The Canyon Chronicle - November 26, 2021 (Volume 2, No. 23) - www.thecanyonchronicle.com

T o p a n g a’ s I n d e p e n d e n t Vo i c e S i n c e 19 7 6 November 26, 2021 • Vol. 2, No. 23

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We Are Thankful...

FOR BEING ABLE TO HELP MEMBERS OF OUR COMMUNITY. FOR THE SUPPORT OF OUR INSPIRING COMMUNITY. TO WELCOME WONDERFUL NEW PEOPLE TO THIS BEAUTIFUL CANYON. TO HELP TOPANGANS MOVE ON TO THEIR NEXT ADVENTURES. FOR BIKO WRIGHT’S HEALTHY TWIN GIRLS. FOR JORDAN’S NEW BABY COMING SHORTLY.

Thank You, Topanga!

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Compass is a real estate broker licensed by the State of California and abides by Equal Housing Opportunity laws. License Number 01991628. All material presented herein is intended for informational purposes only and is compiled from sources deemed reliable but has not been verified. Changes in price, condition, sale or withdrawal may be made without notice. No statement is made as to the accuracy of any description. #1 Topanga agents status based on total closed transaction sides. All measurements and square footage are approximate.

November 26 • Vol. 2 No. 23

Thinking Out Loud

Publisher / Editor Flavia Potenza Creative Director Nira Lichten Senior Reporter Annemarie Donkin Creative Consultant Eiffel Nazaryan Contributors Linda Ballou Joel Bellman Kathie Gibboney Paula LaBrot Kait Leonard Amy Weisberg Copy Editor / Distribution Ellie Carroll

BY JESSICA MCGRAW AND THE ROOM K KIDS. | JESSICAB455@GMAIL.COM

When Topanga elementary Kindergarten teacher Amy Weisberg came up with an idea for her students to use chalk to draw what they are thankful for, Mom and school volunteer, Jessica McGraw, stepped up and created a big colorful rainbow that the kids helped to color. Everyone is thankful for Jessica, too!

Contact US

The Sacrifice of Thankfulness

editor@thecanyonchronicle.com General inquiries: info@thecanyonchronicle.com Advertising inquiries: ads@thecanyonchronicle.com P.O. Box 1101 Topanga, CA 90290 (310) 460-9786

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances...

—Thessalonians 5:16-18

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The Canyon Chronicle is an independent community newspaper published bi-weekly by Canyon Media, Inc.©2020. All rights reserved. thecanyonchronicle.com

T o p a n g a’ s I n d e p e n d e n t Vo i c e S i n c e 19 7 6 November 26, 2021 • Vol. 2, No. 23

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In This Issue: Eagle Scouts; “What are those little blue helicopters buzzing around for?”; Town Council updates; Chanukah 2021; “Women Taking Charge in Changing Times; PortugueseAmerican poet up for 2022 PEN Award; Joel Bellman can’t get enough of The Scottish Play; Paula LaBrot is “Reconnecting;” Kait Leonard returns with astrological signs for “Happy December!”; “The Giving Season”: Did you know Topanga Pet Resort is up for sale? More to consider: local non-profits who could use some end-of-the-year tax-deductable donations to their cause.

—Flavia Potenza

Follow us on Instagram @thecanyonchronicle, & Facebook and twitter @CanyonChronicle

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t’s nice having a little country church just a couple of miles down the road. It’s also nice that the Chabad of Topanga is just up the street and I can walk there in a matter of minutes. I have occasionally called on Rabbi Weiss in times of need and he provided wisdom and comfort although I’m not of the faith. Like many people these days, I’m not a religious person per se, but I follow tenets expressed in many religions that have guided me. I’ve kind of cherry-picked what resonates with me over the years but it’s not a commitment to any one religion.

This idea of Thanksgiving and being thankful falls into a morass of cliches, comforting homilies, counting our blessings. That’s not a bad thing.

On Sunday, November 21, I attended the Topanga Christian Fellowship Church. It was held inside (as if post-pandemic), in the sanctuary, a place of comfort, praise through music, prayer, fellowship, and feasting with a potluck Thanksgiving dinner after the service.

Pastor John Klein, who officiates at the church once a month, gave a short sermon about being thankful based in biblical admonitions. There are many but this one got my attention.

Are we thankful only when we receive something we want? There are biblical references to the “sacrifice of thankfulness.” What does that mean? When all the world seems turned against you, how do you give thanks? It’s easy when all is well but what do you do when your house burns down? When you or a loved one is diagnosed with cancer? I have heard survivors say they are grateful; that their battle with cancer was the best thing that happened to them. Where do we find the strength? Many religions instruct followers to call on a higher power. Intangible as that sounds, it seems to work, not for everyone, but enough of us to ponder being thankful in all circumstances, good or bad.

I didn’t realize that thankfulness is so present throughout the bible, but in society today, it seems the pandemic slowed us down enough to look around and see how much there is to be grateful for. I can’t help but observe grateful hearts often expressed by friends, on TV from people in the most dire of circumstances, and right here in Topanga, in children and their teachers who color in chalk rainbows.

“It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.” Quote Investigator reached back to 1907 for the earliest appearance of this proverb used by William L. Watkinson in a sermon downplaying the use of denunciatory rhetoric (sound familiar?) and championing the importance of good works. (quoteinvestigator.com) Candles against a dark background and red poinsettias seems a good start to the Season of Light.

November 26 • Vol. 2 No. 23

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NEWS Eagle Scout Plaque Rededicated told The Chronicle. “I know Don Upham achieved Eagle and should be added to the plaque. I’m not sure about Vincent.”

“Traditionally, it’s been up to the parents or family of the scout to have the name plate made for the plaque,” Dannenbaum said.

There is room on the second plaque to add new Topanga Eagle Scouts. If there’s agreement among those who contributed to the project, perhaps Don Upham’s name could be added.

To engrave a name plate: The Trophy Shoppe is located at 22557 Ventura Blvd., Woodland Hills, CA 91364; (818) 225-1414; whtrophy101@gmail. com; whtrophy.com.

PHOTO BY FLAVIA POTENZA

By Flavia Potenza On Tuesday, November 9, a group of Eagle Scouts and Eagle Scout dads showed up at the Topanga post office to view and rededicate the replacement plaque honoring Topanga’s Eagle Scouts and share some memories.

Gary Dannenbaum spearheaded the idea of replacing the plaque. It took him most of the summer to complete the project and, like the camaraderie of those scouting days, the community stepped up.

“We all started in Cub Scouts when the kids were in elementary school,” said Dannenbaum, “then we bridged over to Boy Scouts. It was a great way for fathers and sons and the families to gather together. Everyone chipped in, we camped together, worked on badges. That doesn’t happen in a vacuum and the plaque was part of all that. The recognition of a well-earned rank for these kids? I wasn’t going to let that go. I was very proud of my son.”

Jerry Anderson, whose name is the first on the plaque (Troop 20, 1955) said, “Seeing the Eagle plaque returned to the wall of the Post Office was a good day for me. Meeting all the enthusiastic Topanga folks was great.”

Asked what it was like to complete Eagle rank, Anderson wrote: “I was a Life Scout needing only one merit badge to achieve the rank.

I got a job as a camp counselor at Camp Emerald Bay the summer of 1955. During that summer I finally completed the Lifesaving Merit badge and received my Eagle award in the Fall of 1955. It felt good! The Eagle rank also allowed this Topanga boy to spend two more summers on Catalina Island at Emerald Bay from June through the end of August.”

It was a surprise when the Topanga Historical Society’s archivist, Pablo Capra, found articles with pictures of two Topanga scouts who earned their ranks, Leonard Vincent as Star Scout in 1951, and Don Upham as Eagle Scout in 1961.

The Topanga Journal (Friday, May

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11, 1951) reported, “Leonard Vincent was presented with a miniature Star Scout pin by Assistant Scoutmaster Bob Wiley…, which Vincent in turn presented to his mother.”

“Don Upham, 15, of Troop 20 of the Crescent Bay Council, Boy Scouts of America, became the first Topanga Scout to gain the coveted rank of Eagle Scout in ten years.” (Topanga Journal and Malibu Monitor, October 19, 1961).

“I knew both Leonard, who was in troop 20 with me and a couple of years older, and Don Upham, who was 10 years behind us,” Anderson

PHOTOS COURTESY OF TOPANGA HISTORICAL SOCIETY ARCHIVES.

Eagle Scouts and dads of Eagle Scouts gathered at the Topanga Post Office to rededicate the new plaque honoring Topanga’s Eagle Scouts. (From left) Ryan Anderson, nephew of Jerry Anderson; Steve Popper, whose son, Alex is an Eagle Scout; Jerry Anderson (1955, Troop 20); Eric Scheweitzer (in Scout uniform) provided a photo of the original plaque that Dannenbaum used to identify original names; Postmaster Mabel Christie; Ken Wheeland; (back) Gary Dannenbaum; Neil Shaw.

Star Scout Leonard Vincent (1951) and Eagle Scout Don Upham (1961).

The Little Free Library

Letters Get vaccinated!

PHOTO BY FLAVIA POTENZA

On November 13, a ribbon-cutting and party introduced the Entrada/ Colina neighborhood to a new Little Free Library (“Bring a Book, Take a Book”). A musical performance by Peter Alsop entertained the children, as did arts & crafts activities. Host and Native American Indian Kat High (Hupa) added to the event with home-made cookies and other dishes for a native food tasting. “We are excited about this new adventure,” she said.

November 26 • Vol. 2 No. 23

A recent letter in The Canyon ChronicleNews section protesting vaccine mandates (“Cali Free Protests Against Vaccine Mandates,” The Canyon Chronicle, Nov. 12, 2021, No. 22), and a growing “common urgency to take a stand” against mandates, was inflated in its apparent intent to make it appear that local resistance to mandates is in fact “common.”

It is not common. Thankfully, a clear majority supports the contrary as millions of our countrymen are vaccinated and continue to do so.

Certainly people are at liberty to express their opinion and refuse vaccines but they are not at liberty to risk the lives of others when choosing to do so. I have lost two close friends and one relative to COVID. One was a frontline nurse who contracted COVID before vaccines were available. Her last wishes were that we all got vaccines. One decided the COVID outbreak was a liberal scam. When visited in the hospital, he bemoaned his choice not to get vaccinated and sadly passed away two days later.

Over three quarters of a million Americans so far have died of COVID. This article presents its cause as a growing movement. Perhaps so, but by no means to a degree that gives legitimacy to this recent letter’s journalistic hyperbole.

—Philip Daughtry,Topanga

Improving Wildfire Resilience Some time next month, an MD 500 helicopter, crewed by a conservation science team will be flying over the Santa Monica Mountains to map 46 fire-spreading invasive weeds as part of a community wildfire resilience program.

By Deanne DiPietro Like the deadly 2018 Woolsey Fire, wildfires have increased in frequency and intensity in recent years due to a combination of human and climate factors. Improving wildfire resilience has become an urgent matter for communities across California.

The Santa Monica Mountains Woolsey Fire Recovery and Adaptation Program is a collaborative multi-agency effort working to reduce the risk of loss of life, property, and natural resources from future wildfires in the Santa Monica Mountains region.

Funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and managed by Conservation Biology Institute, the project is working with local agencies to conduct community education to increase wildfire preparedness while taking steps to reduce the likelihood and severity of wildland fire.

One important aspect of reducing the risks of catastrophic wildfire is fuels management. Fires

Map of the area (in pink) being surveyed by helicopter may be viewed dynamically on databasin.org.

like the Woolsey Fire can replace native vegetation with fast-growing invasive weeds that produce fine, dry fuels that easily ignite and help fires spread rapidly.

To tackle this problem, a coalition of open space land managers from California State Parks, the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (SMMNRA), and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy (SMMC) are mapping 46 target species known to be invading Santa Monica Mountains public lands. These maps will enable the agencies to prioritize their invasive species control efforts to protect native habitat while increasing public safety.

To map such a large and rugged area safely and effectively the program has enlisted Morgan Ball and Katrina Olthof of Wildlands

CREDIT

CREDIT

In December this MD 500 helicopter and crew will be surveying areas for fire-spreading invasive plants in the Santa Monica Mountains.

Conservation Science, a team that specializes in identifying and mapping plant species from the air, to survey the region in their blue MD 500 helicopter (the same model of helicopter flown by Jay Hernandez in the TV series, Magnum PI). Ball and Olthof are Santa Monica Mountains natives and environmental scientists with extensive backgrounds in bird

and plant ecology. The flight team takes care to fly the helicopter in a winding pattern so as not to spend more than a short time in any single location and to minimize downdrafts on vegetation that could disturb wildlife and kick up dust, producing only a mild gust of wind as it passes through an area as they scan for their target species.

The Santa Monica Mountains weed mapping surveys are being conducted in 2021 and 2022; the summer tour was completed in June, and in December the crew will fly Topanga Canyon and other nearby creek canyons looking for Arundo donax, also known as giant reed, a large, fast-growing plant that chokes streams and riparian habitat that can be seen best when leaves are off the trees. Watch for the small blue aircraft as it carries out its important mission to keep your neighborhood safe from wildfire!

Community outreach and education efforts under the Santa Monica Mountains Woolsey Fire Recovery and Adaptation Program are being implemented by the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains (RCDSMM).

For more information about this project, please visit the program’s webpage at https://consbio.org/ products/projects/santa-monicamtns-fire-resilience.

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November 26 • Vol. 2 No. 23

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NEWS

Topanga Town Council November Meeting

By Annemarie Donkin The health and safety of the Topanga Community was the top issue when Council President Carrie Carrier and Vice President Alisa Land Hill cohosted the Nov.10 Zoom meeting of the Topanga Canyon Town Council (TCTC) with updates from the Sheriff ’s Dept., CHP, L.A. County Fire and guest speaker Rachel Simon, Housing and Homeless Deputy for the Third District.

Sheriff ’s Department Briefing Crime Report. Deputy Michael Cerveny reported “that in October, there was one residential burglary, one theft from a locked vehicle, two grand thefts over $950, one petty theft, three burglaries from unlocked vehicles, and one grand theft auto.

This is a total of nine crimes in October 2021. This year’s total was 44 crimes compared to 53 last year; crime is down 17% this year.”

Residential burglary on the 21600 block of Encina Lane, currently being investigated by crime detectives. A glass door leading from the bathroom to the backyard had been smashed to gain entry.

Paperwork and weapons were stolen from the location. No suspects were seen or heard.

Theft from an unlocked vehicle in the 1700 block of Sylviana Lane.

Two guitars were stolen from inside the vehicle.

Two thefts of catalytic converters occurred in October, one in the 200 block of North Topanga Canyon Blvd. and the other in the 3100 block of Hoder Drive. The vehicles targeted were a 2005 Toyota Prius and a 2007 Honda CR-V. “They are easy to get into and have lots of metal they want,” Deputy Cerveny said.

Theft of an ATM card was reported in the 20900 block of Waveview Drive. The victim received notification of fraudulent activity on her ATM card.

Theft in 600 block of Old Topanga Canyon Road. Property stored in the victim’s garage was stolen.

Theft of a Motorcycle in the 1600 block of Sycamore Drive; the motorcycle is still outstanding.

Vehicle burglary in the 600 block of Old Topanga Canyon Road. The keyholes to the driver’s side and passenger front doors were damaged to gain entry. A hat, coin purse, cash and credit cards were stolen from inside the vehicle.

Theft was reported in the 20400 block of rural Paradise Lane—a dolly, wrench, and two wooden sawhorses were stolen from the site.

CHP Traffic Report. October 2021. Weston Haver, Public Information Officer, California Highway Patrol, West Valley Area,

reported that for Topanga Canyon Blvd. from the two-mile bridge to the L.A. limits (Cezanne Ave.), the CHP responded to six traffic collisions, three were injury collisions and three were property damage. The “primary collision factors” were unsafe turning and unsafe speed. There were five traffic collisions for the same reporting period in 2020.

For Topanga Canyon Boulevard from two-mile bridge to PCH, Haver reported that the CHP responded to two traffic collisions and both were injury collisions. The “primary collision factors” were DUI and unsafe U-turn. For the same reporting period in 2020 there were three traffic collisions.

To report unsafe driving behaviors in Topanga and the Santa Monica Mountains, please call CHP dispatch at (323) 259-3200.

L.A. County Fire Department. “In October, there was one fire, 31 calls, and a one-acre fire from fireworks,” reported Los Angeles County Fire Chief Drew Smith. “We took 3,000 gallons out of 69 Bravo; we had some routing service calls, animal rescues, and a big ‘Thank You’ for the Chili Dinners; the firefighters all loved it.

Thank you for reviving that. We take a lot of pride in what we do; your fire family extends well beyond Topanga.

We are at your service, out and about

and ready to perform,’” he said.

Guest Speaker Rachael Simon, Housing and Homeless Deputy for Third District Supervisor Sheila Kuehl.

Simon said implementation of the County’s Wildfire-Encampments motion is progressing and provided information regarding the County’s current approach to managing the homelessness crisis in Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones (VHFHSZ).

“We passed a motion a few months ago prohibiting camps in VHFHS Zones,” Simon reported.

“The Motion was to reduce the risk of fires now that fire season is longer and we are drier. The vast majority of County homeless are in the Santa Monica Mountains, the Antelope Valley, and Angeles Crest.”

TCTC President Carrier asked whether Project Home Key is available for folks living in RVs, campers and cars.

“For Project Room Key, we use FEMA funds to lease hotels and motels for those most vulnerable to COVID-19,” Simon explained. “How long can we extend them? It’s when there is housing available.” Simon also reported that they are looking for housing countywide.

“For Project Home Key, we work with the City of Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley,” said Simon.

“The County purchased sites for outside of L.A.; there are no areas

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November 26 • Vol. 2 No. 23

Chanukah, Lighting the Way on the Westside. We are on Project Home Key 2.0 and we desperately need interim and permanent housing in the Westside.”

The County has officially started its Winter Emergency Shelter Program from Nov. 1, 2021-March 31, 2022.

All shelters require people to be over 18 and to call before coming, as capacity is limited. Transportation can be arranged to some shelters by calling 2-1-1. Please note that pets are allowed at facilities as well as up to two bags. Shelters will be operating 24-hours a day due to COVID-19 and three meals will be served daily.

Library Report. Library Manager Ashley Abrams reported that Storytime starts up again on Dec. 1 and the teen program starts up on Nov. 30. Abrams also reported that the Community Room will be open again for meetings for 8–13 people.

Topanga Elementary Charter School. Council Vice President Alisa Land Hill reported that they had a successful Halloween Carnival but funding and the student population are down.

“We are reviving the school science program and are searching for a new science instructor,” Land Hill said. “We are thinking about activism and sustainability.” She added that the school is looking for school aides. “We need passionate and committed people and pay $20

an hour,” she said.

Topanga Access Cards. Renew your cards online. First-time cardholders should call to arrange an appointment. Call (310) 4553001, then press 0 to leave your name and phone number. Call Lindsay Zook for an appointment at (310) 569-8931 or purchase online at: topangatowncouncil.org.

Topanga Canyon Town Council (TCTC) is looking for volunteers to help on various activities. For more information: contact@ topangatowncouncil.org or (310) 455-3001. Formed in 1977 in response to needs unique to the mountain community, residents created the TCTC to serve as a liaison with Topanga’s official governing body, the Los Angeles County Supervisor’s Office, and other agencies that serve the unincorporated areas.

Government Contacts: Third District Supervisor Sheila Kuehl’s Office—Contact Tessa Charnofsky at TCharnofsky@bos. lacounty.gov; Phone (818) 880-9416 State Senator Henry Stern’s Office— Contact Jeremy Wolf at Jeremy.

Wolf@sen.ca.gov; Phone (818) 876-3352 Assemblymember Richard Bloom’s Office—Tim Pershing at Tim. Pershing@asm.ca.gov; (310) 450-0041

Blessed are You, Lord our G-d, King of the universe, who has granted us life, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this occasion.

Blessing 3 Looking at the events today, you start to wonder.

The story of a little candle pushing away the monster of frightening darkness, of human sensibility overcoming terror and brute force, of life and growth overcoming destruction, the battle is very much alive within each of us, and in the world outside of us.

It reoccurs at every winter solstice, at every dawn of each day, with every photon of sunlight that breaks through the earth’s atmosphere bringing it warmth and life-nurturing energy. With every breath of life, every cry of a newborn child, every blade of grass that breaks out from under the soil, every decision to do good in the face of evil, to be kind where there is cruelty, to build where others destroy, to move humanity forward when others pull us toward chaos.

That is Chanukah.

Chanukah is an eight-day spiritual journey. Many people know the story of Chanukah but only as a historical pretext

to give gifts and eat latkes.

We can call that the body of Chanukah; the soul of Chanukah is its meditation, joy, warmth and light. Not only in our homes with our loved ones, but with the entire world. In this tradition, Chabad presents this historic Menorah Lighting. Our hope is that by igniting our souls, everybody will follow and light the world, one candle at a time.

We look forward to having you join us for the Public Menorah Lighting Ceremony on Sunday, November 28th at 4:30 p.m. at Pine Tree Circle, and making this Chanukah very special.

Sincerely, Rabbi Dovid & Dina Weiss Directors, Chabad of Topanga For more information: (310) 4551597; Rabbiweiss@hotmail.com; chabadoftopanga.com

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November 26 • Vol. 2 No. 23

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theater

Women Taking Charge in Cha Claire Denis, the Indispensable Entrepreneur

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PHOTO BY JENNA SWEENEY

Claire Denis of Cafe Mimosa, as indispensable to her business as she is to Topanga.

f you live in Topanga, chances are you’ve been to Cafe Mimosa.

The second longest-standing establishment in the canyon, Mimosa has served as a meeting ground for the community since 1993. It is, arguably, as indispensable to Topanga as anything else could be— but, undoubtedly, nothing is as indispensable to Cafe Mimosa as Claire.

Claire grew up in the countryside of Normandy, France, where she started working at a very young age. Her work ethic and high energy that developed so early on, very much informed her career.

In 1988, she visited Los Angeles for the first time with her American partner, whom she connected with in Paris. Later, the couple would make L.A. home, settling in the San FernandoValley, not too far away from Topanga. She took on a number of jobs to stay busy, among them, baking for coffee shops, making hats, creating greeting cards, and even dabbled in sculpture.

It wasn’t until she began working at Cafe Mimosa, owned by another French woman, that she found her groove and true sense of home within the community. Eighteen years ago, the opportunity arose for her and her partner to take over the business and they excitedly hopped on it, hoping to generate a steady income for their two kids, Theo, now 29, and Pauline, now 23, who often helps behind the counter. Since then, Mimosa has thrived, serving the community and those passing through, day in and day out.

Her favorite part of the business, she says, is to share in people’s lives, and watch friendships, new and old, blossom. Claire tries to source her goods, baked and handmade, from creatives in Topanga in order to support the community, especially during these times. The pandemic, she says, was actually good for business, as people clung to familiarity and community in any way they knew how. She also attributes this success to her attitude, remarking, “If you surrender to what is, everything flows—just allow it to become something else.”

With charm, both old and new, Cafe Mimosa has consistently represented home for many people, keeping them grounded and connected in a changing world, all thanks to Claire.

—Jenna Sweeney

Elizabeth Carter of Honest Rituals Holistic Skincare and Ethereal Yoga Studio Serendipity seems to have brought entrepreneur Elizabeth Carter into another test of “patience, persistence and teamwork” for her and her partner.

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November 26 • Vol. 2 No. 23

CREDIT

n 2019, Elizabeth Carter turned off of CA-1 onto Route 27 to visit a friend and found instant resonance in Topanga Canyon’s curving roads and mountainside magic. She knew it was meant to be. At the time, Elizabeth was living on the water with her partner in San Diego on a sailboat the two of them had refurbished together. She says the gritty, salty remodel was “the ultimate test” of patience, persistence, and teamwork for her and her sixth-grade sweetheart, Bailey, who reconnected in their late teens. As things often do in Topanga, the circumstances of their move fell miraculously into place, inviting them to settle into their new reality with a sense of ease and confidence.

Growing up on forty acres near Mt. Shasta, Elizabeth has always been rooted in natural living, often using only materials from the Earth to cook, heal, care, and play with since she was young. After high school, she studied aesthetics and tried her hand in Med Spa before returning to a more holistic practice.

Now, she runs Honest Rituals Holistic Skincare, which has been primely situated in Pine Tree Circle since March. Here, Elizabeth Carter’s yoga studio offers an inclusive boutique yoga studio offering yoga, offers healing treatments such as a Contouring Facial Massage, Elizabeth meditation, workshops, and community. a non-surgical procedure that “lifts, tones, firms, and rebalances the facial posture” using a mixture of organic plants and oils; as well as and each other, balancing their bodies and their sanity during this Sugaring, which is an ancient, natural hair removal treatment for women. time of collective limbo. The studio offers a collection of yoga classes, Located right next to the Honest Rituals Studio was an open unit— in addition to weekly workshops such as soundbaths and blindfolded and an opportunity. Loving their new home base, Elizabeth and yoga. In the short time since they opened the studio, Elizabeth and Bailey found just one thing was missing in Topanga: a yoga studio.

Bailey have already proven that their patience, persistence, and This prompted them to create Ethereal Yoga Studio, which opened its teamwork can translate from the sea to the studio. doors in August. Their ambitions for the studio reach beyond a place Ethereal Yoga Studio is located at 120 North Topanga Canyon Blvd., Suite of pracice. Elizabeth and Bailey see Ethereal as a space that serves the 105, Topanga, CA 90290; (619) 316-2994, etherealyogastudio.com. community: where Topangans can gather to connect with themselves —Jenna Sweeney

anging Times Lori Precious was Born to Draw Artist Lori Precious creates art that is in veneration of the fragile side of life.

P

erhaps no one knows better that endings are also beginnings than Lori Precious.

Before she was the Lori Precious we’ve come to know—the Topanga artist who draws whimsical illustrations for comfy sweatshirts, blankets, and mugs for her brand, Topanga Bohemian, that are for sale at her Etsy store and at Cafe Mimosa—there is a depth, an authenticity to her life experience before Topanga that we can only hint at here.

As a child, she traveled the world with her parents “who moved around a lot. Mogadishu was transformative,” she says. “The genesis of my art was being born; I was drawing from the very beginning. There was no question that I would ever be a mathematician or a doctor; my career would be visual.” It was, but not quite what she expected.

“In 1981, after graduating from Western Michigan University in art and design, I moved from Michigan to LA, and kind of ‘tripped’ into entertainment advertising. By age 25, I was VP at NBC’s ad agency for print advertising, making $100,000 a year and traveling all over the world to art direct photo shoots in the golden age of TV movies.

Here I was, just a bumpkin from Michigan and scared out of my mind so I just worked extra hard and did the job. I’m proud that I worked on the advertising for the first movie about AIDS, An Early Frost.”

But the farther she got into the world of entertainment advertising, “I was getting farther away from creating art. So I quit my job and enrolled in Art Center in Pasadena for illustration. In my very first semester I took a fine arts class, fell in love with that world and switched my major. The first fine art piece I did was put in the student gallery, then picked up by a major LA gallery to exhibit. It got an amazing review in the LA Times.

When you are young, it seems success can happen kind of magically.”

“Concurrent with that new life as a fine artist, I went back to working at an ad agency to support myself and kind of fell into directing promos, music videos and commercials. Previously, I had only art directed print shoots and I didn’t know shit about live-action directing but I had an artist’s eye, a distinct visual style that got me hired. I was always reliable and a hard worker and went on to become one of the most successful female commercial directors in history.

At the time, becoming a live-action director happened so organically that I didn’t realize how freakishly fortunate I was to be a successful working female director.

“As I got older, my career as a director waned and I started to become more aware of the discrimination against female directors. A small group of female directors at the Directors Guild of America (DGA) started to take action against long-standing discriminatory hiring practices by studios and networks but we faced a lot of resistance from the DGA, the studios and networks, who flat-out denied there was a problem at all. Our group of women started to grow and gain traction and I became the spokesperson on CBS National News for the issue. Eventually, we took our case to the ACLU and the EEOC where they both found compelling evidence of a pattern of discrimination against women directors. It really wasn’t until the Me Too movement that people finally began to see what was under their noses the whole time.”

During that time, Precious had a son, Miles, then adopted a daughter, Silanchi, from Ethiopia. Both kids, she says. “are true Topanga kids who went to Children’s Corner and Topanga Elementary.

Miles just graduated from Cal Arts this year and Silanchi is a junior at Palisades High.”

Life for Precious as a fine artist took a nasty turn when the world’s wealthiest contemporary artist, Damian Hirst, well known for his theft of other artists’ ideas, plagiarized her series of butterfly wings arranged to look like stained glass windows. His version of her work became his highest selling art at auctions like Sotheby’s where pieces sell for tens of millions of dollars. This theft of her work has been well documented in The Guardian, the BBC, in a book, “The Dangerous World of Butterflies,” and she is cited on Hirst’s Wikipedia page. The experience of her art being copied, she said, “...gutted me and I didn’t show at all for a long time” In 2016, she started another creative project, a self-funded business, Ethio Sky, based in Ethiopia where she worked with talented female tribeswomen artists in the most remote part of Africa, Omo Valley, Ethiopia. “We created an arrangement where I would pay them up front to create patterns for me, then I would go back to LA where I learned how to transfer their art onto textiles. I would then sell that work, go back and pay the women for more patterns. I was just the bridge, but one woman was able to buy a treasured cow with her earnings. She named it Lori.

“Before Ethio Sky, I didn’t know how to make products or work on PhotoShop, or sell online or in person. Now I know how to do all those things and have the confidence to put out a quality product.

Sadly, I had to discontinue Ethio Sky when the pandemic and the civil war in Ethiopia hit and made it unsafe to travel there.”

“I love LA; it’s been good to me.

Especially Topanga, which fits me like a comfortable old hippie shoe. I have flourished here in my many artistic pursuits but what I want out of my life right now is authenticity.

That means getting back to my original identity as an illustrator and during the pandemic, after many years, I started drawing again.”

“As you can see, the end is also the beginning.”

Flowers in Her Hair

Example of Stained Glass Window made with Butterfly wings.

November 26 • Vol. 2 No. 23

9

THE READABLE FEAST Poet Millicent Borges-Accardi Nominated for 2022 PEN Award Look for the latest collection, “Through a Grainy Landscape,” by one of Topanga’s own, acclaimed as a leading poet of the Portuguese-American experience.

acclaim as a leading poet of the PortugueseAmerican experience with a new collection of breathtaking scope. She inhabits the new artistic frontier in exploring what heritage means to those descended from immigrants... Our times call for a resetting of sensibilities: while housebound, we can “look for kindness.” If grief is “…shrapnel under the skin working a way out,” and women are expected to be “zany volcanoes” before they explode into invisibility, it could be that whole new ways of being are set to emerge.

—Katherine Vaz Author of “Saudade, Mariana, Fado & Other Stories;” “Our Lady of the Artichokes”

C

ongratulations to Topanga poet Millicent Borges-Accardi, whose body of works has earned her a nomination for a 2022 PEN award.

Her latest poetry collection, “Through a Grainy Landscape,” that comes out at the end of this year, is inspired by lines from contemporary Portuguese writings, with blurbs by Katherine Vaz and Frank Gaspar. It is published by New Meridian Arts (the publisher of a recent translation re-issue of Nuno Judice’s book, “The Religious Mantle.”)

“In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in writers with heritage in Lusophone countries, expanding, perhaps, into a new movement for an overlooked literary world, especially with Richard Zenith’s seminal biography of Pessoa,” says Borges-Accardi.

Among her awards are fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, Fulbright, Canto Mundo, Creative Capacity, the California Arts Council, and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts (COVID grant), the Corporation of Yaddo, Fundação Luso-Americana (Portugal), and the Barbara Deming Foundation, “Money for Women.”

She lives in the hippie-arts community of Topanga, CA, where she curates Kale Soup for

10

November 26 • Vol. 2 No. 23

This collection of poems is as lush and volcanic as the Azorean landscape, grounded in earthiness, rich with the yearning for the sea, and seasoned with saudade.

—paulA neves

the Soul and Loose Lips poetry readings.

Praise for “Through a Grainy Landscape” “Through a Grainy Landscape” is an important book for this strange historical moment and beyond. I’m stunned by the beauty of its solemnity.

—Gail Wronsky, Topanga, CA Author of “Under the Capsized Boat We Fly: New & Selected Poems” Millicent Borges-Accardi adds luster to her

A vital book for those of us whose heritage is Portuguese, but it’s also an important book for American readers of every background and tradition. It stands as an aesthetic bridge between cultures.

—Frank X. Gaspar Author of The Poems o f Renata Ferreira, The Holyoke, and Leaving Pico:A Novel For more information: millb@aol.com; Salmon Poetry Collection (Only More So @ Amazon); @ TopangaHippie on Twitter; Água mole em pedra dura tanto dá até que fura Introduction.

RUDE INTERRUPTIONS The Scottish Play

by Joel Bellman

E

ven if it weren’t adapted and directed by the Joel half of the Coen Brothers filmmaking team, I’d run out to see the upcoming Tragedy of Macbeth, set for Christmas release and later streaming. It seems I can’t get enough of this story, and I’m not alone.

Audiences are presumably so familiar with the material that the cryptic trailer makes no mention of Shakespeare at all, offering only a montage of grimly iconic images: circling ravens, a mist-shrouded forest, a troubled king, and a sinister Lady Macbeth, set to a pounding drum and a Weird Sister’s croaking prophecy.

This is only the latest commercial film release of one of Shakespeare’s most popular and enduring tragedies, which has seen countless stage adaptations and revivals since its debut more than 500 years ago. Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum last revived it in 2008. The so-called “Scottish play”—an old theater superstition has it that it’s bad luck to pronounce its name unless you’re actually performing or rehearsing it, hence the euphemism—has spawned many dozens of creative film and stage adaptations over the last century, not all of them tragic.

There are parodies: In 1966, Berkeley activist Barbara Garson penned Macbird!, a satire that cast LBJ and Lady Bird Johnson as Lord and Lady Macbeth, with JFK as the hapless ruler who falls victim to their murderous ambitions, and is avenged when his brother ascends to the throne.

It ran nearly 400 performances Off-Broadway, to mostly rave reviews. And twenty years ago, the goof, Scotland, PA, recast Joe McBeth as a lowly employee in a hamburger stand whose harpy wife pushes him to murder its owner (named Duncan, like Shakespeare’s doomed king) so he can take over the franchise, ignoring the prophecies of three hippie witches. Christopher Walken turns up as Lt. Mcduff, the affable cop who cracks the case.

There are mob dramas: In the 1955 British Joe Macbeth, he’s an underboss who decides to rub out the big guy and take over (tagline: “A man lusting for power…a woman hot with ambition..and not a moral between them!”) A 1990 American production took the same idea and turned it into a competent Scorsese knockoff, carried by an intense John Turturro as Mike Battaglia with Rod Steiger as the ill-fated mob boss Charlie D’Amico, with a murderer’s row of top Italian-American actors in supporting roles.

In 1971, still deeply grieving over the murder of his wife, Sharon Tate, director Roman Polanski was coaxed back to work when Hugh Hefner offered to bankroll a new production of Macbeth, which Polanski adapted with critic and playwright Kenneth Tynan; violent, gory, and deeply disturbing, it remains one of the most striking and faithful of all the film versions.

Perhaps the most unique and artistically successful transposition was Kurosawa’s celebrated adaptation, Throne of Blood, starring Toshiro Mifune as a samurai warlord in feudal Japan. Can it still be Shakespeare without the language? With character, plot, and emotional conflicts intact, I would say yes.

Macbeth captivated me when I first read it in a high-school English class. More than 40 years earlier, it also captured the imagination of a young Orson Welles, who first staged it as a student at the Todd School for Boys in Woodstock, Illinois.

Several years later, he recorded a version with his Mercury Theater players on an album set of 78 rpm discs. In 1948, he directed and starred in a relatively low-budget but faithful adaptationthat

Voodoo Macbeth premier at Lafayette Theatre, Harlem, April 14, 1936. (Library of Congress)

From left, Orson Welles (Jewell Wilson Bridges) confers with John Houseman (Daniel Kuhlman) and Rose McClendon (Inger Tudor) (USC School of Cinematic Arts)

was only released in mangled form by the studio and panned at the time. But with its 1980 restoration by UCLA film archivist Bob Gitt, his Macbeth has recovered its reputation and taken its rightful place alongside Welles’s other highly regarded Shakespeare features, Othello and Chimes At Midnight.

By far the most interesting, Welles’ Macbeth project was the one that gave him his first big professional break, when he and producer John Houseman in 1936 staged a legendary production from the Negro Theater Unit of FDR’s Federal Theater Project known as the Voodoo Macbeth, which set the story in a Caribbean island with an all-Black cast. After months of rehearsals, funding and political conflicts, casting challenges, and other problems, the production finally came together and was a sensational critical and popular success, running for three months in New York and another three months on tour throughout New England and the Midwest. It helped introduce Shakespeare to a popular audience, established Black actors as serious classical performers, and secured the reputation of its 20-year-old actordirector, who would go on to become a radio star and, for a brief shining moment, a Hollywood wunderkind filmmaker.

And it inspired one of the most unique Macbeth film projects I’ve seen, but unfortunately one that has yet to find a commercial distributor: Voodoo Macbeth, a lightly fictionalized account of how the Welles-Houseman production came together, is a USC School of Cinematic Arts student feature underwritten by Warner Bros. and overseen by a faculty advisor with extensive industry experience.

Despite having ten student directors and eight student writers, it’s a tonally and thematically

seamless and professional production in every way, and enormously enjoyable.

When I spoke to producer Jason Phillips and the male lead, Jewell Wilson Bridges (who makes his feature film debut as Orson Welles), they explained its appeal this way. Phillips told me, “It’s one of those stories that once you hear about, everyone is, like, ‘Wait, how did I not know about this?’” As he noted, “In the shifting world of cinema right now, and discovering more stories that have been untold, this was a great opportunity to bring to light something that would be timely, we could look at the 1930s through a 2020 lens, and do something that we all felt very passionate about.”

Bridges’ passion was equally clear: “The story is so much bigger than this film and our project, and we really hope it sparks in the hearts and minds of people because this story is so important, and it connects to everything happening today.”

As a cautionary tale of unbridled ambition and lust for power untethered from any moral constraints, the story is today almost too onthe-nose. “You didn’t have to change a whole lot to show how the humanity and all the struggles around this story are still just as pertinent,” Bridges adds, “and occurring to this very day.”

Like so many others, these young filmmakers discovered for themselves that, as Bridges put it, “the story is strong enough to support reinterpretation.” And that is why the tragedy of Macbeth, despite its seemingly endless multi-media and avant-garde incarnations— from heavily promoted studio productions to precocious student projects—continues to resonate deeply, and continues to thrill and move and enlighten us. n

November 26 • Vol. 2 No. 23

11

ALL THINGS CONNECTED Reconnecting

By Paula LaBrot

M

any of us will have spent the beautiful Thanksgiving holiday connected, once again, with loved ones. It has been two years since COVID-19 shattered our gatherings, sending people all over the world into isolation, separating friends and families from celebrating the greatest rites of passage in life— birthdays, graduations, marriages, new life, anniversaries, promotions, retirements, performances—even leaving people to die alone.

Undaunted, people found ways to connect. Thanks to technology like the Zoom and Skype platforms, people were able to share Thanksgiving meals with each other over the internet. During the last, almost two years, people worshipped, taught, learned, entertained, worked, collaborated, shopped, got married, shared celebrations, even mourned together in cyberspace. For these connections, we are grateful, but this kind of social distancing has had its price.

The Costs of Social Isolation According to the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research at Cornell University, “The COVID-19 pandemic is having a significant impact on the mental health and well-being of people across the globe.

Measuring its impact and designing interventions to help improve mental well-being is currently underway

and a top priority for researchers.”

Symptoms of depression, anxiety and insomnia are results of isolation.

The long-term effects on children are not even known yet. Stressors like the fear of getting the virus or giving it to a loved one, disruptions of routines, lack of opportunity for social development and developing problem-solving skills, increased violence at home, increased substance abuse at home, virtual learning effects on neurological development, limited outdoor play and exercise, all have affected a whole generation of children for whom depression, anxiety and suicide numbers have risen.

There Are Physical Costs As Well As Mental Costs.

A study led by an epidemiologist at Newcastle University concluded that deficiencies in social relationships are associated with a higher risk for coronary heart disease and stroke.

A study published in the “Journals of Gerontology” concluded that loneliness was associated with a 40 percent increase in the risk of dementia. Links between social isolation and serious medical conditions are not fully understood, but ample evidence supports the connec tion. A study published in the “American Journal of Epidemiology” linked social isolation with higher risks of premature mortality.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) points to loneliness and isolation as serious public health risks.”

Paula’s mom turns 100 in January 2022

Coming Out of Isolation Have you ever rehabilitated a wild animal? I had a hawk that was released to the wild after rehab. When the crate door was opened, the hawk did not shoot out of its captivity. It felt safe in the crate. It tentatively found its way out before flying to a branch close by. It took a while before it threw itself into freedom, taking control of its own life once more.

I see this same phenomenon among people now. People have become accustomed to their “COVID caves.” Marney White, a psychologist and public health professor at Yale School of Public Health, said that those anxious about re-entering society as more things start to open back up, may want to try an anxiety reduction treatment known as “fading.” That is when a person very gradually introduces themselves to their phobic situation. In this case, people may want to ease out of their homes by first going

on a walk, then doing an outdoor get-together with other vaccinated individuals, going somewhere indoors with a mask on, and so on. White said “They can continue to approximate normal by taking gradual steps….

Once you get used to a setting again then you can take the next step toward the next setting.”

My Gratitude Pilgrimage G and I took a trip this fall. We faded into hotel rooms, restaurants, roadside attractions. I’m not going to lie. It was a little weird, even for me, who still went out to shop and visit family during these last couple of years. I had some antiseptic wipes for hotel remotes and bathroom handles.

But it was good…it really was.

The best was visiting dear friends face-to-face, being able to hug them and get a hug back, being able to catch up with all the nuances of body language and facial expressions, feeling so loved, so happy to be with them. I am overwhelmingly grateful to have had the chance to hug and kiss and thank my best friend, who will be traveling soon far past the ugly reach of fear. To thank them all, all these dear friends, personally and intimately, for all the years, all the love, laughter, tears of friendship, was really emotional, let me tell you. As will be Thanksgiving, with my whole family present—from my nearly 100-year-old mom (this January), to coming attractions (another January expectation)—All Things Connected.

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November 26 • Vol. 2 No. 23

Astrology

This is not the time to jump into a new project. It’s fine to make tentative plans, but not a good period for launching them.

Remember, Revisit, Reexamine. Happy December!

By Kait Leonard

T

he last eclipse in a series, Venus moving backwards, the final showdown between Saturn and Uranus, Jupiter moving into Pisces.

Grab your birth chart now (available free online: astro.com; astro-charts. com), and let’s explore December.

The biggest event this month is the final confrontation between Saturn and Uranus on December 23rd. The planet of the establishment, Saturn, will rumble with the planet of revolution, Uranus. We experienced this energy on February 17th and June 14th, so remember back to get an idea of what’s heading your way.

This is a time in our personal experiences when we strain against limits imposed from outside. We want to march to our own beat, but our practical side is fighting against taking those mold-shattering actions. Your natal chart will give hints about which energy will win.

On a global scale, this configuration can bring upheaval between groups who want systemic change and those who cling to the existing system.

This energy will follow us into 2022, but the big bang is this month.

Another huge happening is the total solar eclipse on December 3rd.

I know I told you last month that we’re entering a new eclipse season, with eclipses (i.e., life changes) in the signs of Taurus and Scorpio.

That’s true, except for this final blackout in the signs of Gemini and Sagittarius. This period will be one of tying up the loose ends of the transformations that began in June 2020. Does that period ring any bells?

Revisit the issues you’ve been working on since then and consider

what might still need to be done.

We have a last opportunity to incorporate these karmic lessons before fully plunging into the next phase of our cosmic journey.

This final eclipse in the series may seem like a big deal (and it is) but it’s got nothing on the Venus retrograde which begins on December 19th, when the planet of love, money, beauty, and pleasure will appear to stand still in the sky before beginning backward movement in Capricorn.

Venus will continue to move back and forth in Capricorn until March 2022. The sign of the goat stands for structure, formality, hard work, and boundaries. While Venus is retrograde in this sign, we will be asked to reexamine her issues to see if their structures are solid and if boundaries are set appropriately.

How’s that relationship working out? What do you think about your investment portfolio? Have you been considering some kind of beautification project?

Before we get too excited, this is not the time to jump into a new project. It’s fine to make tentative plans, but not a good period for launching them. As Venus moves backward, you might not see things perfectly. The plans we make now may still need a final revision when she turns and covers that same territory in her next forward movement. So, during retrograde phases revise things that have already been in the works and make tentative plans for new projects. But wait until Venus moves forward to act on anything new. Also, don’t be surprised if a past love reemerges. ‘Tis the season.

The good news? Venus moves direct through all of February, still in the sign of Capricorn who loves making things official. Do I hear wedding bells ringing on Valentine’s day?

Another biggie in December is Jupiter, the planet of luck, expansion,

and fortune, entering his home sign of Pisces on December 28th. At home in his castle, Jupiter is comfortable and powerful, the king sitting on his throne. What a way to bring in the new year! In this placement, Jupiter not only brings opportunity to whatever house Pisces occupies in the natal chart, the combined Jupiter/ Pisces energy will bring inspiration, intuition, and the ability to dream big and make those dreams come true.

Finally, for those who celebrate Christmas, beware that family gathering! Retrograde Venus will be directly on top of Pluto on December 25th. Expect to dig deep and have issues come to the surface. This is territory you’ve covered before, but Pluto will help transform it this time around.

Ho, Ho, Ho! Hang on tight to the sleigh. It’s going to be an eventful holiday season. n

Jennifer deSpain, CPA, CFP®

Business/Personal Tax & Financial Services Tel. 818.883.4800

Photo by Miriam Geer.

The last month of the year comes in at unrelenting warp speed with a series of major cosmic events.

CanyonOakFinancial .com November 26 • Vol. 2 No. 23

13

‘TIS THE SEASON The Giving Season Think Love, Joy, Peace, and end-of-year tax-deductible Donations.

Save Topanga Pet Resort—For 15 years, owners Pat and Keith Tomlinson’s Topanga Pet Resort has provided longterm boarding, training, and day care for dogs and those happy tails are still wagging. Sadly, the Pet Resort is at risk of disappearing due to a possible change in ownership. Two employees, Managers Gini Holtzman and Jennifer Miller, want to buy the property and have set up a GoFundMe account with a goal of $500,000 (gofundme.com/f/ save-topanga-pet-resort). The sixacre Topanga property, including the business, is on the market for $5 million.

Note: GFMs are not tax deductible.

“The perfect scenario would be for us to purchase the property and continue the business unchanged,” write Holtzman and Miller on the GFM page. “For almost two decades, we’ve provided that same quality care for your beloved pet and we want more than anything to continue to do so.

We are united in this effort,” said GFM organizer Holtzman.

For more information: Jennifer Miller: (310) 455-9663; TopangaPetResort.

People, families with or without children are invited to attend and help decorate the Christmas tree after the service. For more information: topangachristianfellowship.org; (310) 455-1048. The church is located at 269 Old Topanga Canyon Road, Topanga, CA 90290.

Dogs in training at Topanga Pet Resort.

com; (310) 455-WOOF. Topanga Pet Resort is located at 1776 Old Topanga Canyon Road, Topanga, CA 90290.

Topanga Women’s Circle (TWC) December Days—Visit TWC at Pine Tree Circle for “Saturdays’ Open Bin December Days” to donate nonperishable food and new or gently used home furnishings! Shop local for your Holiday cards ($5 each or 10-pack for $25, Chanukah & Christmas), and learn more about TWC, a non-profit charity that has furnished more than 2500

PHOTO COURTESY OF TOPANGA PET RESORT

apartments for families, many of them veterans, as they move into transitional housing. You can also support TWC with an end-of-year tax deductible donation(communitypartners.org/ donate). For more information: linilsley@gmail.com; (310) 455-3850; topangawomen’scircle.org.

Topanga Christian Fellowship, December 5, 11 a.m.—Will hold the service inside the sanctuary with joyful live music of the season and officiated by Pastor John Klein.

Save Our Turtles! Drought and extreme heat have been tough on one of the last remaining reproducing populations of southwestern pond turtles in the Santa Monica Mountains.

The last refugia pools holding southwestern turtles in the Santa Monica Mountains were going dry.

On September 4th, 2021, a team of 25 volunteers led by RCD biologists deployed 20 hoses, hauling them up a steep 200-foot ravine to get water to the turtles. It took all day to deliver more than 2,000 gallons of water.

Now that we know this can work, we are seeking $13,850 to purchase necessary materials (pipes, valves, gages, water, etc.) to set up a permanent solution to keep the refugia pools filled in times of drought. To help, make an end-of-year tax-deductible donation to rcdsmm.org.

—By Chronicle Staff

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Old Topanga Canyon Blvd. - 3 Bed | 2 Bath Listed at $5,000,000

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Chryssa Lightheart - (310) 663-3696 Devon Rain Stiteler - (310) 597-9011

Perfect combo of country living and business opportunity. Topangas original gem, this was one of the original homes in this corner of the canyon. The property is directly across from the Manzanita school and Mill Creek equestrian center, and down the street from horse friendly state parkland. A private and fully-fenced oasis, the property has an abundance of flat, accessible space, a rarity in Topanga. For the past several decades, this property has been home to a series of non-profits providing dogs for the blind. Since 2005, is has hosted a successful private facility offering dog training, boarding, and daycare. A turnkey opportunity with an excellent seasoned staff in place who are dedicated to keeping the operation running at a high quality level if the buyer is interested in maintaining this business

NEW LISTING N. Topanga Blvd.

4 Bed | 5 Bath Chryssa Lightheart - (310) 663-3696

$2,900,000

This splendid estate is a standout, an ultimate recreation getaway. Stunning canyon views surround this 1.5 acre lot, complete with mature gardens, a fountain, a dipping pond, and waterfall.

Stites Drive 4 Bed | 4 Bath Chryssa Lightheart - (310) 663-3696

$1,900,000

Stunning 4-bedroom with abundant sunshine and in Fernwood. Complete with vaulted ceilings, tropical hardwood decks, and gorgeous French doors opening out to parkland canyon views. An entertaining paradise nearby peaceful mountain trails.

Vacant Land

AMAZING OCEAN VIEWS AND BOULDER OUTCROPPINGS Everding Motorway $650,000 2.53 acres William Preston Bowling

BEAUTIFUL CANYON VIEWS OUTSIDE COASTAL Zuniga Road $599,000 1.5 acres William Preston Bowling

HUGE BUILDING SITE WITH OCEAN VIEWS Hawks Nest Trail $415,000 2.5 acre William Preston Bowling

(310) 428-5085

(310) 428-5085

(310) 428-5085

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1447 S. WESTGATE AVENUE | WEST LA 9 UNITS | WALKING SCORE OF 95 | $3,285,000 Architecture Commercial Income Property, John Geiger apprentice to Frank Lloyd Wright built this beautiful property with 9 units located in Brentwood adjacent.

SOLD | TOPANGA

LAND | TOPANGA

21044WAVEVIEW.COM A Creative’s Mid-Century Masterpiece 3 BD 3 BD | $2,785,000

0 SKYLINE Land Located in the Fernwood Pacific Area | $28,000

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Catherine Campbell DRE: 01164030 | 310.663.9039 catherine@lovetopanga.com Voted: Best of the Best - 2020 America’s Best Real Estate Professionals REALTRENDS TOM FERRY © 2021 Sotheby’s International Realty. All Rights Reserved. The Sotheby’s International Realty trademark is licensed and used with permission. Each Sotheby’s International Realty office is independently owned and operated, except those operated by Sotheby’s International Realty, Inc. The Sotheby’s International Realty network fully supports the principles of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act. All offerings are subject to errors, omissions, changes including price or withdrawal without notice.