It’s Official: Starbucks Coming to Montrose

By Ted AYALA

The City of Glendale has drawn the line dividing coffee lovers in Montrose right down the middle of Ocean View Boulevard. According to a report released late this afternoon by the city, Glendale has approved the use of the property formerly occupied by Color Me Mine at 2884 Honolulu Ave. as the location for a new Starbucks Coffee location.

Starbucks currently has three locations within the vicinity of the Crescenta Valley area: one location on Foothill Boulevard in La Crescenta and two in La Cañada.

The new location has drawn controversy from local residents and businesses because of its location across the street from the Coffee Bean & Teal Leaf, whose representatives urged the Planning Hearing Committee earlier this month to deny approval to Starbucks.

“This isn’t about a bias against competition,” said Coffee Bean’s General Counsel Terry Mansky. “This is a massive global chain coming into a village atmosphere. This is Wall Street versus Main Street.”

Others pointed to a scarcity of parking space and concerns over traffic congestion.

Addressing these concerns, Planning Hearing Officer Laura Stotler noted in her report that the evidence provided by Starbucks countering these criticisms was “sufficient to demonstrate that the shared parking facilities will be adequate to serve the needs of the proposed use [by Starbucks].”

Nevertheless, the project also enjoyed wide support among many in the community that felt that a Starbucks could lure foot traffic into the Montrose Shopping Park.

Calls to the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf’s corporate offices were not returned while a manager at the Montrose location declined to comment on the issue.

Scott Trulik, president of the Montrose-Verdugo City Chamber of Commerce and owner of Ocean View Investments just south of the forthcoming Starbucks location, was cautious about the arrival of the new coffee house.

“We’re always happy to receive new businesses in the area,” he said. “But we still believe that parking, or the lack of it, and traffic will be issues the community will have to deal with.”

Bowled Over By Commercials

I’m glad it’s finally February. For one thing, I can’t remember a January before this last one that I had to turn on the ceiling fan just to be able to sleep comfortably at night.

With any luck, this month will at last bring some more seasonally cold temps and rainfall. But I’ll leave the official weather prognostication and precipitation prestidigitation to my columnist colleague Sue Kilpatrick.

Mostly, I’m thankful it’s February because those awful, terrible, annoyingly vapid JCP commercials with all the screaming people are supposed to be replaced by, well, something else. It seems like only yesterday that we were subjected to months of that screaming guy in the commercials for Universal Studios’ King Kong attraction.

But back to JCP, which, in case you haven’t caught on to their marketing sleight of hand, is what JC Penny is now calling itself. You know, like Kentucky Fried Chicken tried to become relevant and cool by calling itself KFC. Or like California Pizza Kitchen suddenly became CPK. It’s marketing gimmicks like this – along with obnoxiously loud and uncreative commercials like the current JCP teaser campaign – that make me cringe with embarrassment at my own profession.

Thankfully, this weekend has the potential to redeem my faith in the creative process.

As someone who has spent the last 30 years or so writing advertising copy (not “verbage,” please!) including literally thousands of TV and radio commercials, or “spots” as we call them in the biz, the annual NFL Super Bowl broadcast is Christmas, the World Series and Olympics all rolled into one event.

To get an idea how important and prestigious the Super Bowl is to advertisers, the going rate for a mere 30 seconds of airtime on this Sunday’s broadcast is a reported $3.5 million. For 30 seconds! That’s over $116,000 a second. Even the federal government doesn’t spend money that fast. Oh wait, yes it does.

This year’s Super Bowl advertisers include Volkswagen, Acura, Coca-Cola, Toyota, Career Builder, Anheuser-Busch, Audi and others with deep marketing budgets. I really couldn’t care less whether the Patriots or the Giants win on Sunday, since the Dodgers didn’t even make it into the playoffs (and that right there should tell you how much of a football fan I am). No, I’m more interested to see whether the agency creative teams have come up with winners or wieners to debut during the broadcast. If I have to go to the bathroom or the kitchen, I’ll be going during the game itself so I can be sure not to miss any of the commercials. I’m not kidding.

At some point in the early ’80s, the Super Bowl became the place for advertisers and the agencies who produce their commercials to showcase new, hopefully breakthrough work – spots that were created to be talked about at office water coolers all across the country the following Monday. The advent of online streaming video channels has only increased the importance of having a hit commercial air during the Super Bowl.

Apple’s “1984” commercial to launch the Macintosh computer was one of the first TV spots to use a “big idea” concept along with feature-film production values (the ground-breaking spot was directed by then newcomer Ridley Scott, who went on to direct “Aliens,” “Thelma & Louise,” “Gladiator,” “Black Hawk Down” and other mega-hits). It also enjoyed the highly unusual status of airing only once – during the game itself – and never again. At least, Apple never paid to have the commercial run again.

This Sunday I’ll be glued to the set, watching to see if another water-cooler-worthy commercial is aired. I’m certain of one thing, however. If the ad agency creative teams have done their jobs, the only screaming heard during Sunday’s game will be from unhappy Patriots or Giants fans.

Then again, it could also be me screaming at the summer-like weather that continues to torture my very soul.

I’ll see you ’round town.

Jewish Life in Old CV

The early settlers of CV were mostly wealthy Midwesterners, along with immigrants from Germany, Italy and other European countries. All white, and predominantly Protestant or Catholic. Those of differing color, ethnic background or faith had problems being accepted, and early people of the Jewish faith faced just that problem in La Crescenta.

An early member of the Jewish community in the valley, Jerry Weinberg related that his family moved to the valley in the late ’20s and felt culturally isolated.

One day they participated in a tree-planting project in Montrose. When little Jerry spoke some words of Yiddish to his mother, one of the tree-planting supervisors overheard, and enthusiastically jumped into the conversation. The Jewish “Goldie” Goldstein was working locally as a forest ranger and he and the Weinbergs became fast friends. Jerry told me that as a kid he was shunned by many neighborhood kids and some parents banned their children from playing with him because of his Jewish roots. He related too that the small enclave of local Jews was uncomfortably aware of the German Bund, the American arm of the Nazi party, that were part of the weekend celebrations at Hindenberg Park in the 1930s.

By 1955, the Jewish community in the valley had grown large enough to warrant the construction of the Crescenta Valley Jewish Center at 3966 Pennsylvania. About 100 families were members of the Center, but for reasons unknown to me they didn’t last. Sometime in the ’60s they folded and that building today is a preschool with a very recognizable purple paint job, right at the intersection of Pennsylvania and Honolulu avenues.

A more recent view of Jewish life in CV comes from my good friend John Drayman. He told me that his father Jay Drayman, a clothing manufacturer, moved to L.A. in 1949 seeking a dryer climate for his wife Dale. He was attracted to Glendale because of its great schools, but as he was house hunting several homes he made offers on mysteriously were taken off the market or inexplicably fell out of escrow. He was finally able to purchase a home in CV outside the Glendale borders which was free of the racial and ethnic covenants so typical of many Glendale properties at the time. As a businessman, he was active in the community, and like other businessmen was anxious to network. He was encouraged to apply for a membership to the Oakmont Country Club by a close friend and local developer who had built the Glenwood Oaks tract. However he was denied membership and was told by the committee that his religion was the reason. Interestingly, the son of the man who blackballed John’s father later became one of John’s closest friends and recounted the details of this act of prejudice.

For Jewish families in the ’60s there was still a sense of threat, unspoken but tangible despite the enactment of the Civil Rights Act. By the time John was a teenager in the ’70s, local anti-Semitism was far less overt, and only seemed to surface when folks of a certain generation got angry. He remembers that as a kid selling Christmas cards door-to-door, he once had a disagreement over a misspelling approved and initialed by a customer. She ended the argument by calling him a “dirty Jew.” Drayman also suffered a beating at the Keyhole public pool during the Six-Day War by older boys whose parents told John he should “go to Israel to fight alongside the other Jews.”

Drayman believes that things have changed for the better, and that CV is today a tolerant and inclusive place. The simple fact that he was elected to the City Council in Glendale, a city that was home to the American Nazi Party for decades, speaks volumes to John.

I like to think that the bias that American Jews faced in our community is history now. But history often repeats. Today the Armenian-American community, which shares a background of genocide, Diaspora and immigration with the Jewish experience, struggle for acceptance in the Crescenta Valley just as the Jews did before them.

Lends His Support
Jim [Chase], keep on telling it like you see it [Viewpoints, My Thoughts Exactly, Jan. 26].  Those thin-skinned people can take a hike to a hot place. I too am sick and tired of those who want someone fired or to apologize because they do not agree with what was said or written. That is life. Nowhere is it written that anyone has the right to not be offended. Tough!

I may not always agree, but that is my privilege. I will not conflict with your right, or anyone else’s, to say or write what you want. Dennis Miller said it best when he said that was his opinion, he could be wrong.

If the [CV Weekly] were to let you go for stating your opinion, they would not see another red cent from me.

Keep it up. The others be damned!

Tom Suter
La Crescenta

Takes Offense to Attitude
In the article, “Lunch Signature Needed for CV Kids,” [Jan. 26], GUSD Deputy Superintendent Dr. John Garcia was reported to have said, “It is a privilege to leave campus, not a right.”

I take offense to this. Not solely to Dr. Garcia’s comment, but to the notion that seems to be behind this comment, that students leave certain rights at the door when they enter school, almost as if they were convicted criminals entering prison. This notion is nigh-universally accepted, to where even the Supreme Court upheld the right of schools to punish students for even off-campus speech and those who oppose this notion are lampooned as being only silly teenagers and young adults.

I understand the concerns that have led to the possibility of the CVHS lunch policy being changed. But there are ways to address those problems while still respecting the rights of students.

Michael Sutherland
La Crescenta

Shares His Thoughts on Starbucks Proposal
I’m pretty upset about the proposal of what Starbucks is planning for the remodel of the structure at Ocean View and Honolulu. If it does evolve where they are granted approval, I would like the MSPA along with the City of Glendale to require the original facade of the building be restored. This would benefit the community in the event the business didn’t survive (at least we’d have benefited visually as an community).

In fact, this could be a beneficial approach for negotiating future contracts for outside entities wanting to develop in our community.
Just my thoughts.

Bill Costello
La Crescenta

Cheers to Chase
Jim Chase’s columns are a highlight of the CV Weekly. I like Mr. Chase’s comments, humor and reflections and insights on issues. (Does the Rifleman really fire 13 shots from a rifle that only holds 11?)

A few weeks ago, Mr. Chase mentioned the excessive number of laws passed last year including the surprising number geared toward the homosexual agenda. Recently, letters have appeared not only attacking his opinion column entitled My Thoughts, Exactly, but insisting the column be removed because the writers disagree with the facts, thoughts, and opinions expressed. Yet they all claim they welcome a diversity of writers and opinions.

Perhaps someone else can make sense of this. I am not only puzzled, but I am surprised by the nasty letters. Mr. Chase is to be applauded for characterizing the letters as “vitriol-soaked missives” and moving on to other issues. I’m looking forward to his next column.

Julie Hill
La Crescenta

“22% Fear”
Mary O’Keefe Offers Insight on CVHS Play

On Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights at 7 p.m. Crescenta Valley High School students will be performing the original play “22% Fear” at the MacDonald Auditorium.

This play was inspired by a survey given to CVHS students that found 22% of kids felt harassed or bullied at school. Teacher Brent Beerman’s drama department set up an email account and invited students to anonymously submit their stories of bullying. Those emails evolved into “22% Fear.”
Students throughout the day today, Thursday, will be viewing the play and are encouraged to bring their parents tonight, Friday or Saturday.
I saw the play this morning and I strongly advise all parents, no matter the age of your children, to attend an evening performance.
I am a member of the Crescenta Valley Drug and Alcohol Prevention Coalition. At one of the first seminars we held, a video of kids talking about drugs was presented. I was part of the production team for that video.
I knew that drugs were in our area; I knew kids were involved, but to hear teenagers talking about what they saw in their school quite honestly floored me. And that is not easy to do.
I felt that exact emotion today when I watched “22% Fear.” Through kids we hear the stories we remember when we were their age. The bullying, the mean girls, the threats and the misunderstandings. What we dealt with was bad but what today’s kids are dealing with is worse. Today there is no escape to your room because social media follows you everywhere. It is on your computer and on your phone. Cyberbullying is an extension of the campus attacks.
The play covers physical and emotional bullying and it deals with violent teen dating, with both boys and girls as victims.
As parents we are all responsible for the safety of our kids, even when they don’t want us to get involved. This play is a great way to open a dialogue with your child about harassment and abuse, to talk to them about being a victim or being a bully.
The production also gives students a sense of power. “It is illegal,” they say of harassment.
“You are not alone.” They promise.
The play is Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 2, 3, and 4 at 7 p.m.
Tickets are $5 for students and $10 for adults.

By Jason KUROSU

Clark Magnet High School was the beneficiary of yet another Lexus Eco Challenge win last week as a team of eight students, the self-proclaimed Carbonators, won a $10,000 prize for their research on the negative effects of ozone smog in Los Angeles County. Clark Magnet students previously won the Lexus Eco Challenge, a nationwide project for raising student interest in environmental affairs, with their studies of pollutants threatening the local lobster population.

Clark was one of only two schools in the country to win last year and two of the students involved in that win are part of the Carbonators. Dominique Evans-Bye, Marine Science teacher at Clark, showed pride for her students’ multiple wins.

“They’ve certainly done a great job,” Evans-Bye said.

The Carbonators’ research showed that already notorious smog levels in Los Angeles County are still high. The team looked at data of smog levels from 1999 and compared that with Environmental Protection Agency data from sampling stations throughout the state. They then created maps from this data on ArcGIS, spatial analysis software that creates maps based on statistical data. The data, displayed through ArcGIS, showed that San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties had high levels of ozone smog.

The Carbonators also looked for potential solar energy possibilities in those areas with the highest levels of smog, exploring where the best places to install solar panels might be.

The next step for the Carbonators is to compete for the Eco Challenge’s $30,000 grand prize. To do this, they will expand their research outside of Los Angeles County.

“Now they have to take their research to a global scale,” said Evans-Bye. “They’ve already mapped out ozone smog levels in Europe through data collected on the Internet.”

They would also like to collect data on smog in Asia.

“We’re looking at places with high populations, industrialized countries,” said Evans-Bye.

The deadline for the grand prize is in late February.

CVHS junior travels to London for popular New Year’s Day parade

By Maddy PUMILIA

London’s New Year’s Day parade is considered equivalent to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, touting an approximate 10,000 performers from 20 different countries. Lining the two mile parade route are about a half million people with another 20 million watching on televisions throughout Britain.

One of those performers came from “across the pond,” from Crescenta Valley specifically.

CVHS junior Marta Archer was selected to join the parade after attending a training camp in July hosted by an organization called United Spirit Association. At the camp, she learned the skills, drills and techniques of a band drum major. Out of hundreds around the U.S., only the top 10% were invited to participate in the 26th annual event.

Just nine drum majors, all from California, were chosen to go to the parade.

“I feel honored,” Marta said. “Out of however many people who got selected, being in the top nine is a big deal. Not that many people know that much about drum majors, so to be in the spotlight of it all feels really good.”

“It’s pretty impressive,” agreed Marta’s father, Eric.

“It’s nice to have her skills and talents recognized,” added her mother, Jan.

The drum majors joined 500 cheerleaders and 400 dancers seen along the parade route that went through Piccadilly, Piccadilly Circus, Lower Regent Street, Waterloo Place, Pall Mall, Cockspur Street, Trafalgar Square, Whitehall and Parliament Street. The drum majors were given a set routine to learn via DVD. Marta estimates that she practiced at her house for about 20 to 30 hours then another hour and a half in London.

“The weather was nice during the week, but it rained the morning of the parade,” Eric said.

“It was sunny,” Marta said. “There were no clouds and we all thought we’re going to be okay. Our uniforms weren’t going to get all wet and we were going to be fine and we lined up for the parade and we start marching. A block in, it starts pouring rain and there’s nothing we can do.”

Marta plays five instruments – flute, tuba, tenor saxophone, baritone and the piccolo. She has been in band for three years. This is in her second year as apprentice drum major at CVHS.

“I love band and I love music and I thought my understanding of music and my musical ability, because I play so many instruments, would really help the band grow musically,” Marta said of why she became an apprentice drum major.

There are four apprentices, two assistants and only one drum major. Designations are done by audition; not everyone makes the cut.

“It requires skill and discipline and leadership skills and a good understanding of music,” said Jan.

CV student Mac Wright was also selected to go in the London New Years’ Day parade, but he chose to participate in Pasadena’s Rose Parade on New Years’ Day as a herald trumpet. CV students Weston Foote, Riley Scott, Madison Artis and Aaron Hancock also were a part of the Tournament of Roses Honor Band.

By Misty DUPLESSIS

On Friday, a royal ball was held for the princesses of Valley View Elementary in celebration of the annual Daddy Daughter Dinner Dance.

The room was filled with photographs of famous royals, family crest posters and tables adorned with tiered glasses overflowing with jewels.

Girls arrived dressed in gowns and tiaras, escorted by their fathers, brothers, uncles, grandfathers or family friends who were all ready to eat, play games and dance.

For the last six years, a group of dedicated parent volunteers work together to choose a fun, themed night for the annual event.

The women worked nonstop all night to ensure that everything ran smoothly, overseeing all aspects of the event from the catered food provided by Peppercorn Kitchen to distributing the tiara necklaces that all the girls left with at the end of the night.

Thanks to donations by students and parents, there were plenty of baked goods for the girls and their dads to enjoy including sparkled cake pops and tiara-shaped white chocolate candies.

Committee member Zoe White was excited that the same DJ from last year was available to entertain the school this year.

“We’re lucky to have Kendall Roberg because he rocks. It wouldn’t be the same without him,” White said of the returning DJ.

The room was temporarily divided between daughters and the dads as they participated in a playful, competitive song game.

For many families this event is the highlight of the year. Many of the girls look forward to dressing up and dads and daughters appreciate spending time with each other.

Daddy Jonathan Price has enjoyed attending the dances for years. This year he came with his younger daughter, third grader Jensen.

“It was really fun and great,” said Jensen of the evening, adding that her favorite part of the night was dancing with her father.

Committee member Linda Hunter said that every year the event gets bigger and bigger, and that this year they broke a record for the highest number of attendees.

La Cañada Elementary fifth grader Nicole Johnson has been elected the 2012 president of the Kiwanis K-Kids of the Community Center of La Cañada. K-Kids is a service organization for elementary students sponsored by Kiwanis International, and a local Kiwanis club, composed of leading business and professional people of the community. K-Kids is a student-led community service organization open to any fourth, fifth, or sixth grade student who would like to provide service to Community Center of La Cañada and the community.

“It’s important for a community to have a K-Kids club so we can be helpful to other people,” said Nicole who has served with the K-Kids for two years. “We give flowers to the elderly in nursing homes, have sent shoes to needy kids in Madagascar and we even raised enough money to provide one cleft palate surgery for a kid through Smile Train. I love K-Kids.”

The K-Kids meetings are held the first Thursday each month immediately after school, and require parents to drop off and pick up their children. This year K-Kids will participate in the Fiesta Days Parade, collect donations for homeless children and adopt a “grandparent,” Kiwanis One Day, School Nurse Appreciation Day, planting flowers at the Community Center, baking cookies for the fire department, and the annual Plan-Spec Construction Food and Clothing Drive to benefit the Midnight Mission.

For more information about K-Kids, visit www.kiwanis-k-kids-lacanada.webs.com.

K-Kids meets the first Thursday of the month from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Community Center of La Cañada, 4469 Chevy Chase Dr., La Cañada Flintridge.

Crescenta-Cañada Cooperative Nursery School – CCNS – director and teacher Nita Imm decided to reach out to the working parents of her students by inviting them to a special CCNS session … on a Saturday!

Often just one parent participates at the cooperative on a regular basis while the other parent works, only hearing about the activities at CCNS. Imm decided to open the doors of the nursery school on Saturday, Jan. 14 to give working parents an inside look at how their children spend their time.

Working dads took to the floor and played with their Busy Bear (4 year olds) or Darling Duck (3 year olds.) The day was filled with smiles and laughter as dads interacted with their children.

The Darling Ducks and their dads painted handprints and decorated little flowerpots with stickers, then planted a flower in the pot to take home for their mothers. Both classes participated in story time, danced the Chicken Dance and the Hokey Pokey and enjoyed snacks together.

The Busy Bears painted footprints with their dads and, although a little messy, everyone had a fun and memorable time. The Bears showed their parent how well they use scissors, spell their names and made flowers to take home for their mothers. Photos of fathers with their child were taken to commemorate the special day.

CCNS is located at 1700 Foothill Blvd, La Canada. (818) 952-2524 www.ccnsonline.com