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At a City Council meeting last night, officials in Laguna Hills voted to ban registered sex offenders from the area’s parks, reports NBC Los Angeles . The ban will apply to the city’s 15 parks, and possibly to private parks as well. more › View original post here: No Sex Offenders in Parks, Say Laguna Hills Officials
The Wildlife Waystation in the Angeles National Forest has announced the death of Booie the Chimpanzee , the 44-year-old animal who came to the facility with a smoking addiction and a profound love of sweets. more › Read more: RIP Booie, The Smoking, Signing, Sweets-Loving Chimp
The City of Placentia in Orange County elected a 22-year-old Cal State Fullerton (CSUF) student as its mayor last week. Jeremy Yamaguchi wins the title as the city’s youngest mayor in history, the youngest OC mayor in over 20 years and possibly the youngest mayor in California history. more › Read the original here: OC’s Placentia Elects 22-Year-Old Mayor A Week Before He Wraps College Finals
Pasadena police say they were already following two men who ended up leading them on a chase through the city. Detectives said they caught the pair trying to break into a bait vehicle and the men took off. The officers followed the men for two miles as they swerved into oncoming traffic and sped through construction zones. The chase ended when the suspect vehicle rear-ended another car at a gas station located at Pasadena Blvd. and Jackson. At that point, they tried to get away on foot. Police arrested one suspect immediately and found the other, an hour later, hiding under a house located in the 900 block of Whitaker at Witter Street.
Acting as the Beverly Hills Parking Authority, City Council members unanimously decided Tuesday to allow Bailey’s Bakery to increase the size of its store. Bailey’s will expand into “the former shoe repair location at 325 N. Crescent Drive,” according to a staff report by Brenda Lavender, the city’s real estate and property manager. The council also agreed to a 10-year lease of the additional 458 square feet for $1,374 a month, or $3 per square foot. The bakery, which has been in Beverly Hills for decades, is expanding to accommodate for cake offerings that “include wedding and special occasion cakes,” according to Lavender’s report. The lease amendment also requires the city to pay for a new $15,000 air conditioning system in the building. Be sure to follow Beverly Hills Patch on Twitter and “Like” us on Facebook . Continue reading here: City Approves Bailey’s Bakery Expansion
The City Council and the Beverly Hills Police Officers Association have reached an agreement for a new five-year employment contract. Months of negotiations were concluded with the two parties tentatively agreeing to a 1 percent overall increase in salary and a two-tiered retirement program. “The security of Beverly Hills citizens is the most important service the city provides,” Mayor Barry Brucker said in a statement. “We are delighted to have reached this important milestone and agreed on a fair compensation package for our police officers that also complements our goals for fiscal responsibility and sustainability for the city.” Some features of the tentative agreement include: Starting Jan. 1, 2014, all employees will begin paying a part of the employer contribution to their pensions. This contribution will be phased in over the contract period. Pension contributions will reach 4 percent by the end of the five-year contract. With phased-in, cost-of-living pay increases of 5 percent, the total increase in compensation over the five-year contract is 1 percent. Beginning Jan. 1, 2012, all employees will have available an array of benefits to choose from. If a medical plan exceeds a preset limit, the additional amount will be paid for by the employee. The two-tiered retiree benefit changes include: Employees hired after July 1, 2012, can retire at age 55 with a pension based on 3 percent of their salary for each year of service. Employees hired after July 1, 2012, will base their pension on the average of their three highest salary years, rather than the single highest year. Employees hired after March 1, 2012, will have a defined contribution toward a retiree medical health savings account. The Beverly Hills Police Officers Association currently represents 118 sworn police officers. “The members of the Beverly Hills Police Officers Association are excited that we have reached this tentative agreement with the city,” BHPOA President Sgt. Terry Nutall said in a statement. “Our members truly value the opportunity to serve in a community that supports its police department like no other.” Be sure to follow Beverly Hills Patch on Twitter and “Like” us on Facebook . Continued here: City, Police Agree to New Employment Contract
SELLERS: Shelly Hwang and Young Lee LOCATION: Malibu, CA PRICE: $3,495,000 SIZE: 4,799 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, YOUR MAMAS NOTES: In the mid-Naughts Korean American entrepreneur Shelly Hwang and her boyfriend/architect Young Lee set out to open a tiny tea parlor in a centrally located residential section of West Hollywood, CA. Alas, the city put the ix-nay on the tea parlor after neighbors rejected their attempt to secure a booze license. Probably they were devastated at the rejection of their hooch-selling application but the repudiation became the catalyst for their bazillion dollar Plan B: a colorful, new-fangled sort of frozen yogurt shop called Pinkberry that offered a limited number of (mostly tart) flavors and a limited number of (mostly fruit and cereal) toppings at premium prices. Almost overnight the small store became a huge hit amongst all the scores and scads of Angelenos who didn’t even know they ached so intensely for a lip-pursingly tart frozen treat. Much to the chagrin of the store’s residential neighbors, chattering crowds over-whelmed the narrow street where cold snack-seeking hordes double- and triple-parked their cars and waited in line for 20, 30 and sometimes 40 minutes for taste of the somewhat icy and decidedly sour substance. The instant frenzy brought extra police to manage the swarms and meter maids to ticket the illegally-parked vehicles. Within a few short years–and the help of a near $25,000,000-plus investment by Starbucks founder Howard Schultz’s venture capital fund–perky Pinkberry stores filled with glossy white tables and multi-colored Philippe Starck-designed Ghost chairs began to pop up all over southern California and New York. Natch, Pinkberry being a phenomena that started in southern California, dressed down stars of all stripes soon began to appear in all the celebrity rags, tabs, blogs and gossip glossies spooning Pinkberry into their manicured mouths. A 2007 report in Fortune magazine revealed that the first Pinkberry store turned a profit after just four months and that with an average purchase price of $5.50 a typical store doing 1,500 servings a day could easily bring in a quarter million dollars or more in revenue per month. The near instant and continued success of Pinkberry has allowed Miz Hwang and Mister Lee to adopt and maintain a swanky lifestyle that encompasses fancy cars and a very contemporary multi-million dollar residence in Malibu, CA they recently heaved on to the market with an asking price of $3,495,000. Property records show the Pinkberry pashas only acquired the boxy and glassy residence situated high on a steep hillside above Surfrider beach in August 2008. The house was designed and built by minimal-minded Santa Monica-based architect Steve Kent who originally planned to live in the cliff-cleaving crib with his family. However, as was reported in a 2009 article in the Wall Street Journal , the newly-minted Pinkberry moguls finagled a tour of the then-not-quite-completed house and instantly made a substantial offer that would have been foolish for the architect to refuse. Records show Miz Hwang and Mister Lee coughed up $3,525,000 for crisp and clean-lined dwelling that according to current listing information, “includes membership to the new private, gated section of Rambla Pacifica,” whatever that means. Your Mama gave the well-worn beads of our long-suffering abacus a few flicks and clicks we quickly calculated the $3,525,000 purchase price converts to approximately 1,007,143 medium-sized original flavor Pinkberry servings (without topping) at $3.50 per serving . At it’s current listing price of $3,495,000, Miz Hwang and Mister Lee stand to lose $30,000 on the sale of their Malibu residence not counting carrying costs, improvement, and real estate fees. That’s about 12,000 small-sized original flavor Pinkberry servings (sans topping) at $2.50 apiece. Listing information shows the sleek house measures 4,799 square feet over three floors with a total of 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. The main floor of the house lays out in one open sweep of airy space with chocolate brown-stained hardwood floors, luminous white walls, and a long row of floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors that open to a long, cantilevered balcony with knee-buckling views and up and down the coast. A free-standing double-sided fireplace separates the living room from the dining room that itself blends seamlessly into the sybaritic (and hideously expensive) Boffi-brand kitchen complete with dual Sub-Zero frefrigerator/freezers, separate wine fridge, and an integrated Miele-brand coffee maker. A lower level media room, where Mister Lee reportedly plays a lot of video games on a 65-inch Bang & Olufsen flat-screen tee-vee our internet research reveals costs around $35,000. No puppies, that’s not a mis-print that’s $35,000 just for the damn television set. We calculate that Mister and Missus Pinkberry had to sell about 5,385 large-sized pomegranate flavor Pinkberries (without topping) at $6.50 a pop to pay for the boob-toob. Other high-tech convenience, amenities and luxuries include Toto-brand bidet toilets, an integrated FiOS system, central vacuum, and indoor and outdoor areas wired for sound. Although the house is perched and a rather precipitous slope the architect and engineers managed to squeeze out a fairly good-sized and pancake flat back/side yard shielded from the street by mature shade trees and divided in to a generous grass patch and a wide, ocean-view deck dotted with multi-colored and very modern outdoor furniture pieces. Apropos of nothing related to the real estate, listing photographs show a pair of late-model, his-and-her Rolls Royce’s parked in the driveway in front of the frosted glass garage doors deeply set into a chunky mass sheathed in extra-wide-plank, horizontally installed wood paneling. One, a gigantic 4-door Phantom sedan, has a mind-numbing base price of about $380,000–about 84,000 medium-sized green tea flavor Pinkberry servings (without topping) at $4.50 per serving–and the other, a 2-door Phantom Coupé, carries base price of $408,000, about 82,000 medium-sized original flavor Pinkberry servings (with topping) at $4.95 per serving. listing photos: Coldwell Banker Malibu Colony Link: Pinkberry Pashas List Modern Malibu Pad
On the heels of the mass eviction of Occupy LA protesters, during which 292 people were arrested, 11 members of Occupy San Diego were arrested today for trying to set up tents at the city’s Civic Center Plaza, reports Reuters . Seven people were charged with illegal lodging, and one was charged with resisting arrest, according to Sign On San Diego . more › More: Eleven Protesters Arrested at Occupy San Diego
Nestled between Beverly Hills and Hollywood, and bordered by the Santa Monica Mountains and an honor guard of mega-billboards, West Hollywood, the Creative City, is one of Los Angeles’ finest examples of the culture of the cutting-edge. WeHo is home to 39,000 full-time residents, yet plays host to a weekend influx of 78,000 who come to take advantage of world-class shopping, dining and events the likes of the annual Vanity Fair Oscar Party and largest Halloween Street Party in the world; quite the attractive blend of intimacy and vibrancy. A two-square-mile city, WeHo natives put the “nobody walks in LA” cliche to rest. There are only three Cecconi’s Restaurants in the world, one in London, one in Miami and one, at the Melrose Avenue and Robertson Boulevard intersection, in the heart of WeHo. Cecconi’s is an absolute must for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or unparalleled Italian Tapas. Just down the block on Melrose, you’ll run into one of my favorite hair salons, Galvin & Benjamin, breathtaking boutiques such as Maxfield , Marc Jacobs , Alexander McQueen , Paul Smith , Miu Miu …and if you’re a vintage-maven like me, just a few blocks further east and you’ll find some of LA’s best kept secrets, selling gowns and formal-wear from the 20′s, 30′s and 40′s. The City’s “Art on the Outside” engages visitors and residents with innovative artwork. Currently WeHo is hosting seven colossal abstract sculptures from world-renowned contemporary artists along the grass median of Santa Monica Blvd, historic Route 66. Sprinkled throughout the city and also running through June 2012, you can also find multi-lingual poetic municipal signs by artist Rebecca Lowry. But, the cherry on top of WeHo at the moment, lies within MOCA’s Pacific Design Center Space, where former Dior Homme designer, YSL art & collections director, and International Designer of the Year, Hedi Slimane demonstrates a uniquely experiential & uplifting breed of story-telling with his exhibit “California Song.” On the ground floor Slimane’s ‘California years’ black-and-white photographs are framed in unfinished wooden boxes and separated from one another by mirror’s, offering individualized vantage points to take stock of the series of narratives being whispered in the intimate space. A genuine look at California’s rock and roll heritage is splattered throughout the gallery, from monochrome portraits of Francis Bean and her mother Courtney Love, Beach Boy Brian Wilson and up-and-coming lead-singer Christopher Owens, set next to iconic images of broken down squats, vintage pontiacs against the Pacific Ocean and a blurry look at the American dream. The top floor, produced exclusively for MOCA, showcases an outstanding sonic & motion-picture installation. Photographs are projected onto a cube in the center of the room, surrounded by speakers, inviting you to soak up your own version of Slimane’s slightly morose exploration of youth subculture & beauty culture, and the immersive intersection of fashion as art & photo as literature. “California Song” will be on display at MOCA’s Pacific Design Center space in West Hollywood through Jan-22, 2012. The rest is here: Tamie Adaya: West Hollywood: A Cultural Gem
SELLER: Emeril Lagasse LOCATION: New York City, NY PRICE: $15,000,000 SIZE: 6,900 square feet, 6 full and 2 half bathrooms YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Today we’ve opted for reasons well not explain to ride the coat tails of New York Post who appear t o be the first to report that celebrity chef and culinary mini-tycoon Emeril Lagasse has flipped his nicely dressed limestone-clad New York City townhouse on the market with an asking price of $15,000,000. Just because Your Mama ain’t never eaten in one of Mister Lagasse’s eateries, made use of one of his numerous cookbooks, watched a single one of his television programs or purchased any of the many products he endorses does not mean he isn’t a very big fish in the culinary world. In addition to the dozen-plus restaurants he owns and executive chefs, the James Beard Award-winning thrice-married father of four, known for his Cajun and Creole spiced dishes, is a prolific cookbook author, television personality and, probably most lucratively, an eager endorser of a slew of products that range from dry goods (pasta sauces and etc.), to fresh produce, kitchen knives, cookware and electrical appliances. In 2008, the multi-tasking foodie sold the rights to all his various Emeril branded and licensed products (but not his restaurants) in a $50,000,000 deal with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, a deal that sorta makes him, with all due respect, one of Martha Stewart’s bitches. BAM! Interestingly and although he paid a pretty penny to own a mansion-sized townhouse in Manhattan, as far as Your Mama knows Mister Lagasse does not own a restaurant in New York City instead opting to plant his mostly eponymous professional feet in places like New Orleans, Orlando, Las Vegas and Bethlehem, PA. Some of the children who have long paid rapt attention to the New York City celebrity real estate scene may recall it was only just over two years ago that the puissant hash slinger purchased the fairly recently renovated six-story (plus basement) residence that had a long and arduous listing history. The fine folks at StreetEasy reveal the approximately 18-foot wide townhouse had been on the market since August of 2006 when it showed up with as asking price of $11,250,000, a figure that over the first couple of years, as the soup-to-nuts renovation progressed, climbed to $14,995,000. After a year at that number, the price tag plummeted to $12,995,000 and three weeks after that it dropped dramatically again to $11,500,000. Mister Lagasse soon moseyed along and paid the full asking price. A quick and entirely unscientific comparison of current listing photos with listing photos from the time of his acquisition indicate Mister Legasse hasn’t made many (if any) significant alterations to the the townhouse so we’re not quite sure what warrants the $3,500,000 increase in price/value but we’ll let all y’all New York City property experts duke that one out in the comments iffin you so chose. The symmetrical Georgian style townhouse, originally erected in 1910, has an all-new Indiana limestone front facade that towers over a small planted garden that separates the busy city street from the front door that opens into a windowed entry vestibule with dual coat closets. The intimate vestibule opens into a grand, marble floored foyer with heated limestone floor and antique marble fireplace. At the rear of the residence on the street/entry level a full-width eat-in kitchen has a radiant heated floor that makes Your Mama’s cold-blooded house gurl Svetlana ache with envy, walls lined with custom walnut cabinetry, a Chevy-sized Carrara marble-topped center island lit by a glitzy chandelier, two side-by-side Sub-Zero fridge/freezers, commerical-grade range with double over, a 150-bottle wine fridge, walk-in pantry, and a wide bank of open and glass-fronted shelves for displaying cook books and other culinary knick-knacks and gew-gaws. The kitchen is open to and steps down to an informal dining room with herringbone patterned oak floors, a built-in banquette opposite a marble-columned built-in entertainment center, and a wall of windows and French doors that open out to a fully landscaped formal garden with outdoor dining table. The fully-finished basement level, accessible only by stair and not by elevator, contains a playroom/gym, full bathroom, laundry room with sink, multiple utility and mechanical closets and a wood-paneled temperature controlled wine cellar that even the fussiest sommelier swoon with oenophilic aphrodisia. The parlor floor, one floor up from the street/entry level, has regal 14-foot ceilings and a discreet wet bar with built-in ice maker tucked off the center all where it’s easily accessible from the both the formal dining and living room. In the north facing dining room, located so far from the kitchen a hot meal could easily go luke warm in transit, there’s an antique marble fireplace, a trio of windows with street view, luscious herringbone patterned oak flooring, a brassy-looking crystal chandelier huge far too high–it should be no more than 36″ from the top of the table–and a beautifully articulated ceiling with wide moldings and quatrefoil detailing that we can only hope was rendered in plaster. The rich-looking herringbone patterned hardwood floors extend into the sizable but not baronial south facing formal living room that features yet another antique marble fireplace plus a wall of windows and French doors that open to a narrow terrace that overlooks the backyard. The full-floor master suite encompasses a sunny south facing bedroom with fireplace and French doors to deep private terrace, two walk-in closets plus a custom-fitted dressing room, and a bedroom-sized bathroom with yummy heated floor, Carrara marble accents, a free-stranding Agape soaking tub, separate step-in steam shower, double sinks, and an enclosed terlit cubicle with window for p.p.p. That is, as so-labeled by one of the children, proper pooper placement. Each of the two floors directly above the master suite encompass two bedrooms with private facilities. One floor has a convenient kitchenette
