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OPINION
STATE
SIDE-SWIPED IN THE CITY GARAGE PAGE 3 SHE WORKS HARD FOR HER LOVEY PAGE 4 SPEED THRILLS PAGE 6 Visit us online at smdp.com
THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 2007
Volume 6 Issue 123
Santa Monica Daily Press BONDS ENJOYING THE RIDE SEE PAGE 15
Since 2001: A news odyssey
THE DESPERATELY SEEKING JESUS ISSUE
Father, son die on PCH ‘A Christmas Story’ director, SMC student killed in head-on crash BY KEVIN HERRERA Daily Press Staff Writer
While many sports fanatics eagerly awaited the beginning of the baseball season, a UCLA graduate-turned-art student at the Art Institute of California is counting the days until the beginning of the pavement chalking art season with the same anticipation. The creator of 17 street chalk pieces over the past two years, 26-year-old Lesley Perdomo, an interactive Media Design student at the Art Institute of California, located on 31st Street, has spent the past six months waiting for the street painting season. The predominantly chalk medium has captured her heart since she was introduced to it through a friend and art partner in 2005. The chalk art season runs from May until
PCH The director of “A Christmas Story” and his son, a gifted music student at Santa Monica College, were killed early Wednesday morning along a stretch of Pacific Coast Highway in the Pacific Palisades when their car collided with an SUV driven by a suspected drunk driver, authorities said. Killed were Robert Clark, 67, of Pacific Palisades, and Ariel Hanrath-Clark, 22, of Santa Monica, according to police. Clark directed a number of movies, including the holiday-season standard “A Christmas Story,” in 1983, and the actioncomedy “Loose Cannons,” in 1990. The New Orleans native also directed, wrote and produced the teen cult films “Porky’s” and “Porky’s II: The Next Day.” The crash occurred around 2:30 a.m. in the 17300 block of PCH, just south of Bay Club Drive. Clark and his son were both pronounced dead at the scene. LAPD investigators said Clark was driving a 1997 Infiniti Q-30 sedan southbound on PCH when the driver of a GMC Yukon — Hector Velazquez-Nava, 24, of Los Angeles — swerved across the center line and hit the Clarks head-on. The road was closed until about 10:40 a.m. on Wednesday as authorities conducted their investigation, said LAPD Officer Jason Lee. Velazquez-Nava and his passenger, Lydia Mora, 29, of Azusa, were transported to a local hospital where they were treated for minor injuries, Lee said. Velazquez-Nava was found to be driving under the influence and operating a motor
SEE CHALK ART PAGE 12
SEE DEADLY CRASH PAGE 14
Photos courtesy of The Art Institute of California — Los Angeles
ALL THE WORLD’S A CANVAS: The works created by a pair of Santa Monica students and budding chalk artists — JJ Jimenez and Lesley Perdomo — have netted the two some major attention both at home and in the chalk art subculture. Both students have designs on other artistic careers.
A temporary place in the world BY MELODY HANATANI Daily Press Staff Writer
SUNSET PARK Chalk is no longer just for kids.
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