Bowled Over

Mary Beth, Steve Garber, Sharon Horowitz and Robert Weingarten were among the local music lovers who helped kick off the 79th season of the Hollywood Bowl. Following a dinner of cold poached salmon, fresh veggies and chardonnay, the group settled in for an entertainment extravaganza.

Legendary composer John Williams and country boy Garth Brooks were honored and inducted into the newly created Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame. Williams has delighted audiences around the world with unforgettable scores in films like “E.T., ” “Jaws” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”

Several memorable pieces were played by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra as film clips were projected overhead. Williams even picked up the baton himself showing off his skills as one of the liveliest and enjoyable conductors around.

The maestro’s award was presented by friend and number one fan Steven Spielberg. Spielberg spoke of the tremendous impact the composer has had on his career saying “the power and compassion of his music goes straight to your head and straight to your soul.” Williams has had a life filled with high notes. He has been honored with five Oscars, three Golden Globes and 17 Grammys.

Others participating in the musical tribute included Christina Aguilera, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Dreyfuss and Whoopi Goldberg. The upcoming bowl season should be a goodie with performances by Rosemary Clooney and Tony Bennett among others.

More Musical Chairs

Peter Hemmings received a spectacular send-off to his native England as fans celebrated his impressive career as the founding Director General of the Los Angeles Opera. A gathering took place at the Music Center where Placido Domingo took the stage to sing excerpts from “Othello.” The classical work opened the organization’s first season in 1986. Hemmings was lauded for turning the Los Angeles Opera into a world-class company. The Los Angeles Opera has had a string of critically acclaimed performances for musical favorites such as “La Traviata,” “La Rondine” and, most recently, “Billy Budd.”

“There is no way to calculate the invaluable work Peter Hemmings has done on behalf of the Los Angeles Opera,” said president and CEO Leonard Green. “In 15 years, he has shaped the company into the renowned organization it is today. This event is as much about recalling the remarkable growth of the company under Peter’s leadership as it is about thanking him for all he has done. It is truly a celebration.”

Domingo takes the helm as artistic director and Elizabeth J. Kennedy has been named development director. Music may be the food of love, but famished fans, like Dr. Steve Tietelbaum, were ready for just plain food.

“I can’t get through this with just two brownies and a coke,” he declared. After an entertaining and lengthy tribute, dinner was served closing in on the midnight hour.

Food for Thought

Congratulations to Steve Wylie who made the July issue of Los Angeles Magazine’s Best of L.A. Wylie’s Country Kitchen is known for the best burgers in town with a clientele that includes soccer moms, CHP officers and a ton of superstars. From Leo to Liz, you name it, they’ve been there. Seems word is out on one of Malibu’s best kept secrets.

Another Big Cheese

Malibu’s Edward Roski Jr. is making a play for Vegas, baby, Vegas. The mega developer could add a new property to his impressive holdings–the Hilton Hotel & Casino. Roski announced plans to buy the place at a price fit for “the king”–a whopping $365 million.

I am writing this letter to find out if there are any other people in the community that share my concern about a growing annoyance. Motorized scooters seem to have become all the rage amongst young boys this summer. I am all for kids having toys and being able to get around on their own and actually found these scooters fascinating when I first saw them. But now, at least eight children on my street own them and Sunday’s consist of races being help up and down the street for hours at a time. These scooters have small two-stroke engines on them fairly similar to chain saws. This causes them to make a great deal of noise. More than leaf blowers or chain saws. So now my peaceful summer Sunday afternoons on Point Dume are filled with the constant buzzing of these scooters. This past Sunday, after two hours of constant buzzing, I reached my limit and called the local Sheriff’s Department to find out if we could put a stop to the races. I was informed that the scooters were legal to ride on residential streets and that cul-de-sacs like my street were the preferred locations for riding them. I am writing this letter to find out if anyone else in Malibu shares my horror at the amount of noise pollution these ‘toys’ are creating and to ask the parents of the children who have these scooters to please be considerate. Use them to go places; don’t ride back and forth on the same stretch of street all afternoon in a group.

Sincerely,

An annoyed Point Dume Resident

I was pleased to see your article confronting the problem of teen- and young-adult suicide. Recent studies show that the majority of young people attempting or committing suicide lack a spiritual life. The absence of spiritual education and an understanding of their spiritual nature often leads them to believe they have no purpose in life.

Organized religion is one way of becoming spiritually educated. In the past several years, though, it has gotten a very bad rap. Some of it may well be deserved. In general, religion has been painted as rigid, judgmental and out of touch. As one who was raised in the church home that my children now attend, I can attest to the fact that organized religion has become more tolerant, less judgmental, and leaders and members alike are sincerely searching for practical ways to help others. My involvement with the Interfaith Association of Malibu (IAM) has shown me that other religious organizations in our community are doing the same. The services rendered by our religious organizations include youth groups, day care, musical training, pre-school, spiritual education and much more.

Organized religion may not be the answer for everyone, but if you don’t give it a chance, how will you ever know? We have students in our Sunday School today that come from homes where each parent comes from a different religious background. Or, in some cases, the parents are not religious at all.

More and more people are realizing, though, that some form of spiritual education will benefit their children.

Two important benefits are: 1. The knowledge of a deeper meaning of life gives that life purpose, and 2. Helping others blesses the giver as well as the receiver.

For more information about the Houses of Worship in our community, see the last page in the Malibu Directory or a listing of current information in our local newspapers.

Thank you,

Patti Mehring

The city code enforcement troops who’ve been pushing to see that Debbi Campbell, a Malibu mom, and her three kids and dog are thrown out of the their little, unpermitted, one-bedroom, back-of-the-lot apartment on Point Dume have apparently relented for now. When the story first broke they seemed to be saying, ‘If we didn’t get that family out now, right now, their very lives were in danger.’ It turned out that their little place has been around for 20-plus years, and a slew of Malibuites have rented it in the past without any serious problems. Of course our code enforcement crowd suddenly saw the light after several articles in The Malibu Times, and also that other Times downtown, and the strong possibility that they were well on their way to becoming an item on Jay Leno’s opening monologue.

It always amazes me how bureaucrats never manage to be able to find any way, other then their chosen solution, until you put a gun to their heads, and then they suddenly get creative. Perhaps now this headlong gallop into the gentrification of Malibu, which is threatening to wipe out the homes of many who’ve been here for years and always seems to end up beating up those who can least defend themselves, will come to a screeching halt. Then we can take the time to figure out where those people are going to live and why is it that it’s OK to have large estates with scores of people living on them, like gardeners, trainers, security people, helpers, pool cleaners, and a bevy of hanger-ons, and yet, a mom with three kids and a dog is a critical health and safety issue. Maybe, instead of wasting their time on silliness, the code enforcement crowd should instead take a walk down the beach between Big Rock and Topanga and take a look at the underside of some of those homes, which are rotting away. I can remember a few years back when a balcony collapsed during a party and an entire group of people went plunging down onto the rocks below in a major disaster. Some of those homes have real health and real safety issues, but then, I guess, they might actually have to get their ankles wet.

There was another Malibu mom who ran into a scrap with officialdom, as you can see in our front-page story on Cindy Vandor. Vandor stopped in a handicapped spot at Blockbuster video while her 9-year-old hopped out of the van to drop the tapes into the return slot. She got nailed by the Community Services officer, which I assume is a euphemism for the traffic ticket people, and somehow, by the time the dust had settled, she ended up in handcuffs sitting in the back of the patrol car. Now I don’t know whether what we had here was a mom who lost it, or perhaps a traffic officer with a bad case of badgitis, but our Sheriff’s Capt. John O’Brien is a level-headed guy, and I know he’ll get to the bottom of this, because somehow, when little things like a traffic ticket blow up this way, something is just not working right.

Big Kudos and congratulations to the Code Enforcement Task Force who are beginning to show some real signs of life. They’ve been meeting every Monday for several months and trying to get their hands around this code enforcement problem, which, it turns out, is much bigger than just code enforcement. It’s a combination of the old Keller/Van Horn dead-hand from the past; that crowd that loved to regulate the hell out of everything, plus being a bunch of governmental code enforcement automatons and, lastly, a community-changing, gentrifying and no longer sympathetic entity to some of the odd balls that used to live in this town. They took a major step this Monday when they voted unanimously to recommend to the city that “no action be taken, which would have the effect of evicting tenants from a property for a period of 180 days,” providing, of course, that there is no health and safety problem, nor any ongoing serious code violations.” This translates to–lets try to not evict anyone for the next 180 days while we’re trying to figure out what to do. Then they did something you don’t often see. They decided to send two representatives to a City Council land-use subcommittee meeting to let councilmembers Jennings and House know what the group is recommending unanimously. In another week or two they’re coming in with a bunch of recommended changes to the Zoning Ordinance, to simplify it and make it less onerous. After that, their next moment of truth may come when it all goes to the council and they have to go lobby it. In the past, recommendations like this, which staff didn’t agree with, had a way of getting smothered. But things may be changing. We’ve got a new city manager, with new ideas, and perhaps change will no longer be anathema to the council. It’s amazing how hard it is to get them to undo anything; even things they agree are bad, like our zoning code.

Ed Stotsenberg was a Renaissance man. Most of us live our lives not knowing someone like Ed . . . someone whose generosity and vision can change the world around him. Ed and his lovely wife, Dorothy, worked hard during their more than 60 years of marriage to create a hugely successful accounting business. While they didn’t have children of their own, their donations to universities, community colleges, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and other such organizations have had a direct impact on young people all over the southern California area. His love of guitar motivated him to establish an international guitar competition at Pepperdine with talented guitarists competing from all over the world. Ed was a man of vision.

His and Dorothy’s home is filled with awards they have been given over the years–one of those awards was the Dolphin Award given the two of them in 1999. While I am sure he was grateful for the recognition they both received for their numerous contributions, I am equally as certain that he contributed, because he felt it was the right thing to do. Ed liked making a difference–and he did.

He was a master runner and both he and Dorothy raced in the Senior Olympics in Australia where each won a medal in their very first race. Ed coached my husband and several others twice a week at the Stotsenberg track on the Pepperdine campus. He was a tough coach and constantly cajoled his “students” to be diligent and run faster and harder.

He coached like he led his life: diligent, fast and hard. He was a determined man who didn’t suffer fools gladly. He was funny, smart, handsome, and sincere. He was well read, well spoken and well educated. He was an inspiration to those who knew him.

Dorothy has lost a remarkable companion; Malibu has lost a leading citizen; California has lost a Renaissance man; and we have lost a friend.

John and Pat Cairns

Thank you for the fine article on suicide. Regardless of age, thoughts of suicide are an experience common to the human being.

There needs to be an addition to the information in the sidebar concerning where a person can find free help on an anonymous basis.

Suicide Prevention: 24-Hour Crisis Hotline (Los Angeles) Suicide Prevention Center 310.391.1253 or toll free 1.877.727.4747.

Having spent many years running a non-profit, tax-exempt, outpatient mental health clinic, I have known of an 8-year-old who called the Suicide Prevention Hot Line. There were many others under 18 years of age that called this number. Knowledge does help.

“No man is an island. . .”

E. Meitus