INSIDE
Coachella Promoter in Talks With Santa Monica Over Major Beachfront Event Site smmirror.com
December 19 - December 25, 2025 Volume CXXIII Issue 214
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Renowned Opera Singer Stabbed to Death in Santa Monica by Son, Police Say will be presented to the Los Angeles Sykes, a celebrated case County District Attorney’s Office for filing consideration, police said. bass-baritone, Sykes, a celebrated bass-baritone, performed at performed at prestigious venues worldwide, including the Metropolitan Opera, Carnegie prestigious venues Hall, the Kennedy Center, Deutsche Oper worldwide, including Berlin, Italy’s Arena di Verona, London’s Barbican Center, the New Orleans Jazz the Metropolitan Festival, the Apollo Theater and the Hollywood Bowl. He collaborated with the Opera, Carnegie Los Angeles Philharmonic and other major Hall and the orchestras throughout his career. Detectives believe the attack was an Kennedy Center isolated domestic incident with no ongoing A Grammy-nominated opera singer was fatally stabbed in his Santa Monica home Monday night by his son, who remained at the scene and was taken into custody without incident, authorities said. Jubilant Sykes, 71, was found with critical stab wounds inside a residence in the 1700 block of Delaware Avenue around 9:20 p.m., according to the Santa Monica Police Department. Firefighters pronounced him dead at the scene. The suspect, Sykes' 31-year-old son Micah Sykes, was arrested and is expected to be booked on suspicion of homicide. The
threat to the community. The son remained cooperative during the investigation, though the circumstances leading to the confrontation were not immediately clear. Forensic teams processed the scene and recovered a weapon. Police maintained a presence in the area overnight. Anyone with information is asked to contact SMPD Detective Peter Zamfirov at (310) 458-8451 or peter.zamfirov@ santamonica.gov. Anonymous tips can be directed to the Watch Commander at (310) 458-8427.
Driver Hospitalized After High-Speed Crash Into Santa Monica Building The cause of the crash remains under investigation
A driver was hospitalized with moderate injuries after crashing a vehicle into a twostory mixed-use building late Thursday night, Santa Monica police said. The single-vehicle collision occurred around 11:21 p.m. in the 2600 block of Santa Monica Boulevard at the southwest corner of Princeton Street. Witnesses told officers the vehicle was traveling eastbound at high speed before impact. The adult male driver, the sole occupant, was treated at the scene and transported to a local hospital. No other vehicles or pedestrians were involved. The building was unoccupied at the time, and no evacuations were necessary. City Building and Safety inspectors were called to evaluate structural damage. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.
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December 19 - December 25, 2025
Santa Monica Fire Launches NursePractitioner Unit for Minor 911 Calls Early cases have included on-scene treatment for minor injuries and illnesses as well as behavioral-health interventions
The Santa Monica Fire Department has begun deploying a new two-person Advanced Provider Unit that pairs a nurse practitioner with a firefighter-paramedic to handle non-life-threatening 911 medical calls, allowing many patients to be treated at the scene instead of being transported to a hospital. The unit, which started responding to calls last month and is currently operating Monday through Thursday, is part of the city’s broader two-year Realignment Plan approved by the City Council in October to
bolster public safety and emergency services. Fire Chief Matt Hallock said the program is intended to keep ambulances available for critical emergencies, reduce strain on local hospitals and connect frequent 911 callers
with follow-up care. Early cases have included on-scene treatment for minor injuries and illnesses as well as behavioral-health interventions, officials said.
The department plans to expand the unit to seven days a week in the coming months and is recruiting part-time contract nurse practitioners with emergency or urgent-care experience.
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FILM REVIEW HAMNET
Rated PG-13 125 Minutes Released December 5th death is thought to have inspired the play Hamlet, written between 1599 and 1601. If you have ever lost a child or anyone close to you, this film will pierce your heart, yet it’s a beautiful study of lives well-lived. Kathryn Whitney Boole has spent most of her life in the entertainment industry, which has been the backdrop for remarkable adventures with extraordinary people. She is a Talent Manager with Studio Talent Group in Santa Monica. kboole@gmail.com
BEHIND THE SCREEN By Kathryn Whitney Boole Production designer Fiona Crombie endeavored to convey historical accuracy, love, happiness, and sadness in the spaces Will and Agnes Shakespeare and their family inhabit in the movie Hamnet. She says, “It’s very much a part of the world building, connecting the characters to the home, to the forest, and to the Globe” (theatre), in late 1500’s England. The beginning of the film is a montage of richly colored tableaux of life in the English countryside at that time. Directed by the award-winning Chloe Zhao, the film is a riff on what William Shakespeare’s family life would have been like, with clues pieced together from histories of his time and from his prolific library of plays and sonnets. The story is seen from the point of view of a historical figure usually passed over
by historians and Shakespearean scholars, since there are few details recorded about her, Shakespeare’s wife Anne, or as she is called here, “Agnes” (those names were interchangeable at that time). This is the story of Shakespeare’s wife, two daughters, and his son, Hamnet, who are left behind in their English country cottage by the bard when he makes his way to London to write and stage his plays. The film’s writers, Maggie O’Farrell in her novel and then both O’Farrell and Zhao in the screenplay, take much literary license in painting a detailed history of the Shakespeare Family life. The author and filmmakers have created this heartwarming rendition by “reading between the lines” of his plays and sonnets. Zhao cast two Irish actors as her leads, which, to me, seems a good choice. Having lived in Ireland, I believe the culture and landscape there is closer to Elizabethan England than is England today. Jessie Buckley is superb as “Agnes,” as is Paul Mescal as “Will.” The children are amazing – Jacobi Jupe as “Hamnet,” Olivia Lynes as “Judith,” and Bodhi Rae Breathnach as “Susanna.” And, Noah Jupe, Jacobi’s older brother, plays “Hamlet” on the Old Globe stage. Chloe Zhao is at the beginning of a celebrated career as a film director. She was born in Beijing and raised by her stepmother, an actress, and her father, a wealthy manager of a steel company. She was a restless, rebellious child, uninterested in school. She was drawn to Western pop
culture and spent her days creating her own art. She grew up without cell phones and very little access to the internet, so she is more connected to people and their relationships with the nature around them. In 1998, at the age of 15, she was sent to boarding school in England. Not exactly feeling at home there, Zhao soon moved to Los Angeles by herself. She loves to take her inspiration from the real people she discovers, as in her Oscar-winning film Nomadland, and she is brilliant at capturing the landscape and interiors that shape her characters and their stories. Frances McDormand, who starred in Nomadland, says of Zhao that “she’s…like a journalist…she gets to know your story, and she creates a character from that.” Zhao often continues to tweak her scripts on set as the film is being shot, because as she puts it, “My goal is to put the camera inside of the character.” Her films explore identity and the search for belonging, the legacy of a childhood always moving from place to place. Zhao says that she feels her extreme personality and neurodivergence are her superpowers. Jessie Buckley is the perfect choice to play Agnes, who really “wears the pants” in the family, while dad Shakespeare is off in London pursuing what we now know is his inspired artistry. I’ve long felt that Jessie Buckley’s talent has not been recognized. Now it will be. Buckley and Mescal both grew up in Ireland, have worked as actors since childhood, and have built careers in theatre, film, and TV. The children who play Shakespeare’s kids are super talented: Jacobi Jupe, Olivia Lynes, and Bodhi Rae Breathnach. Noah Jupe, an accomplished young actor and Jacobi’s older brother, plays “Hamlet” on stage in the movie. This movie truly humanizes Shakespeare and Agnes so that they are not just legends. It doesn’t matter if every detail is true; this film gives us the playwright as a strikingly human entity who rings true as the author of such an extraordinary body of work. Hamnet, the son of Shakespeare, was born in 1585 and died in 1596, and his tragic
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Coachella Promoter in Talks With Santa Monica Over Major Beachfront Event Site Goldenvoice Is Negotiating With the Santa Monica City Council in Private Session
City officials in Santa Monica are holding closed-door negotiations with Goldenvoice, the concert promoter behind Coachella and Stagecoach, over a potential lease of a large stretch of beachfront property south of the city’s iconic pier, according to a City Council agenda. The proposed deal would give Goldenvoice access to about 12.5 acres of sand, extending from the area south of the pier to the Pico Boulevard stormwater runoff. The agenda does not specify the type of event being considered, and discussions appear to be in the early stages. Goldenvoice is seeking rights to roughly 550,000 square feet of beachfront space, a move that could pave the way for a major music or cultural event along the shoreline. The talks are occurring in closed session, limiting public details about the scope or timing of any potential festival or concert. The negotiations are part of a broader
wave of discussions between the city and several high-profile event producers seeking access to prime coastal venues. According to the agenda, ESPN is pursuing the use of the Santa Monica Pier, while event production company Silverback
is negotiating for Crescent Bay Park and Beach Lot 4 South. The French National Olympic and Sports Committee is seeking to secure the Annenberg Community Beach House, and Anheuser-Busch is also in talks related to pier access.
City records indicate that at least one of the proposed agreements may be tied to preparations for the 2028 Summer Olympics, as international sports and media organizations begin positioning themselves years ahead of the Games.
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OPINION
The Reckoning: A City That Cannot Remember Itself: Part Three of Three SMa.r.t. Santa Monica Architects for a Responsible Tomorrow
In Italo Calvino's "Invisible Cities," an explorer describes places shaped entirely by memory—cities that exist as much in recollection as reality. Santa Monica is becoming Calvino's inverse: a visible city that cannot remember itself, when physical presence masks memorial absence. We stand at civilization's edge—not geographic but temporal. When a city loses its collective memory, what remains isn't a city but real estate. The reckoning isn't coming. It's here. The Living Archive Burns Cities function as humanity's most complex memory devices. As philosopher Kevin Lynch observed, urban environments become "legible" through mental maps residents form over time. These maps layer personal experience onto collective form— the bench where you met your spouse, the corner where your child learned to bike, the shop your grandmother frequented. But what happens when those physical anchors disappear faster than memory can adapt? Santa Monica's transformation represents catastrophic memory loss at urban scale. Every demolished bungalow contained decades of family stories that even the casual observer can sense. Every shadowcasting tower erases solar rhythms evolved over centuries. Every exiled family leaves with irreplaceable knowledge of place. We're not adding chapters to our urban story—we're ripping out pages until the narrative becomes incomprehensible. What Dies When Memory Dies The practical costs are quantifiable: property values falling in shadow zones, small businesses closing without family customers, infrastructure failing under unplanned loads. But the memorial costs transcend spreadsheets. When Santa Monicans cannot form stable mental maps of their neighborhood because it changes too rapidly, they lose what psychologists call "place attachment"—the deep security that comes from environmental familiarity. A
city without collective memory becomes psychologically uninhabitable even when physically occupied. The False Choice Defenders of erasure present a false binary: embrace maximum density or accept stagnation. This ignores successful cities worldwide that honor memory while evolving. Copenhagen preserves human scale while adding gentle density. Barcelona's superblocks reclaim streets for community memory-making. Paris maintains its fundamental structure while accommodating millions. These cities understand what architectural theorist Aldo Rossi taught: urban artifacts—the persistent forms giving cities structure— must be preserved and reinterpreted, not erased. Although the state demands we add truly affordable housing, it’s only achievable by national and state-level resolutions for income and tax issues. The question is, will the demand favor investment in transient studios, ensuring cultural collapse, or will it favor family-sized homes that allow our community to endure. Santa Monica can add housing to preserve collective memory through: Adaptive reuse of existing structures, maintaining a sense of continuity while enabling new uses. Requiring family-sized units that enable intergenerational presence. Preserving view corridors and solar access that orient residents in space and time. Maintaining street walls and rhythms that make neighborhoods recognizable to themselves. These aren't radical propositions. They're basic principles of city-building practiced where cities are understood as cultural repositories, not mere economic zones. The Alternative Future Suppose that instead of allowing studio complexes fostering transience, we mandate housing that enables putting down roots. A city of transient studios has a transient economy. This lacks the stable customer base for the small businesses that define our character. It sees massive infrastructure costs—new schools, expanded sewer and water lines—to support unplanned density, while existing infrastructure in family neighborhoods is underutilized as those very families are priced out. Preserving our community isn't just a cultural act; it's a fiscally responsible one. Imagine Santa Monica choosing memory over amnesia: That our 1.2 million square feet of vacant office space is replaced with adaptive reuse housing. That we acquire existing apartments and deed-restrict them for permanent affordability. That instead of shadow-casting walls, we build permeable neighborhoods that preserve solar access and ocean breezes. This isn't nostalgia—it's survival. Cities
that cannot remember themselves cannot reproduce themselves culturally. They become non-places, interchangeable nodes in global capital flow rather than unique human habitats. November 2026: Memory or Oblivion Three council seats will be contested in November 2026. This election represents possibly our last opportunity to choose between a city that remembers and one that forgets. But victory requires understanding what's at stake. We're not choosing between growth and preservation but between continuity and erasure, between rootedness and displacement, between city as home and city as commodity. By law, candidates must refuse all campaign contributions from developers with active projects before the city. They must pledge to create a robust, independent ethics commission to review all potential conflicts of interest. We must break the financial pipeline that turns our city into a commodity. The Deeper Crime The philosopher Hannah Arendt wrote that the public realm exists to ensure "the reality of the world and ourselves." When that realm becomes illegible through constant transformation, we lose not just places but the ability to verify our own existence through stable surroundings. Santa Monica's erasure represents this deeper crime: the theft of collective capacity to remember, to recognize, to belong. We're not just losing buildings— we're losing the physical substrate that enables community consciousness. This erosion is not accidental and is sanctioned by the city itself in the name of profit. When our leaders pass an ordinance to allow massive digital billboards to be bolted onto the facades of our landmarked buildings on the Promenade, they are literally covering our history with commercialism. They are choosing to monetize our public view and desecrate the architectural artifacts that give our city its unique structure. This isn't just about generating revenue; it's about declaring that a blinking ad is more valuable than the enduring craft of a landmark, that the fleeting attention of a consumer is more important than the collective memory of a place. It is the most literal form of "profitable forgetting," turning our most treasured streets into revenue-generating zones rather than shared cultural spaces. The Choice Before Us We inherit Santa Monica from generations who built a comprehensible city of human scale and multi-generational continuity. What we're bequeathing is an investment vehicle stripped of memory, hostile to families, illegible to inhabitants. This isn't inevitable. Other cities resist. Other communities choose remembering over forgetting, continuity over rupture, evolution over erasure. The machinery
destroying Santa Monica's memory can be stopped—but only if enough people understand that memory, not money, makes cities livable. The question for November 2026 isn't whether Santa Monica will grow but whether it will remember. Whether the accumulated wisdom of place will survive the pressure of profit. The choice is ours. But not for much longer. Once memory dies, no amount of development fees can resurrect it. A city that cannot remember itself is no longer a city. It's just real estate waiting for the next erasure. Jack Hillbrand, Architect, AIA Santa Monica Architects for a Responsible Tomorrow Dan Jansenson (Former Building & Fire-Life Safety Commissioner), Robert H. Taylor, Architect AIA, Thane Roberts, Mario Fonda-Bonardi AIA (Former Planning Commissioner), Sam Tolkin (Former Planning Commissioner), Michael Jolly ARE-CRE, Jack Hillbrand AIA, Landmarks Commission Architect; Phil Brock (Mayor, ret.), Matt Hoefler NCARB, Heather Thomason, Community Organizer For previous SM.a.r.t. articles, see www. santamonicaarch.wordpress.com/writing
December 19 - December 25, 2025
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CuriousCity11/28: SAM CLEMENS, SM, VIETNAM
By CHARLES ANDREWS I DON’T THINK MARK TWAIN Done it this way. Strictly following his outlines? No. But not stream of consciousness Kerouac either. Every writer employs a different, personal method, and it also depends on what you’re writing – a novel, short story, play, or a music review. But there are a few templates. I can’t do stream of consciousness. Well, I can, but if it isn’t art rushing out of your brain onto the page, you’re just a garbage collector. I also can’t write under the influence of anything. I know, there goes my romantic boozy writer’s image. I have never really given outlines a shot, but most of my life, I have written short pieces not really requiring them. And I have a love/hate relationship with the very process of writing (working on that one), which has made me, as my 5th-grade teacher, too honestly enshrined on my report card, “a master at the art of procrastination.” How did he know? I’m still figuring it out. But enough about me. What about Sam Clemens? He was, and by most readers’ estimation, still is Da Man, the greatest American author. He certainly wasn’t a streamer, and though he often had substantial notes on characters and dialogue, it seems he never felt chained to an outline. I have always felt “less than” for not having that discipline. I guess I form a mental outline, as I ponder an upcoming piece for days, slowly eliminating most of the thousands of ways anything can be approached. But you could call that a form of procrastination, eh? I KNEW I WANTED TO WRITE Something about the pickles we are in both locally and nationally. But what to say, and how to say it? That I haven’t said before, that may land in a different way, and make a difference, with some. It’s very complicated. Especially when you overthink it. I have wrestled with the same task many times before. I spent years thinking that if people only knew what was going on, especially in their own backyard, they would be moved to action. Or at least to care. But human emotions are prone to inertia. But this is my town, a pretty small city, and I’ve been here 40 years. Things have only changed for the worse, reflecting the national scene. I can’t forget Coach Jim Valvano’s simple, powerful admonition, whether about basketball or cancer: “don't give up don’t ever give up.” A bookend to another
of my guiding principles, from Rev. Jesse Jackson: “Keep hope alive.” I can’t rely on facts. It is faith, faith in the future. Valvano was near the end of his hard fight against cancer as he made that televised speech. Jackson was coming from 400 years of slavery and oppression. I’m only dealing with greed and corruption. Take a deep breath and keep going. THIS TIME I didn’t have to wrestle and choose over that next column. It was taken out of my hands. By very old video footage, and a song's context. A simple, “bouncy” reggae song. A song Bob Dylan declared either "the best song ever written,” or "the best protest song ever written.” There is some disagreement. Either way… It was Jimmy Cliff’s ‘VIETNAM” (1969, Trojan), which I revisited while writing about his passing for my Wednesday NOTEWORTHY column. I was letting a “Greatest Hits” album play out, and for some reason, when this came on, I took a break from typing to see what the video was. I watched for a while without too much emotion, even though, having been drafted during that terrible time, I have more involvement than, say, a five-time “bone spurs” draft dodger. Then I focused on the lyrics, also simple and repetitive, and coupled with the footage – not bloody, not men being blown apart, but standing or crouching in the jungle, taking aim at unseen “enemy” soldiers. Who were just like them. With families waiting anxiously at home. I looked at them, even without closeups, and saw the parade as part of the 50,000 Americans who lost their lives over there, thought of all the families who got that awful, awful telegram that brought strong fathers and brothers to their knees and mothers and sisters wailing uncontrollably – and I cried. Just a little, not for long. But in that moment, it was suddenly clear there were so many big things so wrong in our world, for so long, that it seemed useless to write about corrupt City Council members or destructive oligarchs. I had in that moment a personal realization of how greatly we all suffer, needlessly, for SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME Case No. 25SMCP00599 Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles 1725 Main St. | Santa Monica, CA 90401 Petition of: Amelia Rose Mockett by and through Amelia Rose Mockett for change of name. ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME To all interested persons: Amelia Rose Mockett Petitioner: filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows: a. Amelia Rose Mockett to Amelia Rose Mockett Wieshofer The court orders that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing. NOTICE OF HEARING: Date: 01/16/26 | Time: 8:30AM | Dept: K A copy of this ORDER to SHOW CAUSE shall be published at least once a week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing on the petition in the following newspaper of general circulation, printed in this county: SANTA MONICA MIRROR | Dated: December 10, 2025 Judge Lawrence Cho Published: 12/12/2025, 12/19/25, 12/26/2025, and 01/02/2026
the power and greed of a few. I’ve written many times that I believe we spin our wheels fighting over small stuff. The folks who control the big stuff like that, of course. The big stuff is really hard to change. But in a related approach, T Bone Burnett writes, “I’m gonna get over this someday, so I might as well get over it now.” INSANE Here’s my personal, hopefully helpful tool. If you stop to think calmly about some situation and it seems insane – it may well be. Can you change insane, or just hope to control it? We have so much insanity that has been normalized. That’s not by accident. If something seems “off” but now normal, unfixable, you will accept it, not fight to change it. So what is insane? That’s a very subjective call. Heavily armed masked men without warrants or due process, grabbing people off the street, including U.S. citizens, torn from their cars, their homes, breaking doors and windows, glass flying, children inside, several large men throwing women and the elderly violently to the ground, and disappearing them? In America? Yeah, that’s insane. Turning down a no-cost proposal by top entertainment veterans to restore our very historic Civic Auditorium to performance
status? Insane. Ramping up a war with Venezuela? Insane. Building more and more dense market-rate housing here when we already have thousands of vacancies, and it won’t help the homeless crisis at all? Insane. Allowing health insurance to skyrocket, leaving tens of millions without, many to die? Why do we have health insurance companies anyway? Denying food to hungry American children? Issuing science-less vaccine misinformation that will kill children? Insane. Substituting harmful plastic grass for real grass at our schools here? Insane. Go ahead, make your own lists. It’s entertaining, and infuriating. And you’ll have a better picture of what we need to do. Oh yeah – war. Insane. Charles Andrews has lived in Santa Monica for 39 years and wouldn’t live anywhere else in the world. Really. Send love and/or rebuke to him at therealmrmusic@gmail.com
NOTICE OF PETITION TO ADMINISTER ESTATE OF JOHN MICHAEL MURPHY To all heirs, beneficiaries, creditors, contingent creditors, and persons who may otherwise be interested in the will or estate, or both, of: JOHN MICHAEL MURPHY A Petition for Probate has been filed by CHRISTOPHER MURPHY in the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Superior Court Case No. 25STPB13513 The Petition for Probate requests that CHRISTOPHER MURPHY be appointed as personal representative to administer the estate of the decedent. The petition requests the decedent’s will and codicils, if any, be admitted to probate. The will and any codicils are available for examination in the file kept by the court. The petition requests authority to administer the estate under the Independent Administration of Estates Act. The independent administration authority will be granted unless an interested person files an objection to the petition and shows good cause why the court should not grant the authority. A hearing on the petition will be held in Los Angeles County Superior Court as follows: Date: JANUARY 12, 2026, Time: 8:30 am. Dept.: 62 The address of the court: 4 Main St. – Ste. 20, Los Altos CA 94022 If you object to the granting of the petition, you should appear at the hearing and state your objections or file written objections with the court before the hearing. Your appearance may be in person or by your attorney. If you are a creditor or a contingent creditor of the deceased, you must file your claim with the court and mail a copy to the personal representative appointed by the court within the later of either (1) four months from the date of first issuance of letters to a general personal representative, as defined in section 58(b) of the California Probate Code, or (2) 60 days from the date of mailing or personal delivery to you of a notice under section 9052 of the California Probate Code. Other California statues and legal authority may affect your rights as a creditor. You may want to consult with an attorney knowledgeable in California law. You may examine the file kept by the court. If you are a person interested in the estate, you may file with the court a Request for Special Notice (form DE-154) of the filing of an inventory and appraisal of estate assets or of any petition or account as provided in Probate Code section 1250. A Request for Special Notice form is available from the court clerk. Petitioner Attorney for Petition: Janet L. Brewer, 4 Main St. Ste. 20, Los Altos, Ca. 94022 Published in the Santa Monica Mirror, 12/05/25, 12/12/2025, and 12/19/2025.
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