Jacqueline Bridgeman
Co-founder and president of Malibu Stage Co., Jacqueline Bridgeman has lived in Malibu for most of her life. After her father, Jack Hazard, founder of the Systems Parking Empire (she still serves on its board of directors) died in 1975, she moved from her beach house on the “old road” part of the Colony to what is now called the Hazard Ranch up Cross Creek Road.
“Charles Marowitz asked me to become the first board member of his newly launched Malibu Stage Co. around 1990,” Bridgeman told The Malibu Times in a previous interview.
Bridgeman discovered the site of the state-of-the-art, 99-seat community theatre off Pacific Coast Highway, just west Heathercliff Road, when it was a vacant church. “We sold a hundred seats for $1,000 each to help fund its renovation into the most beautiful equity waiver theatre in America” she said.
Bridgeman frequently recruits playwrights, actors and directors to do readings and plays at the theater, going so far in her support as to host out-of-towners at her home. Before becoming involved with the Malibu Stage Co, Bridgeman had an illustrious career as an author and was hailed as “the poet laureate of the jet age” by Time magazine for her novel, “The Lonely Sky,” published in 1955. She founded and ran The Palisades Post, predecessor to today’s Palisadian Post, with her first husband, Paul Weaver.
Bridgeman is a follower of Eastern philosophy and a member of the Vedanta Society. She has a son, Christopher, 44, who lives in Sun Valley, Idaho.
Rich Davis
Rich Davis wants to establish a long-range vision for Malibu. Through lectures and discussions with the local service clubs and homeowners associations as well as other methods, Davis and his organization, Malibu Coastal Vision, Inc., hope to get ideas from many members of the Malibu community included in this vision.
“We want to get their ideas and their feelings of where the city should be headed; what are the important things regarding roads, land use, arts, beaches, transportation.”
Malibu Coastal Vision was formed in 2000, then known as Malibu Vision 20/20. It includes six volunteers and a part-time manager. Their goal is to create a long-range vision document. But Davis said he hopes the city continues to explore what its vision should be even after the document has been created.
“He’s really organized the group, made it nonpolitical and a nice balance of people on the committee,” said Councilmember Ken Kearsley, a big supporter of Malibu Coastal Vision.
Davis said he first became interested in creating a long-range vision for Malibu after serving on the Public Works Commission.
“There was no long-range plan for our capital improvement projects,” said Davis, who is the chairman of a company that creates strategic plans for large businesses. Davis decided he could use his professional skills to aid the area he has called home for nearly 45 years. More than anything, Davis said he hopes Malibu Vision will get people involved in the community. “The apathy is very great in Malibu because people think they can’t make a difference,” Davis said. “We are trying to convince people that they can.”
Joan House
A Malibu resident since 1975, Joan House became active in local politics just one year later when she took part in a cityhood campaign. The campaign failed, but House was back in action 15 years later when cityhood became a reality. She was appointed to the General Plan Task Force, which worked to draft the document that set the vision for the new city. Then, in 1992, House ran for her first of three successful bids for council.
“She’s labored in the trenches for 12 years,” Councilmember Ken Kearsley said. “Name somebody else who is willing to give up 12 years of their life for their neighbors. And it’s never an ego thing with her.”
House said she was encouraged to run for council in 1992 because a failed bid in 1990 had gone better than planned, despite her campaign being “primarily my friends going down their Christmas card lists and contacting those people to vote for me.” House went on to be the top vote-getter in the 1996 and 2000 elections. She also served as mayor.
House said the highlights of her tenure include the passage of the General Plan, always being conscientious of the budget and creating better relationships with external agencies.
House left the council in April 2004 and made a brief reappearance on the political scene to campaign against the college bond measure in November. But House said she has no plans for another council run.
“I stay involved in my own way,” House said. “I talk with council members. I’m very loyal to the city.”
Lea and Leon Johnson
Lea and Leon Johnson, who are Realtors with Prudential Realty, have lived in Malibu for 16 years.
For the past five years, the two have annually organized volunteers to take supplies to Casa Hogar Sion in Tijuana, Mexico, formerly called El Faro Orphanage.
“I come from Romania and used to help out at the orphanages there,” Lea, 48, said. “We travel to Romania every four years, but I realized that it wasn’t enough. I wanted to reach out on a more permanent basis to kids who are closer to my home.”
George and Carmen Gonzalez run the orphanage called Casa Hogar Sion. When Lea called George for the first time, he told her, “We have run out of money for food and have been feeding our kids stale doughnuts for three days. We have been praying for help.”
Lea and Leon, who is 50, went to Costco that afternoon and drove to Tijuana the next day. They now visit at least once a month, more during the holidays. The orphanage, which receives no money from the government, has 102 children who have been abandoned by their parents. They are currently looking to raise funds to pay their five teachers’ salaries ($50 per month per teacher). Donations can be made to the My Child Foundation. The next trip is planned for Feb. 26 and Lea can be reached at 310.317.1703. Lea said, “The reason we are so passionate about helping the kids is because they have absolutely nothing and we are so blessed to live here in Malibu.”
Téa Leoni
Téa Leoni has served as the honorary chair of Expedition Inspiration’s annual Take-A-Hike at Paramount Ranch in the Santa Monica Mountains benefiting breast cancer research for the past seven years. For last year’s hike, she helped to raise more than $80,000 for breast cancer research at UCLA and USC. Leoni knows many who have struggled with the disease, including a member of her own family who was diagnosed last summer.
Leoni told the Malibu Times Magazine last year that her goal is to make sure that when her daughter grows up “breast cancer will be something they talk about in the history books.”
Her grandmother, Helenka Adamowska, was a Broadway star who helped establish UNICEF. Leoni remains active in the organization and passionate about the cause.
The daughter of a corporate lawyer and a nutritionist, Leoni, who starred in the recently released “Spanglish” with another Malibu resident, Adam Sandler, grew up in New York and moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting. She lives in Malibu with her husband, X-Files actor David Duchovny, her daughter Madeline, 4, and son Kyd, 2.
The 10th annual L.A. Take-a-Hike is scheduled for Oct. 15 2005 at Paramount Ranch, Agoura. The early morning event includes beginning, intermediate and advance hikes led by celebrities. To participate, please call 213.486.4558 or visit www.expeditioninspiration.org.
Carol Randall
Forty-year Malibu resident Carol Randall has put a great deal of effort into helping the community. Randall has been on the Public Safety Commission since its inception, was a member of the committee that created the Malibu Senior Center and chaired a committee that formed proposals on solving Civic Center Way traffic problems. Recently, she was appointed to the Planning Commission. But Randall’s passion has been to reduce the number of speeders on Pacific Coast Highway
“People have a tendency when they see a straightaway to just gun it, not realizing they are going through a residential neighborhood,” Randall told The Malibu Times last year. In October 2002, Randall’s son-in-law, Mark Osborne, was killed when a motorist traveling nearly 20 miles over the 45-mile speed limit swerved to the side of the road and hit Osborne in front of Randall’s home on Pacific Coast Highway near Las Flores Canyon Road. Just two weeks after Osborne’s death, Randall came to a City Council meeting to demand something be done about speeding on Pacific Coast Highway.
The city proposed doubling fines for speeding on Pacific Coast Highway from Topanga Canyon to Decker Canyon. Although the concept has had the support of Assemblymember Fran Pavley, it has not yet been put into law by the state, which operates the highway. But Randall remains determined, several times traveling to Sacramento to speak to legislators about the need to reduce speed on the highway.
Councilmember Jeff Jennings said of Randall and her work, “[She is a] steady, thoughtful presence … a very sound person.”
Wes Walraven
Wes Walraven conceived the idea for the Malibu Shark Fund, a nonprofit organization that raises money for Malibu High School, after being surprised to find out that California ranked 50th nationwide in per-pupil funding and that Malibu High raised just $150,000 per year through fundraisers.
“I decided we should get organized and approach fundraising like a private school does,” said Walraven, who is a guardian of a Malibu High School graduate and a current student.
That was in 2002. Walraven quickly formed a core group with 12 Malibu High parents. Their mission was to make the school the best in the nation for grades 6-12. Despite the Shark Fund being a totally volunteer-driven organization, Walraven said it approaches fundraising as a professional charity would. One of the board members, Michael Kaiser, was able to use his skills as a marketing professional to create a direct-mail fundraising campaign. Walraven said the Shark Fund’s goal is to get 100 percent parent participation, regardless of the amount donated.
The fundraising began during the 2003-04 school year with a direct-mail campaign and a spring musical fundraiser. The Shark Fund raised $750,000 in 2003-04 and has raised $400,000 so far this school year. “He’s done an exceptional job for the students of Malibu High School in his vision, his drive, his abilities and his overall leadership,” Board member Laura Rosenthal said.
The money raised has been used to purchase school supplies and to fund the PTA budget and the athletic booster club, as well as much more. For more information on the Shark Fund, visit www.thesharkfund.org.
Ettenger and Welch families
Janet and Roy Ettenger and their children, Simon, 14, Elijah, 12, and daughter Eden, 7, and Diane and Steve Welch and their son, Maxx Bricklin, 13, started the tradition of serving Thanksgiving dinner to Malibu Labor Exchange workers and the homeless in Malibu eight years ago.
Malibu resident Cindy Vandor, who nominated the families for a Dolphin Award, said, “I think they are amazing people. They are always thinking of ways to make the world better.”
The Ettenger family has lived in Malibu for nine years. Simon, 14, and Elijah, 12, attend Malibu High School, and Eden, 7, attends Point Dume Marine Science Elementary School. Roy Ettenger is a psychologist with a practice in Santa Monica. Janet Ettenger, in addition to volunteering her time for the Thanksgiving dinners and organizing social action activities at the Malibu Jewish Center and Synagogue, teaches preschool and works as a child birth educator, teaching teen moms who have made the decision to give their babies up for adoption. The Ettengers also have a son, Isaac, 20.
“The first year, Diane did it on her own and I was organizing services at the Malibu Jewish Center,” Janet said of the Thanksgiving dinners. “I volunteered to help her out because I’m always looking for ways for kids to broaden their sense of the world. My son Simon organizes the volunteers each year. I think that kids out here are so isolated that they need more chances to reach out and give to the community.”
The children from both families have organized toiletry and clothing drives to give those items to the homeless and the laborers who need them at the annual dinner.
Diane Malecha Welch, husband Stephen and son Maxx Bricklin live in Paradise Cove and are active members of Malibu United Methodist Church. They have lived in Malibu since 1993.
Stephen Welch, a California native, has been in the motion picture business for 20 years. For the last 10, he has worked for Panavision as a camera Super Techno Crane technician.
Maxx, 13, is currently in eighth grade at Malibu Middle School. He was awarded the Malibu Optimist Club Youth Appreciation Award in 2004 and given a certificate of recognition from the city of Malibu for being an exemplary student at Malibu Middle School.
Diane organized the first Thanksgiving Dinner in 1998 and Janet Ettenger offered her a great deal of help during that first year. This past Thanksgiving, the dinner fed close to 200 people.
“Working with Janet Ettenger and her family is so rewarding and we keep each other going, coming up with new ideas and resources to make the dinner a success … seeing Maxx each year become more and more involved and come up with ideas to make it better for the next year,” Diane Welch said. “Also, once a year we get to work with and meet so many people of Malibu. Everyone is so happy and loving during this time because it is such a good cause and it’s right here in our backyard and makes it easy to participate on Thanksgiving Day, like a big extended family.”