Charter, built a little free library and a bench for Larchmont Charter School — Fairfax.

Jacob, a senior at Larch-

his Eagle Scout project.

Sean’s Eagle Scout project involved building an edible garden and painting a mural for St. Andrew Elementary School in Pasadena. He is a junior at Loyola High.

mont Charter, restored a footbridge located in the Fern Dell area of Griffith Park for

Troop 145, a boys’ troop sponsored by the St. Francis Xavier Chapel, was first chartered in 1925. In its 99-year history, the troop has remained at the same location in Little Tokyo, except during World War II when the troop operated out of the Manzanar War Relocation Camp. Today, the troop consists of boys from Windsor Square as well as Koreatown, Mid-Wilshire and Miracle Mile.

PLAYERS IN ACTION! Left to right: Sariah Johnson (#22), Hyemi Lee, Isabelle Lee and Venera Bersukova.
NEW COVENANT’S girls’ volleyball team getting pumped to play.
WINDSOR SQUARE residents Jacob and Bryan Kim (left and center), with Sean Kim, Hobart Boulevard (right).
Photo by Steve Kim

THE WILLOWS

fifth choices for each block.

LARCHMONT CHARTER

SELMA

October is always an exciting month at The Willows Community School. By October, students at The Willows have adjusted to their routines, sports are in full swing and electives have been chosen. There are a number of electives offered, including oil painting, survival skills, dance, robotics, debate, photography and more. Students are asked to rank their first, second, third, fourth and

The Willows also has all-school assemblies throughout the year. This year the cultural programming committee is focusing on dances from different cultures, and there will be a Day of the Dead dance performed by Grupo Folklorico Huitcillin.

Last but certainly not least, in this action-packed month is, obviously, Halloween. Halloween at The Willows is a Halloween like no other. Not only do students and teachers get dressed up, we also have a Halloween assembly, sing-along and a parade that is live streamed so that parents can watch us show off our costumes.

“It’s a great opportunity for students to learn leadership.”

Greetings from Larchmont Charter Selma! This month has been so much fun. Student council at Selma is holding elections for president, vice president and pack (class) senators. It’s a great way for kids to get involved, especially with the national election coming up! Everyone gets to vote and have his or her voice heard. Tria Russell, a 5th grade student, said,

Speaking of exciting stuff, kids have been talking lots about our one-week Thanksgiving break. Thanksgiving is all about, well, giving! So Larchmont gives back by donating Thanksgiving meals to families in need. Each pack donates food for several meals during November. Students decorate bags and make centerpieces that we donate to organizations to give to local families. It’s just a magical time. Happy (almost) Thanksgiving!

TURNING POINT

— the mayor’s official house.  Students had opportunities to participate in fun activities such as mask making, face painting, a magic show, games, treats, free food and a lot more.

On Nov. 3, Third Street Elementary will have its Centennial Block Party Celebration, which will take place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Las Palmas Avenue. The community is invited to join in on the fun!

ST. JAMES’

In November, the Turning Point School community comes together for the annual SAVES drive. Running throughout November, this event supports Saint Augustine’s Volunteer Emergency Services (SAVES), a Culver City-based nonprofit dedicated to helping those in need.

The drive culminates in a special assembly where students gather to deliver the donated food. Older students assist the younger ones in carrying donations to the center of the assembly, symbolizing the school’s commitment to supporting each other. Then the 8th grade students visit the food bank and learn about its impact on our community.

We all love this annual event. “It feels great knowing that I could be changing someone’s life,” shared one student. “It’s not just about improving our school community, but also helping the entire city of Culver City.”

THIRD STREET SCHOOL

Greetings!

Our 5th graders are busy learning, touring middle schools and going on fun educational field trips.

Some of the field trips have been: The Peterson Automotive Museum, “Hamilton,” (which we saw at the Pantages Theater) and the Marine Mammal Center.

This fall we’ve had many fun activities on campus. The animation artist Gary Baseman came to talk to students about his career and love for art. Fundraising continues with our annual giving program, which helps our school raise money for field trips, teacher’s assistants, art programs and other extracurricular activities. We also hosted a lemonade sale.

In late October, 30 Third Street students were invited to attend The Getty House Ghostly Halloween Party! This event took place at the Getty House

In early fall, we had our annual Latinx celebration to recognize National Hispanic Heritage Month. We had special foods, such as quesadillas, tacos, beans and  horchata. Personally, it was my first time tasting the sweet cinnamon drink, and I thought it was delicious! In addition, there were dance performances to popular  songs by Latinx artists, such as La Bamba by Richie Valens. You could feel the joy in the air!

We’re looking forward to one of our school’s favorite traditions: the long autumn weekend at El Capitan! For those unfamiliar, every year families from our school visit El Capitan for a weekend to spend time bonding. Favorite activities include biking, sleepovers, many visits to the candy shop and cookouts.

MELROSE ELEMENTARY

Melrose Elementary School is diving right into fall and has a lot planned.  Our 4th grade is going to Ballona Wetlands. According to Mr Stern, a 4th grade teacher, “Ballona Wetlands will be an outdoor educational experience. It helps students learn about science, nature and the people that lived here before.”

Melrose is celebrating National Native American Heritage Month. We will be celebrating by making a “Did You Know?” museum as well as a school-wide art challenge. One way that 5th grade is recognizing   Native American Heritage Month is by creating a question that they solve using research and then sharing the question with their class.

In November we will be having parent conferences.  Fourth and 5th graders are rehearsing the musical “Into the Woods.” Storïwr theater company comes to Melrose and leads plays that each class can participate in.

Tips and tools for helping children learn and retain information

My sister, who holds a doctorate in child development, recently encouraged me to listen to a Huberman Lab podcast. I’m not someone who often listens to podcasts, but the subject of this one piqued my interest. It was titled “Optimal Protocols for Studying and Learning.”

Boy, do I wish my younger self had been gifted the information compiled by host Andrew Huberman, a tenured professor at Stanford School of Medicine’s neurobiology department. It would have changed the way I studied. And I bet my notes and textbooks would’ve soaked up way less sleep-induced drool.

The strategies Huberman shares can aid students of all ages in becoming more efficient at acquiring new knowledge. Parent to parent, I thought I’d pass on the top tools that I learned from Huberman about learning.

Sleep and attentiveness

Most of us know that getting a good night’s sleep is important for our children. It’s especially important when they are working to learn something new. Without adequate sleep, it is difficult to remain alert enough to pay

attention and stay focused. If our children are not getting enough time to recharge at night, they won’t be learning at their optimal levels during the day. But it turns out that the sleep children get following a day of lessons or studying is equally important because that is when the information they’ve learned is, as Huberman puts it, “consolidated.”

Focus through mindfulness

Clearly, sleep is key for a learner’s ability to focus. But our focus “muscles” can also be strengthened and improved. It turns out that silently telling ourselves, “This is important for me to remember,” before reading or learning something primes our brains. With a simple inner nudge like this, our brains perks up a bit and can, therefore, attend more fully.

We can also help our children build simple mindfulness practices into their lives. Studies show that even just five minutes of mindfulness practice daily can be beneficial to our ability to learn. This is because when we train our brains to come back to that which we are focusing on during our mindfulness practice, we are also

Tips on Parenting by

strengthening our brain’s ability to focus outside of our mindfulness practice.

Watch, try, teach

We can’t control how our children’s teachers teach, but it’s good to keep in mind that people tend to learn best when they first watch someone do something, then try to do it themselves and finally, teach someone else to do it. By teaching another person how to do the thing they’ve just learned, our children will be solidifying the information in their own brains and/ or cueing their neurons into the weak points in their own knowledge.

Self-testing

One of the most useful tools Huberman talked about was the power of testing. That sounds scary. But he is not referring to testing for evaluation or grades. He is encouraging the use of self-testing as a mechanism for learning.

People who periodically pause to think about what they’ve just learned and try to recall or test themselves in some way are more likely to master the material. When our children, simply re-read textbooks and notes again and again, they may find that the information sounds familiar, but they will probably not master it.

Talking to our children about the value of self-testing can set them up for success. This type of learning and studying challenges learners’ brains. It makes them wake up and work instead of zoning out and, in my younger self’s case, falling asleep.

Distraction-free time

Huberman also talked about the importance of focused study time. In today’s distraction-filled world, it can be hard for our children to grasp the value of stepping away from their phones. It’s not surprising that learners who put themselves in an area without distractions and take the time to study on their own tend to retain information better than those who don’t.

Story and emotion

I have long known that the memories that stay with us most easily are the ones

accompanied by a story or a strong emotion. This, of course, can have negative effects. It can cause some of our decisions to be colored by fear. But, the fact that emotion helps us remember information can also be used as an asset for learning.

The more we can help our children bring story and emotion to the information they are acquiring, the more likely they will be to remember it. This tool is the sole reason that I still remember the steps of cell division.

My seventh grade science teacher talked about IPMAT day for a month. He got us all excited, wrote the date on the board and, on the big day, entered the classroom wearing a weird costume and ordering us all to sit cross-legged on our desks. In a celebratory, funny way, he then taught us all about mitosis (aka the process of cell division): Interphase, Prophase, Metaphase, Anaphase and Telophase.

Our brains are amazing. By understanding a bit about how they work, we parents can help our children harness their brains’ natural strengths to make learning more efficient and, in some cases, more fun!

THE BUCKLEY SCHOOL

By Max Terr 11th Grade

As school gets further underway, the work continues to build at Buckley, and the rust of relaxation has come off from the time off. With Halloween approaching, our school is getting into a spooky mood, with everyone getting their best costumes ready for the fullschool costume show.

As lower school renovations are still getting finished, many classes are silent and the usual enjoyment the whole school knows from seeing the excitement of the lower schoolers has all but left.

Moving further ahead, the new seniors have started their preparations for colleges and the readying for applications has begun.

That’s all from The Buckley School.

CAMPBELL HALL

Claire “Cal” Lesher 12th Grade

The high school boys’ soccer team and the middle school fall sports began their tryouts. Also, auditions were held for our annual Nutcracker ballet and rehearsals began immediately. The CH girls’ tennis, volleyball and golf teams are in full swing with their season and doing very well! Go Teams!

We celebrated our Class of 2025 recently with performances and speeches and also celebrated Latinex Heritage month with amazing performances.

The annual 10th and 11th grade Experiential Education week took students to Moab and Montaña de Oro, while the 12th grade had their college week for college campus tours.

Most importantly, our annual Fall Faculty and Staff Appreciation Feast allowed us to show our deepest appreciation and gratitude to the people who keep Campbell Hall running. It’s nice that our campus is humming with the variety of fall activities.

CATHEDRAL CHAPEL

afternoon, the categories were: humorous, dramatic and dual interpretive.

As we approach Oct. 31, everyone is chipping in to prepare for our Halloween festival. During our scary, school-wide party, kids will be dressed up and playing at the game booths designed, set-up and run by our very own PTO. There will be a costume parade, where children with the best Halloween- themed attire will be honored with candy and applause. Each class will adorn their doors with eerie decor, we will watch movies and will give out treats… or tricks.

THE CENTER FOR EARLY EDUCATION

colors that could be included in the project.

Once the sheets were finished, Mackenzie and Ann collected them, and with the help of the Art Council, they decided which color patterns were right for the design.

This year, with the new Art Council members, they will begin painting and will unveil the Stairwell Project. We are excited to see the culmination of this community project at The CEE.

FAIRFAX HIGH

Hillary Tong 12th Grade

5th grade where most of my classmates have been together since preschool could have been challenging and even overwhelming.  However, Hollywood Schoolhouse welcomed me with open arms and made me feel like I belonged.

With the start of the school year, there are so many exciting events going on at CEE. One of the most current and spectacular events is the Stairwell Project.

This year has started to spin into focus. We had our annual Homecoming Carnival that featured a Ferris wheel, fun rides, carnival games and delicious food and drinks. Additionally, the elementary school will have its annual costume contest and parade on Halloween day!

The spooky season has started and we’re all getting ready to celebrate here at CCS. We had our Blessing of the Animals celebration earlier this month, where families brought all types of pets.

On Oct. 19, we hosted our first Speech tournament in years! The categories included storytelling, oratorical and creative duel in the morning. In the

Last year Mackenzie Schneider and Ann Romero de Cordoba, the art teachers, gathered a group of volunteer students, the Art Council. The group met every Friday morning before school to create an inspirational design that includes one of our core values, “Inclusion.”

The design will cover one of the school stairwells. Once the design was finished, the art teachers sent out coloring pages with the design to every class in the CEE community. Each class gave ideas about the different

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Fairfax High School has continued with celebrating their school spirit with a student-led, school-wide pep rally and week of festivities. Our school’s annual pep rally, which occurred on Oct. 8, consisted of a dance performance by the school’s award-winning dance company, a wonderful performance by the school’s marching band and a massive parade that consisted of student clubs and organizations, including the Computer Science Club, Film Club, Academic Decathlon and the Filipino Student Union, among others. In addition, the parade featured all fall sport athletes, including girls’ tennis, girls’ flag football, girls’ volleyball and boys’ football.

School spirit was exceptional, as Link Crew Mentors and Fairfax’s Associated Student Body hosted a tug of war between classes where seniors went against freshmen and sophomores competed against juniors.

The school also competed against Hamilton High School for the annual Homecoming football game and concluded the week of festivities with the annual Homecoming Dance on Oct. 12.

HOLLYWOOD SCHOOLHOUSE

Even though 6th Grade is all abuzz with talk of the future and middle school applications, I really want to savor my time here. I will be participating in, and trying to make the most out of, as many programs as I can. It helps that our school offers so many different activities, such as the HSH Festival, the 6th Grade Social and fun fundraising activities like a bracelet sale.

Two of the things I’m personally most excited about are our class trip to Catalina and our Maker’s Fair project. Thank you for reading my column. See you next issue!

IMMACULATE HEART

Happy fall from Immaculate Heart!

As the days become shorter, students have settled into the rhythm of a new school year.

Immaculate Heart recently held one of its biggest events of the year, The WALK fundraiser. Students spent several weeks raising money for the school’s financial aid program, and also for campus improvements that benefit student life. The fundraising ended with a walk in Los Feliz, and afterward we gathered for a campus celebration with food and music.

I’m thrilled to be representing my school by writing this monthly column. I joined HSH a year and two months ago. Beginning a school in

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During October, our fall sports teams honored Breast Cancer Awareness Month by hosting “Pink Out” games. Athletes donned pink attire to commemorate breast cancer survivors. Our new Panda Mascot and Cheer Squad brought their support during our Oct. 10 volleyball games. Also the Latinas Unidas club organized a festival on the quad in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month. Coming up, the school invites 7th and 8th graders to “Hangout with Heart!” on Nov. 16. The morning event will offer engaging academics and activities, as well as an opportunity for students to meet IH teachers. Those interested can register at immaculateheart.org/hangout.

LARCHMONT CHARTER WILSHIRE

November holds meaningful observances such as Native American Heritage month and Thanksgiving.

Our class will be going on a field trip to study the Tongva Native American tribe at the Autry Museum during our next Social Studies unit on Los Angeles, then & now.

We asked Larchmont staff if they were doing anything special with their classes this month. Different teachers shared they are doing activities involving community building, stewardship and crafts. Our reading specialist, Ms. Amanda, explained what she would be doing with her reading groups: “With my reading groups, I will focus on books that talk about gratitude, as well as study the origin of the word.”

Speaking of gratitude, teachers expressed that they are grateful for the talented and caring people at LCS. They said this in many different ways, but it all boiled down to one thing: the supportive Larchmont community.

Teachers and students were also excited to share the Thanksgiving foods they love. Some common preferences are mashed potatoes, turkey and pie…but there was one surprising pick: white rice.

Enjoy getting ready for seeing family, cooking and even watching football on Thanksgiving!

ST. BRENDAN

We look forward to November. Scouts will lead a special presentation honoring SBS Veterans on Veterans’ Day and we will celebrate together at our Middle School Open House Mixer on Nov. 14. Let’s go Bears!

THE OAKS

also added new courses to the Marlborough curriculum, including Advanced Topics in Hispanic Literature, Queer Literature, Presidential Elections and Creative Writing.

October will come to a close with the annual celebration of Pumpkin Day. Students will come to school dressed up in Halloween costumes for the holiday.

As you probably know, presidential voting is happening on November 5th. At The Oaks, there have been a variety of ways kids are getting to learn about democracy.

In 4th grade, students have been studying the voting process and the Electoral College. Grade five is focusing on learning about voting rights and restrictions. Our 6th grade class has been preparing for Election Day by learning about democracy and the governmental structure.

Here is a brief summary of what we have learned so far — there are three branches; the Judicial, Legislative, and Executive. All of them have different roles. The Judicial branch interprets laws, the Legislative branch makes laws, and the Executive branch enforces laws.

This subject has even been incorporated into specialist classes. In Art, several grades, including mine, have been making posters to address issues such as pollution, women’s rights and climate change. These posters are meant to spread awareness about some of the struggles our country faces. It’s important we learn about how our nation works now so that we can be informed and enlightened for the future.

MARLBOROUGH

PAGE ACADEMY

October has just sped by! World Day of Bullying Prevention was Oct. 7, and we wore our blue shirts in support of this

excellent cause. On the 11th, we held our Annual Spaghetti Dinner & “Who’s Got Talent?” Show — there was dancing, singing (yours truly sang Mamma Mia!), comedy and even a short film screened by one of our 8th graders.

Our iJog Fundraiser on the 18th took place at our Costa Mesa Campus. (My legs still hurt!) And, on Oct. 27, Page Academy will be at the Larchmont Fair from 12 to 5 p.m.

Our Fall Festival is on the 31st, with spooky fall dec-

orations, a costume parade, a petting zoo, our famous haunted house hosted by the Student Council, games and fun prizes!

Our annual Mexican Dinner, Silent Basket Auction and Movie Night fundraiser are also coming up. We had some amazing baskets last year — can’t wait to see this year’s lineup!

Our Thanksgiving Potluck Feast, featuring an international array of foods from our students’ diverse ethnic backgrounds, will be on Nov. 22. We will be on academic break Thanksgiving week. For now, I leave you with this thought, “What if today we were just grateful for everything?” — Charlie Brown.

October went by in a flash. We had a walkto-school day and hosted our first ever Trivia Night. Special lunches were extra fun with the monthly In-N-Out and Hot Diggity Dog Days kicking off. Students will soon watch the 8th grade Halloween Play and Monster Mash, smile as the kindergarteners recite the annual 10 Little Pumpkins poem and proudly show off their costumes in the Halloween Parade.

Flag football, golf, track and girls’ volleyball had successful games and practices. Additionally, 8th graders started filling out high school admission forms and visiting potential schools. As part of the graduating class of 2025, we are especially grateful to all our middle school teachers for their help in making this process easier.

Jennifer Ciccarelli has chosen “Cultivate Purpose” as the core value for this year.

Ciccarelli hopes that this val ue will motivate students to focus more on what they are passionate about and find unique interests that make their aca demic journey at Marlborough more fulfilling, rather than succumbing to the pressure of outside influences.

Marlborough recently instituted a new Academic Integrity Council. In light of advancements in AI, the school has experienced an increase in academic dishonesty. To remedy the issue, a council of students from each grade, who were voted on by the student body, has been created. The council will help teachers decide consequences for violations of the honor code.

The administration has

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Neville Anderson MD, FAAP
Matthew Loh MD, FAAP
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