Beach Magazine November 2015
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<strong>November</strong> 12, <strong>2015</strong><br />
Volume 46, Issue 15<br />
Laker Gary Vitti<br />
Finale<br />
Barak’s world<br />
True to farm to table<br />
Off to the pumpkin race<br />
South Bay Gift Guide
Considering A Major Remodeling Project?
<strong>November</strong> 12, <strong>2015</strong><br />
Volume 46, Issue 15<br />
ON THE COVER<br />
Laker trainer Gary Vitti.<br />
Photo by Pete Henze<br />
BEACH PEOPLE<br />
18 Veni, Vitti, Vici by Paul Teetor<br />
For 32 years sports trainer Gary Vitti decided who could play and<br />
who couldn’t. Now the Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong> resident has decided it’s<br />
time for him to play.<br />
30 Former Israeli PM Ehud Barak by Kevin Cody<br />
Israeli commando, prime minister and classical pianist Ehud Barak<br />
shares his fears, hopes and a few jokes about the new world order.<br />
36 True Food by Richard Foss<br />
True Food Kitchen attempts to scale up the farm to table trend<br />
and succeeds.<br />
40 Rethinking High School by David Mendez<br />
Redondo High student Chris Paludi finds inspiration and<br />
challenges in author David Foster Wallace’s ideas on community<br />
and self awareness.<br />
10 <strong>Beach</strong> calendar<br />
14 Spyder Surf Scare n Tear<br />
26 South Bay Gift Guide<br />
42 Pumpkin Race<br />
BEACH LIFE<br />
44 Skecher Friendship Walk<br />
46 Best of Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong><br />
48 Jimmy Miller Surf Fiesta<br />
51 Service Directory<br />
STAFF<br />
PUBLISHER Kevin Cody, ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Richard Budman, EDITORS Mark McDermott, Randy Angel, David<br />
Mendez, Caroline Anderson and Ryan McDonald, ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Bondo Wyszpolski, DINING EDITOR<br />
Richard Foss, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS Ray Vidal, Brad Jacobson and Gloria Plascencia, CALENDAR Judy Rae,<br />
DISPLAY SALES Adrienne Slaughter, Tamar Gillotti, Amy Berg, and Shelley Crawford,<br />
CLASSIFIEDS Teri Marin, DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL MEDIA Jared Thompson, GRAPHIC DESIGNER Tim Teebken,<br />
DESIGN CONSULTANT Bob Staake, BobStaake.com, FRONT DESK Judy Rae, INTERN Sean Carroll<br />
EASY READER (ISSN 0194-6412) is published weekly by EASY READER, 2200 Pacific Cst. Hwy., #101, P.O. Box 427,<br />
Hermosa <strong>Beach</strong>, CA 90254-0427. Yearly domestic mail subscription $50.00; foreign, $75.00 payable in advance.<br />
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to EASY READER, P.O. Box 427, Hermosa <strong>Beach</strong>, CA 90254. The entire contents<br />
of the EASY READER newspaper is Copyright <strong>2015</strong> by EASY READER, Inc. www.easyreadernews.com. The Easy<br />
Reader/Redondo <strong>Beach</strong> Hometown News is a legally adjudicated newspaper and the official newspaper for the city of<br />
Hermosa <strong>Beach</strong>. Easy Reader / Redondo <strong>Beach</strong> Hometown News is also distributed to homes and on newsstands in<br />
Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong>, El Segundo, Torrance, and Palos Verdes.<br />
CONTACT<br />
n Mailing Address P.O. Box 427, Hermosa <strong>Beach</strong>, CA 90254 Phone (310) 372-4611 Fax (424) 212-6780<br />
n Website www.easyreadernews.com Email news@easyreadernews.com<br />
n Classified Advertising see the Classified Ad Section. Phone 310.372.4611 x102. Email displayads@easyreadernews.com<br />
n Fictitious Name Statements (DBA's) can be filed at the office during regular business hours. Phone 310.372.4611 x101.<br />
6 Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine • <strong>November</strong> 12, <strong>2015</strong>
11/14/15
S O U T H B A Y<br />
CAL<br />
13<br />
Fashion charity<br />
Woman’s Club of<br />
Hermosa <strong>Beach</strong> presents a<br />
Talbot’s Holiday Fashion<br />
Show. Door prizes and merchandise<br />
discounts. All proceeds<br />
benefit the charities<br />
of the Woman’s Club of<br />
Hermosa <strong>Beach</strong>. Contact<br />
Margie Dupuis to RSVP or<br />
for tickets call (310) 900-<br />
9513, midupuis@yahoo.<br />
com. Continental breakfast<br />
will be served. 9:30 a.m. -<br />
noon Talbot’s, Manhattan<br />
Village Mall, 3200 N.<br />
Sepulveda Blvd, MB .<br />
14<br />
Dewey Weber by<br />
Phil Roberts<br />
The lifesize Surf Legends<br />
Memorial Statue, sculpted<br />
by Phil Roberts after a<br />
Leroy Grannis photograph<br />
ENDAR<br />
FRIDAY<br />
NOVEMBER<br />
SATURDAY<br />
NOVEMBER<br />
of Dewey Weber will be<br />
unveiled in front of the<br />
Hermosa <strong>Beach</strong> Community<br />
Center at 11 a.m.<br />
Though the statue depicts<br />
the legendary Weber, the<br />
statue’s committee and primary<br />
funder Joe Melchione<br />
want the statue to honor all<br />
surfers. 710 Pier Avenue at<br />
Pacific Coast Highway.<br />
Destination: Art<br />
anniversary party<br />
“Elf” by Margaret<br />
Lindsey<br />
Destination: Art celebrates<br />
its first anniversary<br />
with a holiday party and<br />
sale of original artwork. 5 to<br />
8 p.m. 1815 W. 213th St,<br />
Torrance. Destination-<br />
Art.net (310) 742-3192.<br />
Restore the floor<br />
fundraiser<br />
The Woman’s Club<br />
Redondo <strong>Beach</strong> hosts a<br />
“Restore the Floor” tasting<br />
with wine, craft beers, artisan<br />
chocolates, cheese and<br />
fruits. (The clubhouse, with<br />
its beautiful hardwood<br />
floor, was built in 1922 and<br />
is listed on the National<br />
Register of Historic Places.)<br />
Entertainment by Diana<br />
Drake, silent auction, and<br />
gift vendors. 2 to 7 p.m. 400<br />
S. Broadway, Redondo<br />
<strong>Beach</strong>. Tickets at wcrbinfo.com/ticket-sales.html.<br />
Vistamar School<br />
open house<br />
Vistamar School hosts an<br />
open house to showcase the<br />
value of learning within a<br />
diverse community so students<br />
thrive in a globalized<br />
society. Registration: 8:30<br />
a.m. Program: 9 a.m. to<br />
noon. 737 Hawaii Street, El<br />
Segundo. VistamarSchool.<br />
org.<br />
A Night at the<br />
Biltmore<br />
The Hermosa <strong>Beach</strong><br />
Historical Society will<br />
invoke the spirit of the old<br />
Biltmore Hotel with a 1920s<br />
themed gala at the Hermosa<br />
Historical Museum. 1920s<br />
dress encouraged. Proceeds<br />
will help fund children’s<br />
tours of the museum,<br />
expand exhibits and preserve<br />
historic objects and<br />
newspapers. 7 to 11 p.m.<br />
$50. 710 Pier Avenue,<br />
Hermosa <strong>Beach</strong>. Tickets at<br />
Hermosa<strong>Beach</strong>HistoricalSo<br />
ciety.org or call (310) 318-<br />
9421.<br />
15<br />
PV Democrats<br />
Meeting<br />
SUNDAY<br />
NOVEMBER<br />
"Social Security Works" is<br />
the topic of Sylvia Moore, a<br />
Common Cause organizer.<br />
Ernie Powell, a former<br />
AARP Senior Manager of<br />
Advocacy and current political<br />
consultant, will speak<br />
on Strategies to Protect and<br />
Expand Social Security. 2:30<br />
- 4:30 p.m. Palos Verdes<br />
Peninsula Center Library<br />
Community Room, 701<br />
Silver Spur Rd, Rolling Hills<br />
Estates. Free. For information<br />
contact David Hall at<br />
(310) 377-7334.<br />
Shine the light<br />
The Torrance Memorial<br />
Hospice 20th Annual “Light<br />
Up a Life” tree lighting ceremony<br />
recognizes National<br />
Hospice and Palliative Care<br />
Month and celebrates the<br />
lives loved ones no longer<br />
with us. The evening features<br />
a reading of names<br />
and a performance by the<br />
San Pedro Ballet.<br />
Individuals can sponsor a<br />
light on the hospice tree<br />
with a donation of any<br />
amount. Torrance Memorial<br />
Medical Center’s Hoffman<br />
Health Conference Center,<br />
3330 Lomita Blvd, Torrance.<br />
For more information and<br />
to RSVP, call Torrance<br />
Memorial Home Health &<br />
Hospice at (310) 517-4694.<br />
A Violet Society<br />
Jacquie Eisenhut of South<br />
Coast African Violet Society<br />
(SCAVS) will present<br />
"African Violets 101." 2 to 4<br />
p.m. Plants available for<br />
purchase. Admission is free<br />
with paid entrance to South<br />
Coast Botanic Garden. For<br />
more information, contact<br />
Jacquie Eisenhut at<br />
j a c e i s 9 0 5 @ g m a i l . c o m .<br />
South Coast Botanic<br />
Garden, 26300 Crenshaw<br />
Blvd., Palos Verdes<br />
Peninsula.<br />
18<br />
Small Biz Expo<br />
WEDNESDAY<br />
NOVEMBER<br />
2nd Annual United Small<br />
Business Alliance<br />
Community Expo will feature<br />
over 50 local businesses<br />
and political leaders<br />
including Assemblymember<br />
David Hadley, Torrance<br />
Mayor Patrick J. Furey.<br />
Free. Noon to 7 p.m.<br />
Torrance Cultural Arts<br />
For Class & Event Schedule<br />
www.destination-art.net<br />
Elf with Pearl Earring after Vermeer by Margaret Lindsey<br />
Destination: Art<br />
It’s A<br />
HO HO HO HOLIDAY<br />
& Our First Anniversary<br />
PARTY<br />
(YOU ARE INVITED)<br />
Saturday, Nov. 14, 5-8pm<br />
2016 Calendars<br />
Wine & Holiday Goodies<br />
Handmade Gift Ornaments<br />
All Original Artwork<br />
ON SALE!<br />
The Perfect Gift<br />
for the Holidays<br />
Destination: Art<br />
1815 W. 213th St., #135<br />
Torrance CA 90501<br />
www.destination-art.net<br />
310-742-3192<br />
THE LUXURY OF BEAUTY IN<br />
YOUR OWN HOME<br />
WE COME TO YOU!<br />
MAKE UP ~ $50.00<br />
BLOW OUTS ~ $60.00<br />
A DOLL UP ~ $90.00<br />
*INQUIRE ABOUT SPECIAL EVENTS<br />
BOOK YOUR APPOINTMENT TODAY<br />
WEB: WWW.DOLLEDUP.CO<br />
EMAIL: JENN@DOLLEDUP.CO<br />
PH: 310.200.1606<br />
10 Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine • <strong>November</strong> 12, <strong>2015</strong>
S O U T H B A Y<br />
CALENDAR<br />
Center Toyota Meeting Hall, 3330<br />
Civic Center Drive. For additional<br />
information, go to usba.club or contact<br />
Aurelio Mattucci at<br />
am@usba.club or (310) 742-5754.<br />
20<br />
FRIDAY<br />
NOVEMBER<br />
Vball Hall of Fame<br />
The 5th annual <strong>Beach</strong> Volleyball<br />
Hall of Fame induction ceremony<br />
will honor Ricci Luyties, Lisa Arce<br />
Zimmerman (pictured above),<br />
Nancy Cohen Fredgant and Jon<br />
Hastings. Andy Fishburn, Hall of<br />
Fame class of 2003 will also be recognized<br />
along the California <strong>Beach</strong><br />
Volleyball Association’s top ranked<br />
players and the CBVA Cal Cup<br />
Youth State Champions. Fans and<br />
players from all generations are<br />
invited. Food and beverages available<br />
for purchase. 7 p.m. at<br />
Hermosa <strong>Beach</strong> Community<br />
Center, 710 Pier Avenue, Hermosa<br />
<strong>Beach</strong>. For information email<br />
info@cbva.com.<br />
21<br />
A friend for sale<br />
Hermosa <strong>Beach</strong> Friends of the<br />
Library Book Sale. 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.<br />
1309 Bard Street, Hermosa <strong>Beach</strong>.<br />
(310) 376-7493 hbfol.org.<br />
23<br />
Click clique<br />
SATURDAY<br />
NOVEMBER<br />
MONDAY<br />
NOVEMBER<br />
South Bay Camera Club meetings<br />
are free to anyone is interested in<br />
photography. 7 p.m. Torrance<br />
Airport Administration Building<br />
meeting room, 3301 Airport Drive,<br />
Torrance. For more information,<br />
contact Harry Korn, (805) 340-<br />
3197, or visit sbccphoto.org. B<br />
<strong>November</strong> 12, <strong>2015</strong> • Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine 11
drop zone<br />
MANHATTAN’S<br />
HAUNTED PIER<br />
Halloween is an understandably favorite<br />
holiday for a sport whose athletes are<br />
known for refusing to grow up. The annual<br />
Halloween Spyder Surf Scare and Tear contest<br />
at the Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong> pier judges<br />
entries as much for their costumes as for<br />
their surfing. – Eddie Solt<br />
Photos by Steve Gaffney<br />
(SteveGaffney.com)<br />
1<br />
2<br />
1. Cash Cherry throws the iron cross as the devil.<br />
2. The Wizard of Oz crew Allison Atkinson as the<br />
scarecrow, Tamara Lentz as Dorothy, Sarah Foley<br />
as the Wicked Witch of the West, Melissa Alves<br />
as the Cowardly Lion, and Daine Silva as a peacock.<br />
3. Green Goblin Jani Lange gobbles up a tasty<br />
shoulder.<br />
4. Flying Nun Lance Nelson wins the Male<br />
Zombies (High School) division.<br />
5. The Cowardly Lion Melissa Alves gets up the<br />
courage to taunt Scarecrow Allison Atkinson.<br />
6. Gru pushes his minion into an uncertain breaker.<br />
7. The contest attracted a graveyard of scary<br />
surfers.<br />
8. Pink Lady Megan Seth wins the middle school<br />
Micro Zombie.<br />
3 4<br />
5<br />
6<br />
7<br />
8<br />
14 Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine • <strong>November</strong> 12, <strong>2015</strong>
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YOUR LOCAL REAL ESTATE CONNECTION
sports<br />
Gary Vitti at the Laker training center in El Segundo. Photo by Pete Henze<br />
Vitti finale<br />
Lakers trainer Gary Vitti recalls the highpoints and the heartbreaks of caring<br />
for the physical and psychological health of eight NBA championship teams<br />
by Paul Teetor<br />
Gary Vitti took one glance at Tarik<br />
Black’s lipstick-red short-shorts and<br />
rendered an instant fashion judgment.<br />
“That’s not a good look for you,” the 5-foot-<br />
9 Lakers trainer said to the 6-foot-9 power<br />
forward whose ice-covered knees and even –<br />
gasp! – his thighs were clearly visible as he<br />
strolled through the training room at the<br />
team’s El Segundo training facility.<br />
It took a moment for Black to get the thrust<br />
of Vitti’s towel-snapping humor, but when<br />
Vitti smirked at him it finally registered: in<br />
the modern era of baggy-is-better, there was<br />
something kind of, well ….effeminate…<br />
about Black’s old-school basketball shorts.<br />
“Hey, man, I’m secure in my manhood,”<br />
Black replied, trying to contain his laughter.<br />
Black, an important part of the Lakers<br />
uncertain future after a promising rookie season,<br />
continued through the training room as<br />
Vitti delivered his final verdict: “I still say<br />
that’s not a good look for you.”<br />
Vitti turned his attention to an important<br />
part of the Lakers championship past: 88-<br />
year-old Bill Bertka, who had a cut on his<br />
arm and needed it bandaged. “This happens<br />
all the time. At my age the skin gets easily<br />
cut,” the former assistant coach and current<br />
special consultant explained. “Gary always<br />
fixes me up.”<br />
After Vitti finished his repair job, Bertka<br />
asked to speak with him privately about a<br />
personal matter. The two men went off by<br />
themselves to the nearby practice court<br />
where only a few players like Xavier Henry<br />
and Roy Hibbert were still working on their<br />
games. The headliners, like prize rookie<br />
D’Angelo Russell and second-year flashes<br />
Jordan Clarkson and Julius Randle, had<br />
already headed over to the Clippers practice<br />
facility in Playa Vista for full court runs with<br />
their Staples Center co-tenants.<br />
When Vitti returned to the training room<br />
after 10 minutes huddling with Bertka, he<br />
started work on an important part of the<br />
Lakers present: the 7-foot-2 center Hibbert. A<br />
former two-time All-Star who regressed last<br />
season, Hibbert was traded here by the<br />
Indiana Pacers for practically nothing – a<br />
2019 second round draft pick – after team<br />
president Larry Bird said Hibbert would no<br />
longer be a starter despite his $15.5 million<br />
18 Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine • <strong>November</strong> 12, <strong>2015</strong>
Vitti helping Derek Fisher off the court. Fisher, now the New York Knicks head coach, won five<br />
titles and ensured his place in Lakers history with his walk-off game winning shot with .04 seconds<br />
left against the Spurs in the 2004 playoffs. Courtesy Gary Vitti collection
salary. Hibbert, who needed some calluses<br />
shaved off his feet, stretched out his long,<br />
lean frame on a training table. Then he laid<br />
down a towel where the shaved skin would<br />
soon be dropping.<br />
“There were some guys on my old team<br />
who would cut their nails and just leave<br />
them on the floor for someone else to pick<br />
up,” he confided. “I was taught at<br />
Georgetown to always lay down a towel.”<br />
Vitti, 61, has a map-of-Italy face that used<br />
to be framed by a shaggy head of curly hair<br />
and a bushy, totally ‘80s-mustache. Now he<br />
rocks a shaved head and gray goatee that<br />
makes him look like a mashup of Bruce<br />
Willis and Billy Joel, with a New-York-meets-<br />
SoCal accent and a tender/tough guy personality<br />
to match.<br />
Vitti has been a part of eight NBA championship<br />
teams and 12 NBA finalists, more<br />
than any trainer in NBA history. As he used<br />
a callus cutter, a scalpel and then a rasp on<br />
Hibbert’s size-17 left foot, his right hand<br />
sported one of his eight championship rings:<br />
1987, when the Lakers beat their arch rivals<br />
the Boston Celtics. “That’s the year my<br />
daughter Rachel was born,” he said. “I wear<br />
it in her honor.”<br />
Hibbert responded: “I got her beat – I was<br />
born in 1986.”<br />
Hibbert’s off-hand comment on this<br />
September morning underscored Vitti’s<br />
incredible longevity and his new reality: after<br />
31 years tending to the physical pains and<br />
psychic problems of everyone from Magic<br />
Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to<br />
Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant, the longtime<br />
Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong> resident is starting his<br />
32nd and last season as the Laker’s full-time<br />
head trainer.<br />
Moments later Hibbert thanked him for<br />
the repair job and ambled off to the showers.<br />
“Some players need to be pushed, and<br />
some players need a lot of stroking,” Vitti<br />
confided. “Roy needs a lot of stroking. He can<br />
do great things if we can build his confidence<br />
back up.”<br />
One more job for his to-do list.<br />
Whatever needs to be done<br />
There will never be a statue of Vitti outside<br />
Staples Center to go alongside the statues of<br />
Magic Johnson, Jerry West, Shaquille O’Neal<br />
and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Even former<br />
Lakers broadcaster Chick Hearn, who<br />
invented much of the vocabulary that defines<br />
modern basketball – “Slam Dunk!” “Air Ball”<br />
“No harm, no foul” – has a statue.<br />
But in his own behind-the-scenes way Vitti<br />
was just as much a part of the overwhelming<br />
success of the ‘80s Showtime dynasty, the<br />
Shaq-Kobe three-peat teams of 2000-2002,<br />
and the Kobe-Pau-Lamar championship<br />
teams of 2009-2010. Anyone who thinks all a<br />
trainer does is tape ankles before the game,<br />
rush out to the court when a player goes<br />
down and pick up the used towels after the<br />
game doesn’t understand that Vitti is always<br />
on call even when he’s home, works seven<br />
days a week during the season and five days<br />
a week during the off-season.<br />
A pro basketball team is like a big, boisterous<br />
family and the eight month season is like<br />
an endless cross-country journey in the family<br />
SUV. In such a claustrophobic environment<br />
personal chemistry – or personal conflict<br />
– can help a team excel or break a team<br />
apart. Think of the coaches as the stern,<br />
demanding parents and the trainer as the<br />
good-guy uncle along for the ride. His unofficial<br />
job description includes court jester,<br />
fashion judge, psychiatrist, confidant, father<br />
confessor, peacemaker, diplomat, dietician,<br />
strength trainer, traveling secretary, plumber,<br />
electrician and even car mechanic.<br />
“Basically, my job is whatever needs to be<br />
done at a given moment,” Vitti said. “A couple<br />
of years ago we had an assistant coach<br />
from another country who came to practice<br />
with license plates for his car. So I went out<br />
to the parking lot and put the plates on his<br />
car.”<br />
For this season, and for at least two more<br />
years when he will serve as a special consultant<br />
while the team moves into a new El<br />
Segundo training center around the corner<br />
from its current one, Vitti is one of the<br />
team’s few remaining links to its championship<br />
past.<br />
“The Lakers will never be the same<br />
without him,” said Joyce Sharman,<br />
widow of Bill Sharman, the former<br />
Lakers coach and general manager.<br />
“Through all those different coaches and<br />
players he was the glue that held it all<br />
together.”<br />
It’s been a long, strange trip for the<br />
son of two Italian immigrants. By the<br />
time he was 30, his destiny appeared set.<br />
He would be a college professor in a laidback,<br />
small-city atmosphere. But instead,<br />
Vitti with Lakers General Manager Jerry West<br />
during the mid 1980's. After a Hall of Fame<br />
career as a high-scoring guard who played lockdown<br />
defense, West turned out to be the best<br />
talent evaluator in NBA history while constructing<br />
two championship teams – the 1980's<br />
Showtime dynasty that won five titles and the<br />
Shaq-Kobe teams that won three straight titles<br />
from 2000-2002. Courtesy Gary Vitti collection<br />
20 Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine • <strong>November</strong> 12, <strong>2015</strong>
Vitti and Magic Johnson after Johnson retired from the Lakers. Shortly before Vitti broke the news to the team that Magic was infected with the HIV/AIDS<br />
virus Magic told him that he was going to beat the virus and was going to do something great with it. 24 years later he is still functioning at a high level<br />
and has dedicated himself to AIDS education around the world. Courtesy Gary Vitti collection<br />
thanks to an out-of-the-blue phone call, he<br />
ended up as a trainer to the biggest stars of<br />
the most important sports franchise in<br />
America’s most glam city.<br />
“Just think of all the different personalities<br />
he’s had to deal with,” said Guy Gabriele,<br />
owner of Love & Salt Restaurant in<br />
Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong> and one of Vitti’s best<br />
friends. “Players, coaches, even management<br />
– there were some very entitled people that<br />
he was able to deal with because he could<br />
find a balance between their different personalities<br />
and move forward. He’s a sensitive<br />
guy, a healer, but he can also be blunt without<br />
hurting people. He’s a perfectionist and a<br />
problem solver.”<br />
Vitti just shook his head when asked about<br />
his longevity.<br />
“I can’t believe it’s been 31 years,” he said.<br />
“When I started in 1984 it was coach Pat<br />
Riley, assistant coach Bertka and me. Pat<br />
used to have a saying: 12 plus 2 plus 1 – 12<br />
players, two coaches and me. Fifteen people<br />
in the trenches against all the peripheral distractions.<br />
Now there are 15 players, nine<br />
coaches, and I have five assistants on my<br />
own staff.”<br />
20 magic words<br />
It was a job Vitti didn’t seek out but a job<br />
he couldn’t turn down.<br />
In the summer of 1984 Vitti was on track<br />
to become a tenured professor at the<br />
University of Portland after spending two<br />
years setting up its sports medicine program.<br />
Then one August day he got a call from<br />
Lakers coach Pat Riley asking if he would like<br />
to interview for the job of Lakers trainer.<br />
A New York Knicks fan from his early days<br />
growing up in Stamford, Connecticut, Vitti<br />
couldn’t help but be intrigued. He had spent<br />
1981 and 1982 as an assistant trainer with the<br />
Utah Jazz, so he had some idea of the relentless<br />
grind – constant travel, personality conflicts<br />
and the media always critiquing your<br />
job performance – of the traveling circus that<br />
is NBA life. He also knew that the Lakers<br />
were an NBA flagship franchise.<br />
With a master’s degree in sports medicine<br />
from the University of Utah tucked in his<br />
back pocket, Vitti was on the leading edge of<br />
the medical, nutritional and fitness revolutions<br />
gaining momentum in the early 1980s.<br />
The NBA is a word-of-mouth league, with a<br />
lot of cross-pollination as players, coaches<br />
and executives move from team to team each<br />
off-season. So when Riley started asking<br />
around about young up-and-comers who<br />
might be a good replacement for retiring<br />
trainer Jack Curran, Bertka suggested Vitti.<br />
Next thing Vitti knew he was flying to LA for<br />
an interview.<br />
When he arrived at LAX, the legend and<br />
the logo – general manager Jerry West – was<br />
there to drive him to the Fabulous Forum in<br />
Inglewood, where he met for six hours with<br />
West and Riley. They discussed everything<br />
from the need for better nutrition to how to<br />
get players to start weight training – most<br />
players resisted it, believing it would hurt<br />
their shooting touch – to their overall life<br />
philosophies.<br />
Despite agreement on many topics, Vitti<br />
was still leaning towards staying as a college<br />
professor in charge of his own sports medicine<br />
program until Riley spoke twenty magic<br />
words: “You can do everything you want to<br />
do and you can do it with the greatest athletes<br />
in the world.”<br />
Beat the heat<br />
Vitti arrived in LA at a pivotal point in<br />
Lakers history. A year after being swept by<br />
Philadelphia in the 1983 NBA Finals, they<br />
had lost a grueling, seven-game finals to<br />
Larry Bird and the Celtics. It was the eighth<br />
time they had lost to the Celtics in the finals<br />
without a single victory. Despite having three<br />
future Hall of Famers in Magic, Kareem and<br />
James Worthy, as well as a stellar supporting<br />
cast featuring current Lakers coach Byron<br />
Scott and Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong>’s own Kurt<br />
Rambis, the Lakers couldn’t seem to get over<br />
the Celtics hurdle.<br />
“There was a real feeling around the team<br />
that if they didn’t win it all the next season,<br />
<strong>November</strong> 12, <strong>2015</strong> • Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine 21
Vitti goofing around with Shaquille O'Neal. They had a lot of laughs together when Shaq<br />
was playing the clown and the prankster, but there were times they clashed when Vitti felt<br />
Shaq didn't work hard enough to maximize his potential. "Shaq could have been the most<br />
dominant player ever, but it was more important to me than it was to him," Vitti said. "But<br />
I love the big guy and always will. He was a lot of fun to be around." Courtesy Gary Vitti<br />
collection<br />
the team would be broken up,” Vitti recalled.<br />
But the Lakers did break through in the 1985 finals, beating Boston in a<br />
rugged six-game series that shattered the Celtics curse and served as Vitti’s<br />
first real introduction to Lakers fans as a can-do problem solver who was<br />
more than a traditional tape-‘em-up-and-rub-‘em-down trainer.<br />
The Celtics, led by their arrogant, cigar-chomping coach-turned-generalmanager<br />
Red Auerbach, were notorious for creating uncomfortable conditions<br />
in the visitors’ locker room at the old Boston Garden: too cold during<br />
the winter and too hot during the playoffs of May and June. An embittered<br />
Riley felt the Celtic’s locker room tricks had contributed to the 1984 Finals<br />
loss, when their locker room felt like a steam bath. So Vitti proposed a solution<br />
for the 1985 Finals: the Lakers would bring their own air conditioners<br />
into the locker room and create the temperature they wanted. It worked, and<br />
Riley was quick to publicly give Vitti credit.<br />
“It was an idea I got from watching the New York Giants football team the<br />
year before when I saw them using these big cooling units<br />
on the sidelines,” Vitti recalled. “I put it in the back of my<br />
mind. When we got to the finals again, I called the company<br />
and they showed up at the Boston Garden with<br />
these giant coolers that we set up in the locker room.”<br />
And there was a bonus: the first time Vitti plugged them<br />
in, it blew out half the Garden’s electrical system. “They<br />
complained that we were using too much power. I told<br />
them to go to hell.”<br />
The Lakers beat the Celtics again in the 1987 finals and<br />
beat the Detroit Pistons in the 1988 finals. So three of<br />
Vitti’s first four seasons were capped off by Lakers championships.<br />
At that point, although his LA profile was<br />
growing, he was still relatively anonymous nationally.<br />
That was soon to change.<br />
The hardest job<br />
The hardest job Vitti ever performed for the Lakers was<br />
telling the team that Magic Johnson had been infected<br />
with the HIV/AIDS virus. That soul-sapping ordeal set the<br />
stage for him to be a central player in an iconic medical<br />
moment, part of America’s gradual, growing understanding<br />
of the facts and fallacies of the emerging AIDS epidemic.<br />
It started during the pre-season 1991 exhibition schedule,<br />
four months after the Lakers had lost to the Chicago<br />
Bulls in the NBA Finals. West called Vitti and told him to<br />
have Magic return to LA, but didn’t offer any explanation.<br />
Vitti was troubled by the request and asked Magic if he<br />
knew what was going on. Magic had no idea. While<br />
Magic, whom Vitti calls Earv, short for his first name,<br />
Earvin, was flying back to LA, Vitti says it suddenly hit<br />
him.<br />
“I was turning it over and over in my mind, and finally<br />
the lightbulb went on,” he recalled. “I knew Earv was sexually<br />
promiscuous, and I knew he was being given a physical<br />
exam by the insurance company. We didn’t test for<br />
HIV, but they did.”<br />
Vitti confirmed his hunch in a phone call from Lakers<br />
team Doctor Michael Mellman, who called him at<br />
Magic’s request. For the next two weeks only seven people<br />
knew about Johnson’s diagnosis: Magic, his wife<br />
Cookie, his agent Lon Rosen, West, Dr. Mellman, team<br />
owner Jerry Buss, and Vitti.<br />
For two weeks they wrestled with how to handle the<br />
devastating news. “I’m still doing my job, but I’m walking<br />
around in a daze. I was thinking of it as a death sentence<br />
for Earv,” Vitti recalled, his voice cracking. “In our first<br />
conversation I told him I was having a tough time with it.<br />
But he said that when God gave him this disease he gave<br />
it to the right person. He said he was going to beat it, and<br />
was going to do something great with it.”<br />
The first problem: how to inform all the women Magic<br />
had had contact with. He didn’t know half their names or<br />
where they lived. Many of them were NBA groupies who<br />
threw themselves at him when the Lakers passed through<br />
their cities. Others were walking, talking LA stereotypes:<br />
aspiring actresses, models or whatevers. He didn’t have<br />
established relationships with most of them and it was the<br />
pre cell-phone era so there was no digital trail to follow.<br />
Finally, their only ethical course of action became clear:<br />
they would have to tell the world and, by extension, all<br />
those women who needed to know.<br />
First, at an emotional team gathering in the Forum Vitti<br />
informed the other players. Then Magic came in,<br />
addressed the team as a group and walked around the<br />
room to say goodbye to each player individually.<br />
22 Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine • <strong>November</strong> 12, <strong>2015</strong>
Assistant coach Bill Bertka, head coach Pat Riley and Gary Vitti during Vitti's first season, 1984-85. Riley, who led the Lakers<br />
to four NBA championships, hired Vitti and taught him much about leadership and molding champions. Bertka, now 88, still<br />
works for the Lakers as a special consultant to the general manager. Courtesy Gary Vitti collection<br />
“He gave each of them a big hug and whispered<br />
something in their ear,” Vitti recalled.<br />
“Magic had a way of saying whatever you<br />
needed to hear to make you feel better. He<br />
could read people really well.”<br />
Assistant Coach Bertka was known as the<br />
most stoic of the Lakers coaches and players.<br />
But when Johnson approached Bertka his<br />
knees buckled and Magic had to hold him up<br />
to prevent him from falling to the floor.<br />
“When I saw Bertka start to collapse that<br />
made me emotional too,” Vitti recalled. Vitti,<br />
who had already had his first post-HIV conversation<br />
with Magic several days prior, was<br />
the last man that Magic approached. “I said<br />
‘It’s okay, brother, we’ve already done this,’”<br />
he recalled. “He said ‘Yeah, but it doesn’t<br />
make it any easier.’”<br />
Then Magic went upstairs and held a press<br />
conference that was beamed around the<br />
world.<br />
Believing in Magic<br />
Magic and the team had decided it would<br />
be best for him to retire and focus on his<br />
medical treatment. But with the disease<br />
under control a year later he attempted a<br />
comeback for the 1992-93 season. That’s<br />
when shock and sympathy morphed into<br />
fear and ignorance.<br />
Several players, most prominently Karl<br />
Malone of the Jazz, publicly questioned<br />
Magic’s decision to return. Malone worried<br />
aloud that he could become infected if Magic<br />
spilled blood on the court or even sprayed<br />
him with his sweat.<br />
During one of the first exhibition games,<br />
Magic suffered a small cut on his forearm, little<br />
more than a fingernail scratch. What<br />
would normally have been a non-event suddenly<br />
turned into highlight material for<br />
Sports Center: Magic came out of the game<br />
and when Vitti saw how small the scratch<br />
was he took out a cotton swab and left his<br />
medical gloves in his pocket. By then Vitti<br />
had researched the HIV virus and knew a lot<br />
more than he had a year earlier.<br />
“I made a decision that I didn’t need the<br />
gloves,” Vitti recalled. “I thought that if I put<br />
the gloves on I was sending a mixed message.”<br />
“Gary instinctively did the right thing,”<br />
said another of his closest friends, Petros<br />
Benekos, owner of Petros restaurant in<br />
Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong>. “He didn’t have to consult<br />
with anybody.”<br />
In that single, silent act Vitti communicated<br />
to the world what we now know: the virus<br />
can’t be transmitted by surface cuts or<br />
scratches and that other players were not<br />
endangered by playing with or against Magic.<br />
The budding player revolt against Magic’s<br />
return soon died down and was buried in<br />
that year’s All Star game, when he was<br />
named MVP after scoring 25 points with 9<br />
assists and 5 rebounds.<br />
Vitti has worked with dozens of champions<br />
and plenty of Hall-of Famers, each with their<br />
own unique blend of talent, work ethic and<br />
personality traits. But to this day he considers<br />
Johnson the most special human being he<br />
has ever been around.<br />
“He said he would do something great with<br />
it, and he has,” Vitti said. “Not only is he a<br />
big success with his business interests, but<br />
he’s shown people you can live a productive<br />
life with the virus and he’s helped educate<br />
people about it.”<br />
Stuck in the middle<br />
The Lakers training room walls are<br />
adorned with framed photos of players,<br />
including Kobe and Shaq, winning and celebrating<br />
many of the Lakers’ 16 NBA championships.<br />
But there are also reminders of the<br />
short cuts some athletes take for the sake of<br />
sports glory: two prominently posted lists of<br />
supplements banned by the NBA. One list is<br />
put out by the NBA Commissioner’s office<br />
and the other by the NBA Players<br />
Association.<br />
Each lists dozens of performance enhancing<br />
drugs and recreational drugs. But there’s<br />
one intoxicant not listed that can be equally<br />
as dangerous: success. Especially the kind of<br />
repeated success the Lakers have consistently<br />
enjoyed until recently, when they bottomed<br />
out last season with the worst record<br />
– 21-61 – in franchise history. The finger<br />
pointing and blame gaming that can affect<br />
losing teams is nothing compared to the credit<br />
mongering and ego one-upmanship that<br />
can erupt on winning teams.<br />
“Defeat is an orphan,” Vitti said, “but winning<br />
has many fathers.”<br />
Shaq and Kobe both joined the Lakers in<br />
the summer of 1996, Shaq as a $120 million<br />
free agent from Orlando and Kobe as a 17-<br />
year-old phenom straight out of high school.<br />
Over the next four seasons the Lakers didn’t<br />
come close to a championship and there<br />
were few reports of discord and dissension<br />
between the two superstars. But Vitti says it<br />
was simmering just beneath the surface, as<br />
Kobe resisted Shaq’s efforts to take him<br />
under his wing.<br />
“If Michael Jordan was there instead of<br />
Shaq, I think Kobe would have gone under<br />
his wing willingly, but he didn’t have the<br />
respect for Shaq that he had for Jordan,” Vitti<br />
said.<br />
The media reports of growing friction<br />
started as soon as the Lakers began<br />
<strong>November</strong> 12, <strong>2015</strong> • Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine 23
winning titles again in 2000. By the time the Lakers lost the NBA<br />
finals to the Detroit Pistons in 2004, the well-documented Kobe-Shaq<br />
feud had gotten so toxic that the role players were forced to choose<br />
one side or the other, according to recent statements by former Laker<br />
shooting guard Kareem Rush.<br />
Even Kobe and Shaq, in a podcast last month, said they now regret<br />
having been unable to get along. Management had to trade Shaq in<br />
the summer of 2004 to prevent Kobe from leaving as a free agent.<br />
In his book “The Last Season,” a diary of the 2003-04 season, former<br />
Lakers coach Phil Jackson wrote that the feud had gotten so<br />
intense that Shaq refused to let Vitti tape his ankles because he perceived<br />
Vitti to be on Kobe’s side.<br />
Vitti insists that Jackson was exaggerating Shaq’s no-taping edict,<br />
which didn’t last long. “It was a love-hate relationship with Shaq and<br />
me,” he said. “The conflict was real, but it was also playful. That’s<br />
how Shaq was.”<br />
Vitti readily admits that he clashed repeatedly with Shaq over his<br />
spotty work ethic, best exemplified by the incident when Shaq put<br />
off toe surgery during the summer of 2002. He told the press that he<br />
was injured on company time and would have his surgery and subsequent<br />
recovery on company time. As a result the Lakers got off to<br />
an 11-19 start without Shaq and never fully recovered, failing in their<br />
attempt at a four-peat.<br />
“Shaq and I feuded because I held his feet to the fire and told him<br />
he needed to work harder,” Vitti said. “Shaq could have been the<br />
most dominant basketball player ever. But it was more important to<br />
me than it was to him. He even told me that he didn’t care about<br />
being the most dominant. He’d rather have fun.”<br />
Standing in the training room, he recounted how some days he<br />
could hear Shaq’s giant footsteps coming around the corner before<br />
he even saw him, and how he could tell by the intensity of the footsteps<br />
if it was going to be a rough day with the big fella.<br />
“He’d come in and say go tell Phil I’m not practicing today,” he<br />
recalled. “I would say, I’m not doing that. You tell him. If you can’t<br />
practice because you’re hurt, then you should have been in here an<br />
hour ago for treatment and then it’s my job to tell Phil. But if you<br />
don’t want to practice because you just don’t feel like it, then you tell<br />
him.”<br />
One time it got so bad that Shaq said he wasn’t going to talk to Vitti<br />
for two weeks – and followed through on it. Instead he wrote out<br />
three broad responses on a white board – none of which can be<br />
repeated in a family newspaper. When Vitti spoke to him he would<br />
hold up one, two or three fingers to indicate the appropriate<br />
response.<br />
Benekos said he was not surprised that Vitti clashed with Shaq.<br />
“You may not like it, but Gary will always tell you the truth and<br />
give it to you straight,” Benekos said. “I really admire that about<br />
him.”<br />
But even as Vitti recounts these Shaq anecdotes, he can’t help but<br />
laugh and remember the sheer fun of being around Shaq the giant<br />
clown and X-rated prankster.<br />
“Shaq had this thing about being part of law enforcement. He actually<br />
went to a police academy and got a badge,” Vitti said. “Every day<br />
he would come in, he’d throw me up against the wall and frisk me.<br />
It was hilarious.”<br />
Players on other teams were awestruck by Shaq’s size, he said.<br />
“They’d come up to me before the game and say, ‘Come on, man,<br />
how much does he really weigh?’ One guy says, ‘I know he’s 400<br />
pounds, you guys just don’t want to put it out there,’” Vitti said. “But<br />
I don’t think he was ever more than 358.”<br />
Eleven years after Shaq left the Lakers for Miami, Vitti insists he<br />
loves the big lug like a little brother and that they have long since<br />
reconciled and hugged it out. He even keeps a pair of Shaq’s size 22<br />
sneakers and a picture of he and Shaq clowning around in his<br />
house’s memorabilia room.<br />
Any friction, he says, was caused by his frustration that Shaq didn’t<br />
work hard enough to maximize his potential.<br />
It was business, not personal.<br />
Just doing his job.<br />
On the other hand, Kobe was so maniacal about working out and<br />
trying to maximize his potential that Vitti often had to rein him in.<br />
“There’s one guy I’m trying to hold back, and one guy I’m trying<br />
to push harder,” he said. “And I’m stuck in the middle.”<br />
Memories not for sale<br />
There are many reasons Vitti loves living in Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong> and<br />
has been here his entire 31 years as the Lakers’ trainer. One is the<br />
small-town atmosphere. Recognizable as he is from 31 years of Laker<br />
telecasts, he can walk downtown for lunch or jog on The Strand<br />
without being bothered by the locals.<br />
Another reason he loves living here is the 10-minute commute to<br />
his office in El Segundo. He usually takes his 1982 Alfa Romeo<br />
Spider and once in awhile his Harley Davidson fat boy.<br />
The beach house he lives in blends in nicely with the other houses<br />
in his upscale American Martyrs neighborhood. Over the years he<br />
has added some personal touches. He built a beautiful terrace with<br />
spectacular views of the ocean, less than a quarter mile away. Inside,<br />
in the main family room on the second floor, are photos of his wife<br />
Marta (his first wife, Christine, mother of his two children, died last<br />
year), photos of his parents Mario and Sylvia, both 94, and photos of<br />
his two daughters Rachel, 28, and Emilia, 24. The photos are complemented<br />
by artwork from all over Italy, where he visits family<br />
every summer.<br />
Many people keep scrapbooks of the highlights of their personal<br />
and professional lives. Vitti’s life and career have been so full of<br />
highlights that his scrapbook takes up the entire third floor of the<br />
house. You walk up a spiral staircase to a breathtaking room full of<br />
sports memorabilia that would bring quite a haul at an auction<br />
house. But these memories are not for sale.<br />
It starts with the signed Lakers game jerseys from all the greats he<br />
has worked with, each one inscribed with heartfelt thanks for Vitti’s<br />
physical care and faithful friendship. Typical is the one from Kobe:<br />
“To my man Gary. From 17 to 27 your guidance helped mold me as<br />
a pro. Couldn’t have done it without you. Love you Bro.”<br />
There are shoes from Larry Bird, a clipboard from Pat Riley and a<br />
white board used by San Antonio Coach Gregg Popovich at an All<br />
Star game. But it’s not just basketball that dominates this room: there<br />
are pictures of Vitti with Wayne Gretzky, Muhammad Ali and<br />
Presidents Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama. He has made a careful<br />
study of what makes champions of all kinds tick.<br />
As he guides a visitor around the room, a pensive Vitti admits that<br />
while the championships and the glory moments – Magic’s junior,<br />
junior sky hook to beat the Celtics, Derek Fisher’s .04 shot to beat<br />
the Spurs, Robert Horry’s pick-up-a-loose-ball-and drain a threepointer<br />
to beat the Kings – will all stay with him forever, what he<br />
will really miss are the relationships and the camaraderie, the silly<br />
locker room moments like the exchange with Tarik Black about his<br />
girly short shorts, the crazy, X-rated sign language Shaq invented to<br />
communicate with a deaf intern and the time a decade or so ago<br />
when he jokingly threatened to write a book about his years with the<br />
Lakers.<br />
“I told the players if I ever get fired, I’m going to write a book and<br />
you’re all going to be in it. It will cost you $100,000 each to stay out<br />
of it,” he recalled. “Robert Horry looked at me for several seconds<br />
before he laughed and said, ‘Shit, I could have you killed for $5,000.’”<br />
He admits he is a bit scared and nervous about finding something<br />
new to do that could possibly replace the thrill – and the 24/7 stress<br />
– of tending to the wants and needs, the problems and the pain of so<br />
many players, coaches and staff.<br />
“Both my parents are 94 and in pretty good shape,” he said. “So<br />
based on their life span I figure I still have a third of my life left to<br />
live. That means I have 30 years to figure out what I’m going to do<br />
next.”<br />
One more job for his to-do list.<br />
Contact: paulteetor@verizon.net follow: @paulteetor. B<br />
24 Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine • <strong>November</strong> 12, <strong>2015</strong>
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26 Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine • <strong>November</strong> 12, <strong>2015</strong>
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<strong>November</strong> 12, <strong>2015</strong> • Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine 27
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<strong>November</strong> 12, <strong>2015</strong> • Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine 29
Israel’s<br />
Black<br />
“We need to understand that<br />
the terrorist war cannot be won<br />
in a few months. It is a war of<br />
generations.” – Ehud Barak<br />
“In one word,<br />
everything’s good.<br />
In two words, not good.”<br />
“When Moses was being<br />
led out of Egypt he told<br />
God he wanted to go to<br />
Canada, but God though<br />
he said Canaan.”<br />
by Kevin Cody<br />
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak warned of the new world<br />
order like an Old Testament prophet, but one with a sense of humor<br />
when he addressed Distinguished Speaker subscribers last month at<br />
the Redondo Performing Arts Center.<br />
“We are experiencing a political quake unprecedented since the end<br />
of World War I, 100 years ago,” he began. “We’ve seen the Arab Spring<br />
turn into the Islamic Winter. Nation states are disintegrating. Centuries<br />
old conflicts have come back to life. We’ve gone from a two-polar to a<br />
one-polar to a no-pole at all geo political system. Even the most powerful<br />
players – the U.S., Russia, China – can’t tackle major issues on their<br />
own.<br />
“In one word, everything’s good. In two words, not good.”<br />
By the end of his nearly two hour talk, despite terrifying observations<br />
about terrorism, the U.S.’s decline, Russia’s rise and Western missteps<br />
in the Middle East, Barak, if not the audience, still retained both<br />
hope and a sense of humor.<br />
During the Q and A, he described his feelings about the Iran nuclear<br />
agreement as “mixed. It’s like when your mother-in-law drives your<br />
new BMW over a cliff.”<br />
Political correctness was not one of his concerns. Bafak is Israel’s<br />
most highly decorated soldier and a classically trained pianist. He<br />
served as Israel’s Minister of Defense, and Minister of Foreign Affairs.<br />
In 1999, he defeated Benjamin Netanyahu to become Prime Minister.<br />
When Netanyahu became prime minister in 2009, Barak was named<br />
Deputy Prime Minister.<br />
He holds a degree in physics from the University of Jerusalem and a<br />
masters in engineering from Stanford.<br />
Nor, for a person rumored to have ambitions of re-entering political<br />
life, was he reluctant to name names.<br />
“When she was Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton said Putin reminded<br />
her of Hitler. I’ve known Putin since his first day in the Kremlin and<br />
he never reminded me of Hitler. He’s more of a Bismarck. He understands<br />
politics. He has two feet on the ground. He’s ready to act to<br />
make Russia once again a great power in the world arena,” Burak said.<br />
Though he generally described President Obama favorably, he also<br />
said of the president's position on Syria, “I don’t recommend big powers<br />
drawing ‘red lines.’ But once you draw them, particularly in the<br />
Middle East, you stand behind it.”<br />
“The United States is still the world’s mightiest military, economic<br />
and diplomatic power. It is a moral beacon, where the rest of the world<br />
is supposed to go, in terms of human rights.<br />
“But there is a strong perception that America is weak and getting<br />
weaker. It is a subjective, not objective perception. But that doesn’t<br />
matter. These days perception works as reality.”<br />
Speaking of Prime Minister Netanyahu, Barak said, “He has developed<br />
a mindset that is pessimistic, passive and anxious. The nature of<br />
pessimism is it gives birth to prophecies that are self-fulfilling.”<br />
The criticism of his country’s leader wasn’t personal, he made clear.
Knight<br />
of hope<br />
Photos by Deidre Davidson (Davidsonfoto.com)<br />
“I know from experience, Netanyahu’s not a chickenshit. He was a<br />
young lieutenant of mine in 1972 when I led the raid on the hijacked<br />
Sabena airline. It landed at Lod Airport with 100 passengers and explosive<br />
detonators deployed all over the cabin. The terrorists were<br />
demanding that 300 prisoners be released. I was disguised as a maintenance<br />
man in white overalls when we stormed the plane. Within 90<br />
seconds, the shooting was over. We killed the hijackers, just one passenger<br />
died and just one of our officers was wounded – shot by us. That<br />
was Lt. Benjamin Netanyahu.”<br />
“He was lucky we only wounded him,” Barak quipped. Black humor<br />
punctuated his talk.<br />
He added, “Terrorists never landed another hijacked airline in Israel.<br />
But terrorism didn’t stop. A few months later 11 Israeli athletes were<br />
massacred at the Munich Olympics.”<br />
Barak traced his world view to when he was a 22-year-old Sayeret<br />
Matkal commando leading his first raid against terrorists.<br />
“If you told me then that 50 years later terrorism would still be a<br />
challenge for the whole world, I would not have believed it. But we<br />
need to face the reality. Either we defeat terrorism or we don’t. There<br />
is no in between. We must understand that and be ready for the challenge.”<br />
“Terrorism has a unique attribute. It’s a common challenge for all.<br />
The U.S. learned that on 9/11. Russians learned it in Moscow.<br />
“I had a conversation with Putin after Chechen Islamics terrorists<br />
took 850 hostages in the Dubrovka Theater in 2002. Putin’s response<br />
resembled our responses. He sent in 100 Russian special forces.<br />
“I visited southwest Kunming China a year ago. Just a few weeks previous,<br />
28 civilians were massacred at the railway station by knife<br />
wielding, extremist Muslims who came from a Chinese desert province<br />
1,500 miles away.”<br />
“In the past two weeks in Jerusalem, a new wave of terrorists, using<br />
kitchen knives and screwdrivers, have killed nine and wounded dozens<br />
of Israelis. It’s a tough situation that no one would accept. A primary<br />
contract of government is to provide safety in the streets. I can tell you<br />
bluntly, Israel will never capitulate to terrorism, period.”<br />
That declaration elicited loud, spontaneous audience applause.<br />
“Compared to other world issues – reefs in the South China Seas,<br />
Crimea and Ukraine – radical Muslim terrorism should be the highest<br />
priority.<br />
“Though it’s not easy to achieve, we need strong leadership and<br />
cooperation among nations, at the highest level.<br />
“At the operational level, we need to be open minded and free of<br />
dogma and conventional wisdom. We need to focus on what could happen<br />
and respond within seconds to threats.”<br />
Following the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes by Bck September<br />
Palestinians at the Munich Olympics in 1972, Prime Minister Golda<br />
Meir ordered that the terrorists be hunted down and executed, Barak<br />
recalled.<br />
“When your allies sit behind closed<br />
doors and ask, Can the Americans<br />
be relied on, they will turn to the last<br />
region the Americans played a role<br />
in, the Middle East.”<br />
“There is a strong perception that<br />
America is weak and getting weaker.<br />
It is a subjective, not objective<br />
perception. But that doesn’t matter.<br />
These days perception works<br />
as reality.”<br />
<strong>November</strong> 12, <strong>2015</strong> • Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine 31
“Meir was raised in Milwaukee. I think it<br />
was the Milwaukee weather that made her so<br />
tough,” Barak said.<br />
“I found myself, in 1973, heading up a<br />
squad assigned to kill Black September leaders<br />
holed up in a luxury apartment in Beirut.<br />
We arrived looking like a few boys and girls,<br />
laughing. I sent my squad into the building<br />
and I waited on the street outside with a<br />
stocky blond. I was a brunette. A bodyguard<br />
in a car across the street suspected something<br />
was up. He opened his car door, pulled out a<br />
pistol and began to walk toward us. I still<br />
remember the shock in his eyes when he saw<br />
two young ladies open their jackets and pull<br />
out Uzis. He jumped back in his car and we<br />
hit his horn and woke up the whole street.<br />
“We killed three PLO leaders and nine or<br />
10 of their bodyguards who showed up in two<br />
Land Rovers. Within 30 minutes, we were<br />
swimming out in front of our hotel to our<br />
small dinghies.<br />
“But terrorism didn’t stop.”<br />
Barak described the terrorists as a loosely<br />
connected, poorly equipped organization<br />
with strong, ideologically motivation.<br />
“They have half a dozen forces in Syria, the<br />
Houthi in Yemen, Boko Haram in Nigeria,<br />
AQIM in Algeria, Hamas and Al Qaeda. They<br />
are a resilient, tough opponent.<br />
“Isis is only 30,000, mostly former Iraqi soldiers<br />
riding around in Toyota pick-ups. They<br />
don’t have a single jet fighter squadron,<br />
attack helicopter or artillery battalion. They<br />
flourish because no one fights them head on.<br />
“In Kobani, Syria, on the Turkish border,<br />
Isis was stopped by 17-year-old Pashtun boys<br />
and girls with World War II machine guns.<br />
However, they failed to receive strong assistance<br />
from any international organization.<br />
“This fight with Isis should be ended with<br />
intensive, overwhelming force. Every week<br />
they remain on their feet they create a huge<br />
attraction for other Muslims.<br />
“We need to understand that the terrorist<br />
war cannot be won in a few months. It is a<br />
war of generations. It will be a long struggle<br />
with hopeful and painful moments.<br />
“Many innocent civilians will lose their<br />
lives. But we will win this war.<br />
“Am I an optimist or a pessimist? I like what<br />
Winston Churchill said. The difference<br />
between an optimist and a pessimist is a pessimist<br />
sees difficulty in opportunity and an<br />
optimist sees opportunity in difficulty.”<br />
Barak ended his talk by paraphrasing<br />
Franklin Delano Roosevelt.<br />
“The greatest risk in fighting terrorism is<br />
the unwillingness to take risks.”<br />
On the Iraqi nuclear agreement<br />
The agreement reminds me of what<br />
they say about second marriages. It’s a<br />
triumph of hope over experience.<br />
Precedents don’t support hope and we have<br />
had six precedents involving nuclear<br />
weapons facilities in the past 35 years.<br />
Two were successfully resolved – South<br />
Africa and Libya.<br />
Two were blocked by surgical attacks – Iraq<br />
in 1981 and Syria in 2007.<br />
Two defied the world, despite nuclear<br />
inspection agreements – Korea and Pakistan.<br />
I remember 30 years ago meeting every<br />
quarter with CIA chief Bill Casey in Langley,<br />
“I can tell you bluntly, Israel will<br />
never capitulate to terrorism, period.”<br />
Virginia. He mumbled in an accent I couldn’t<br />
understand. I suspect it was deliberate. So I<br />
have no memory of the conversations. But the<br />
subject was always the same. How many centrifuges<br />
does Korea have? How much<br />
enriched uranium? What are their motivations<br />
for wanting to be a nuclear power?<br />
Years later, with the Clinton administration<br />
I looked at satellite photos of North Korea and<br />
then the question was, What will happen if<br />
we bomb them? What happens to the plutonium<br />
and the 100,000 people living downstream<br />
of the reactor?<br />
In Pakistan, to cut a long story short,<br />
Reagan was not soft. But the way his administration<br />
tried to convince Pakistan to give up<br />
its nuclear program was to give Pakistan 75 F-<br />
16 Falcon Jets, because they were afraid of<br />
India. Now those F-16s carry nuclear<br />
weapons. And Pakistan is trying to develop<br />
small, battlefield nukes.<br />
The agreements with North Korea and<br />
Pakistan looked good, but the outcomes were<br />
not what was planned.<br />
That’s why we are worried about Iran. I<br />
have a strong feeling, not in the first few<br />
years, but down the line, they might decided<br />
to break the agreement.<br />
And if they do, any second rate dictator<br />
may decide, if Iran is allowed to develop<br />
nuclear weapons, so should we.<br />
We need to define what is an agreement<br />
violation, what establishes the need to bring<br />
the military back to the table.<br />
I think, at this junction, that the U.S.<br />
administration understands that America<br />
should equip Israel with the tools to carry out<br />
an independent operation against Iran if,<br />
down the street, both governments agree Iran<br />
is trying to move toward nuclear weapons.<br />
Barak on Israel today and tomorrow<br />
Israel is a microcosm of the world.<br />
We’re at the meeting point of a clash of<br />
civilizations. We’re in the eye of the storm,<br />
with the Muslim world spinning around us.<br />
Israel is like a villa in the jungle. Inside is<br />
comfortable. Once you step outside your door<br />
the law of the jungle prevails.<br />
Isis, however dangerous it is, is not the real<br />
threat to Israel’s safety. The real threat is the<br />
Arabs waiting to take out their knives against<br />
us. Do you believe the Syrians and Iranians<br />
hate us any less than the Palestinians. They<br />
probably hate us more because at least the<br />
Palestinians know us.<br />
I used to joke with American presidents,<br />
We wanted so deeply to have Canadians as<br />
our neighbor, but you got them instead.<br />
When Moses was being led out of Egypt he<br />
told God he wanted to go to Canada, but God<br />
though he said Canaan. Some claim Moses<br />
said California.<br />
The good news is that Israel is the most<br />
powerful country from Benghazi to Tehran.<br />
And we will remain the strongest for the foreseeable<br />
future, militarily and economically. If<br />
we keep up good relations with the U.S.<br />
By no means should Israel be pessimistic or<br />
anxious. This is not 1938 or 1947. Zionism is<br />
the most successful nation project of the 20th<br />
century.<br />
We have two lakes and one is dead. The<br />
other, the Sea of Galilee, is where young Jews<br />
learn to swim and one of them learned to<br />
walk on water and became very famous.<br />
They are connected by the River Jordan,<br />
which is really just a creek. And so we had to<br />
develop one of the most advanced agricultural<br />
system in the world. We produce all we<br />
need with two percent of our workforce.<br />
We had enemies from day one. In the 67<br />
years since the establishment of Israel, we<br />
have had seven wars and two intifadas. So we<br />
had to develop fighters. We were under an<br />
arms embargo by the U.S. in the 1950s and by<br />
France until the mid 1960s. So we produced<br />
what others wouldn’t sell us. That became<br />
the seeds of Israel becoming a ‘start-up<br />
nation.’ We have more start-ups per capita<br />
than any corner of the earth except Silicon<br />
Valley.<br />
The Shekel is one of the world’s strongest<br />
currencies.<br />
We’ve taken in one million Russian immigrants.<br />
They represent 15 percent of our population<br />
and have change Israel forever. They<br />
enter the sciences at a higher rate than the<br />
rest of our population. We now have more<br />
philharmonics, more chess grand masters and<br />
more ballet teachers than anywhere else in<br />
the world. One in four soldiers is named<br />
Vladimir.<br />
I said to Putin, Let us take another million.<br />
I’ll find a babushka for each one.<br />
We are at the turning point of a second<br />
industrial revolution, based on robotics, nano<br />
technologies and life sciences. These are the<br />
engines that will change productivity, the<br />
keys to our future goals. These keys are held<br />
by the U.S., Israel and Western Europe and<br />
not by China or Russia. That is the reason for<br />
my long term optimism.<br />
But we must be cautious and not fall into<br />
the trap of hubris, not sit on our laurels, not<br />
become complacent.<br />
32 Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine • <strong>November</strong> 12, <strong>2015</strong>
One state or two?<br />
The idea of a one state solution, of two people living together is<br />
utopian. We must put a wedge on the slippery slope toward a one<br />
state solution, which has a high probability of leading to another<br />
Belfast or Bosnia. Between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean<br />
Sea, an area the size of New Jersey, there are eight million Israelis and<br />
five million Palestinians.<br />
In the one state solution, if Muslims can’t vote we won’t have a<br />
democracy and if they can vote we won’t have a Zionist state when<br />
Muslims become the majority.<br />
The two state solution is imperative for Israel’s identify, not just for<br />
justice.<br />
We should draw a line so there is a solid Jewish majority for generations<br />
to come and leave the opportunity on the other side of the line<br />
for the Palestinians to develop their own state.<br />
We would not be doing it for them. We would be acting in our own<br />
best interests.<br />
It will not be easy. The Palestinians are not easy to work with.<br />
But let me tell you a story.<br />
In 1978, Prime Minister Begin went to Camp David to meet with<br />
President Carter and Egyptian President Sadat. Three weeks before the<br />
meeting, 70 percent of the Israeli public was against giving up the Sinai<br />
Peninsula for peace. After the meeting 70 percent were in favor of it.<br />
The public is like play dough. If there is leadership, the public can<br />
be moved.<br />
I’m confident Israel can be moved, despite the recent shift to the<br />
right. I think there is a dormant majority who would vote for an agreement<br />
that makes the delineation I described, if they see a partner on<br />
the other side.<br />
Even on the Palestinian side, something similar could happen.<br />
But the diplomacy is not easy. Each side worries that the media will<br />
find out what’s happening and they will lose their power base before<br />
an agreement can be reached.<br />
Diplomacy needs to operate on two levels – public diplomacy and<br />
underneath the surface.<br />
Successful negotiations have always been this way. Meetings with<br />
Sadat aides began before Begin came to power. Despite Moshe Dyan<br />
swearing he never spoke to (Egyptian General Mohamed Ahmed<br />
Fareed) Al-Tuhami, he convinced Sadat to fly to Jerusalem. There were<br />
many meetings with King Hussein before peace with Jordan was<br />
announced. The Oslo agreement started in the woods of Scandinavia,<br />
long before Rabin and Arafat met in Paris.<br />
We must find a way to negotiate beneath the surface and then push<br />
a Palestinian agreement to the surface at the right moment, with the<br />
support of the U.S or the U.N.<br />
If that does not work, I would take unilateral steps to block the one<br />
state solution.<br />
Why the Middle East matters<br />
I’ve heard it from Hillary Clinton. America should pivot to the<br />
east as the U.S. becomes more energy independent.<br />
What you will see when you turn to the east won’t be a physical<br />
clash. The U.S. and China have a symbiotic relationship in their<br />
currencies. But the Chinese will keep cutting into your vital interests.<br />
When your allies sit behind closed doors and ask, Can the Americans<br />
be relied on, they will turn to the last region the Americans played a<br />
role in, the Middle East.<br />
That’s why what happens in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Syria are<br />
important.<br />
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, there was a sense of elation.<br />
Strategists wrote about the end of history. Two major systems clashed,<br />
capitalism and socialism. One won, the other was defeated. Everyone<br />
will see the light and join capitalism and history will end.<br />
We’ve learned that’s not the case.<br />
We’ve learned we need to be respective of others’ points of view.<br />
Some are not as demonic as Americans tend to believe. Think of<br />
Singapore, South Korea, China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Hungary – nations<br />
led by autocrats, far from our systems, but still successful in moving<br />
their nations forward, driven by national pride.<br />
As long as they are effective in improving their people’s opportunities<br />
and standard of living they will enjoy favorable support.<br />
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<strong>November</strong> 12, <strong>2015</strong> • Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine 35
food<br />
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True to the trend<br />
True Food Kitchen brings farm-to-table dining mainstream<br />
by Richard Foss<br />
Ihave had an ongoing argument with a friend<br />
about which dining trends are fads and which<br />
are permanent. Our most recent point of contention<br />
was over farm-to-table style dining. He<br />
opined that now that chain restaurants are adopting<br />
seasonal dining, hipsters and trend leaders will<br />
move on to something else. I argued that once you<br />
get used to eating fresh, healthy food, you don’t<br />
want to go backward. He shot back that not everybody<br />
can dine that way because large operations<br />
couldn’t possibly do it well.<br />
And there it rested, because I didn’t have an<br />
example of a large franchise operation that had<br />
taken that theme and run with it. I do now that I<br />
have dined at True Food Kitchen at The Point in El<br />
Segundo. The focus on modern ideas about eating<br />
is overt, and reflects the philosophy of co-owner<br />
and diet guru Andrew Weill and his partners<br />
restaurateur Sam Fox and Executive Chef Michael<br />
Stebner. Click the “about” tab on their website and<br />
the first three sentences mention nutrients, the<br />
anti-inflammatory diet, and healthy living. They<br />
also mention flavor, which I found reassuring.<br />
The restaurant is a cross between corporate and<br />
quirky. The big, high-ceilinged space is softened<br />
with wood paneling and tubs of herbs on wheels<br />
by the front door. Whether those herbs are actually<br />
used in the cooking here or merely symbolic,<br />
they’re a statement of purpose. The menu is large-<br />
ly vegetarian or vegan and offers many<br />
gluten-free items, but hearty meat and fish<br />
dishes are here, too. Many ethnic traditions<br />
are represented along with original creations,<br />
making this a snapshot of contemporary<br />
trends.<br />
We started with a caramelized onion tart True Food’s inside out quinoa burger.<br />
and a “kale and avocado dip” that we expected<br />
to be guacamole by another name. I only<br />
ordered the latter because it listed grapefruit<br />
and roasted poblano chilies among the ingredients and I was trying to imagine how<br />
those would go together. Guacamole usually contains lemon or lime and often some<br />
anaheim chilies. The substitutions made a subtle difference. It was tarter and tangier<br />
than typical guac, with the finely chopped kale adding just a hint of texture and<br />
vegetable character.<br />
I wouldn’t have ordered the onion tart based on the name, which suggests a simple<br />
flatbread with cheese and onion, but the description mentioned smoked garlic<br />
and figs with the caramelized onion, gorgonzola and herbs. The flavor balance was<br />
surprising, the garlic and onions almost as sweet as the chopped figs. It’s a must-have<br />
item if you like roasted garlic in any form.<br />
True Food Kitchen has an interesting selection of beverages, both alcoholic and otherwise.<br />
The section called Natural Refreshers includes juice blends that are designed<br />
with the flavor balance of a good cocktail. The Medicine Man contained tart sea<br />
buckthorn juice along with pomegranate, honey, black tea and soda – sweet, astringent<br />
and sour flavors all in balance. It made me want to try more from that list. The<br />
fig and pomegranate mule with ginger honey and the sangria were also delightful and<br />
the cherry bourbon sour is something I’m going to try to recreate. Floating Pinot Noir<br />
on top of a bourbon-based cocktail isn’t standard practice, but it certainly works.<br />
For main courses we selected Moroccan-style chicken, braised bison short rib, a<br />
spicy tuna wrap and a daily special of grilled rainbow trout with broccoflower.<br />
36 Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine • <strong>November</strong> 12, <strong>2015</strong>
Rainbow trout are relatively thin fish and can dry out when even slightly<br />
overcooked. Sautéing this one might have been a better option. It<br />
wasn’t bad, but lacked the moist succulence you can get from perfectly<br />
cooked trout.<br />
The ahi wrap wasn’t highly spiced but had sharp flavors thanks to the<br />
radish, mint, and sesame that accompanied the mild wasabi aioli. Most<br />
spicy tuna sandwiches stick with neutral lettuces or spinach, which<br />
adds texture but not much flavor. This approach was much more interesting.<br />
It was served with a simple sweet potato and onion hash and a<br />
kale and parmesan salad, which made a light, healthy, well-proportioned<br />
meal.<br />
The bison and chicken were both heftier portions, but with well-considered<br />
flavors and accompaniments. The flavors on the first plate were<br />
of fall and winter, with roasted fennel and multicolored carrots alongside<br />
swiss chard, mashed cauliflower and the meat itself. The portion<br />
of protein looked small at first but was very satisfying. This was a rare<br />
preparation where you could taste the difference between bison and<br />
beef. There isn’t a huge difference, but bison is richer and slightly<br />
sweeter – and a lot better for you thanks to a lower fat content. This<br />
preparation keeps it from drying out on a grill and is highly recommended.<br />
The surprising thing about the Moroccan chicken was how faithfully<br />
the traditional flavors were executed. The bird had been crusted with<br />
spices and served over a mix of spinach, garbanzos, fig and olive with<br />
chermoula sauce, made from both fresh and pickled lemon, herbs, oil,<br />
garlic, and cumin. When done right it’s a magnificent and complex<br />
sauce with sweet, salty, and tart elements. They aced it here.<br />
For dessert our server recommended a flourless chocolate cake and a<br />
cranberry-almond cake, both comfort foods. More adventurous desserts<br />
were offered, such as a chia seed pudding with banana and coconut,<br />
but we trusted her recommendation and were satisfied with the result.<br />
True Food Kitchen delivered on their promise of contemporary, fresh<br />
food in the farm-to-table tradition. Their menu changes regularly and is<br />
consciously oriented around fresh, healthy foods. The chef may not be<br />
hitting the farmers markets every few days and creating the menu<br />
around those selections, but the exuberant use of seasonal produce<br />
shows that someone is excited by natural flavors and this kitchen can<br />
execute their recipes. The fact that these meals come from an assembly<br />
line operation rather than a boutique kitchen is a reason for celebration.<br />
It proves that excellence is achievable on a large scale.<br />
True Food Kitchen is at 860 S. Sepulveda in El Segundo, in The Pointe<br />
center. Open Monday through Thursday 11 a.m. - 9 p.m., Friday 11 a.m. -<br />
10 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. - 10 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m.- 9 p.m.. Parking in lot.<br />
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<strong>November</strong> 12, <strong>2015</strong> • Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine 37
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38 Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine • <strong>November</strong> 12, <strong>2015</strong>
<strong>November</strong> 12, <strong>2015</strong> • Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine 39
academics<br />
P t<br />
resen<br />
ense<br />
by David Mendez<br />
Chris Paludi seems incredibly tense. Model UN; and he is constantly thinking.<br />
Every movement the 17-year-old It makes sense that his favorite author is<br />
makes while sitting in the plush chairs David Foster Wallace, the celebrated writer<br />
of Catalina Coffee Company, from leaning<br />
forward to taking a drink from his Nalgene<br />
water bottle, seems to take a great deal of<br />
conscious effort.<br />
“Yeah…I’m pretty high strung,” he said.<br />
Paludi is a senior at Redondo Union High<br />
School and likely one of the busiest students<br />
both on and off campus. He’s the student<br />
who gained fame on the back of his thousand-page-plus<br />
tome “Infinite Jest,” and held<br />
onto it as a writer of thoughtful, funny, soulaching<br />
prose. As with Wallace, Paludi is<br />
incredibly self-aware — and just a bit intense.<br />
“I do a fair amount with my time, and I’m<br />
taking more things on in my senior year,<br />
which is burning me out,” he said. Paludi<br />
member of Redondo Unified School said that most people think of their high<br />
District’s Board of Education, for the second<br />
year in a row; he’s the opinion editor for<br />
Redondo Union’s award-winning High Tide<br />
student newspaper; he’s taking a full load of<br />
Advanced Placement classes; he’s active with<br />
the school’s Student Body; he participates in<br />
school experience in one of two ways: that it<br />
is its own experience that has to be lived<br />
through for its own sake; or that it is a means<br />
to an end that has to be packed with as much<br />
extracurricular experience as possible in<br />
order to get into college.<br />
40 Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine • <strong>November</strong> 12, <strong>2015</strong><br />
Chris Paludi on campus.<br />
Photo by David Mendez<br />
Redondo Union student school<br />
board member Chris Paludi<br />
focuses inward while looking<br />
toward both his and RUHS’s future<br />
“The people who think that aren’t wrong<br />
— that’s the way it’s set up,” he said. “In that<br />
sense, I definitely hindered myself going forward<br />
with those first two years of high<br />
school; I could’ve had an entirely different<br />
experience.”<br />
Those first two years were marred by introversion<br />
and depression. Though help was<br />
offered to him, he said he maneuvered<br />
around it. “I think that when someone experiences<br />
that intensity of emotion, that intense<br />
sadness, introspection is inevitable — the<br />
approach to me was to think about it, rather<br />
than through rebellion, or taking up punk<br />
music, or any of the cliches of raging against<br />
the world,” he said.<br />
So, he delved inward and, to an extent, that<br />
began to work for him. He identified what he
felt was holding him back, tried to find answers to his issues.<br />
He also cites Wallace’s “This Is Water” commencement speech,<br />
given to Kenyon College’s 2005 graduating class, as a major influence<br />
on his worldview -- so much so that he’s written it, over and over<br />
again, on his arm...in Latin.<br />
The address focuses on the themes of community empathy and<br />
conscious awareness of the world, which struck a chord with Paludi,<br />
who said he was affected by those sentiments more than anything<br />
he’d previously read, other than Wallace’s “Infinite Jest.”<br />
“I appreciate the value of being conscious and realizing that everyone<br />
around me is an individual with their own life, doing the best<br />
they can to achieve happiness — that the world isn’t mine and that<br />
it doesn’t exist to serve me, but that we’re all trying to do the best<br />
for ourselves,” he said.<br />
Here, he pauses, introspection taking over again, worrying that<br />
he’s coming off as “holier than thou.”<br />
“I have to admit that I’m a little pretentious — but I think I’m<br />
allowed to have a few character flaws,” he said.<br />
The turning point of his high school career came when he began<br />
joining student clubs, getting involved with campus organizations<br />
and creating relationships. “That’s when Redondo became a home<br />
for me. I was proud to be a Sea Hawk, whereas freshman year, I<br />
wished I was anywhere else,” he said.<br />
Now, he believes that the level of involvement a student has on<br />
campus has a direct relation to their quality of life in school and that<br />
a student with roots will find his or her place.<br />
Redondo <strong>Beach</strong>, he’s found through his work in the school and the<br />
community, is good grounds for those roots. Though he’s not without<br />
concerns for the area’s future.<br />
“This city is a tremendous place for people to live and kids to grow,<br />
but I think that enrollment at the high school might be an issue if we<br />
continue to be a destination district — which we will be... “We have<br />
to take a hard look at our future and plan ahead a little bit. Voters<br />
have been tremendously generous with voting in bonds and we need<br />
to repay that trust by making sure there’s a future for our kids where<br />
everyone has a seat and everyone has the same level of care and<br />
attention that they have now.”<br />
It should be no surprise that Paludi has considered a future in politics.<br />
He’s taken numerous trips to the State Capitol with local organizations<br />
and he’s worked with State Senator Ben Allen’s office as an<br />
intern. He’s also watches White House Press Sessions on C-SPAN.<br />
“But I don’t know if I could be a representative — so many elected<br />
officials seem like they’re unhappy, or not themselves. They seem<br />
forced…I know that I will never run for office as anyone other than<br />
myself,” he said. “I would rather lose an election as myself than win<br />
it as some of my advisors tell me to be.”<br />
But that’s in the far distance. Before that comes college. His primary<br />
concern is finding a school that that is affordable.<br />
“My family is by no means wealthy, so I want to leave them in a<br />
position where they can send my brother (Colin, a freshman at<br />
RUHS) to college as well. Even if I get into fantastic schools, I don’t<br />
want to preclude him from any opportunities,” he said. Once there,<br />
he’s considering English language and literature, journalism, or public<br />
policy.<br />
Right now, he’s concerned about making sure his relationships<br />
hold together, even with the glut of work on his plate.<br />
“I’m worried that I can’t give 100 percent to everything I’m committed<br />
to,” Paludi admitted. “I’ve been through hell, and I’m still<br />
here, which means that burning out, at worst, means I’m not getting<br />
a lot of sleep.”<br />
But if a lack of sleep is all he has to deal with, he’s fine with that.<br />
“I take every day reasonably seriously — simultaneously whimsically,<br />
but also seriously. I want to enjoy what I’m doing,” he said.<br />
“Days are finite, and there is a day where there will be no more days.<br />
I don’t believe in wasting time and I believe that, whether I’m doing<br />
nothing, or a lot of something, I should try to make sure that I’m<br />
doing my best to make sure it’s time well spent.” B<br />
<strong>November</strong> 12, <strong>2015</strong> • Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine 41
each tradition<br />
25TH ANNIVERSARY<br />
PUMPKIN RACE CELEBRATED<br />
A<br />
quarter of a century ago Karl Rogers sent a pumpkin<br />
down Longfellow Avenue on a skateoard and a<br />
tradition was born. The tradition became so popular<br />
that in 2007, the City of Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong> took over<br />
the event. This year’s 25th Anniversary Pumpkin Race<br />
brought back together the race’s founding organizers<br />
Rogers, John Holliday and Michael Aaker.<br />
Photos by Caroline Anderson<br />
1. Two seasoned competitors with their feline entry.<br />
2. Councilmember Wayne Powell with his trophy.<br />
3. Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong> Police Officer Robert Cochran<br />
puts the department’s pumpkin on the line.<br />
4. The infamous Cheater Pumpkin.<br />
5. The Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong> Police Department<br />
celebrates its win with the referees.<br />
6. Pumpkin Races’ founding fathers John Holliday,<br />
Karl Rogers and Michael Aaker.<br />
7. A contestant with his pumpkin.<br />
8. Kevin Clark with the winning pumpkin, Brainiac.<br />
9. LA Car Guy’s Mike Sullivan, MB Parks and Rec<br />
Department’s Idris Al-Oboudi, and fourth place<br />
winners Jeff Gill and Kristen Carter with their<br />
pumpkin Donald Trumpkin.<br />
10. Fourth place winner Jeff Gill of Culver City with<br />
Donald Trumpkin.<br />
1 2<br />
3 4<br />
5 6<br />
7<br />
8<br />
9 10<br />
42 Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine • <strong>November</strong> 12, <strong>2015</strong>
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<strong>November</strong> 12, <strong>2015</strong> • Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine 43
each charity<br />
SKECHERS FRIENDSHIP WALK<br />
Event raises $1.4 million<br />
I<br />
n 2009, the Skechers Pier to Pier Friendship<br />
Walk attracted 1,700 walkers and raised<br />
$220,000. From that auspicious start, the walk<br />
swelled this year to 12,757 walkers who helped<br />
raise $1.4 million. Proceeds will go to the<br />
Friendship Circle, which provides peer mentors<br />
for special needs kids and to the South Bay school<br />
district education foundations.<br />
1. Former “Dancing<br />
with the Stars” co-host<br />
Brooke Burke-Charvet.<br />
2. Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong><br />
Mayor Mark Burton<br />
presents Skechers<br />
CEO Michael<br />
Greenburg with a<br />
certificate of<br />
appreciation.<br />
3. Fitness celebrity<br />
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been a supporter of<br />
the walk since its<br />
founding seven years<br />
ago.<br />
4. The El Segundo<br />
Education Foundation<br />
is one of the walk’s<br />
biggest supporters<br />
and beneficiaries.<br />
5. Skechers president<br />
Michael Greenberg<br />
volunteered to escort<br />
special needs students<br />
to classes when he<br />
was a student.<br />
6. “To be a champ<br />
you have to believe in<br />
yourself when no one<br />
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7. Clipper cheerleaders<br />
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8. Former Dodger’s<br />
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Lasorda.<br />
9. Over 12,000<br />
people participated in<br />
the walk.<br />
10. Noisemaker.<br />
Photos by Brad Jacobson (CivicCouch.com)<br />
1<br />
2<br />
3 4<br />
5<br />
6<br />
7<br />
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44 Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine • <strong>November</strong> 12, <strong>2015</strong>
Kimberly Davidson, Collaborative Center of Southern California<br />
Helping families with kinder, gentler divorces<br />
by Robb Fulcher<br />
I<br />
nspired by her own divorce experience, Kimberly Davidson has devoted<br />
herself to guiding families through kinder, gentler, courtroom-free divorces,<br />
designed to meet the needs of each spouse while protecting the interests<br />
of their children.<br />
Davidson, based in the South Bay with clients in Los Angeles and Orange<br />
counties, steers clear of the courtroom entirely, serving as a neutral mediator<br />
in divorces, and guiding clients through “collaborative practice” divorces. “I<br />
had a 3-year-old daughter, 25 years ago, when I found myself in a divorce I<br />
was not expecting,” Davidson said.<br />
At the time, she had a master’s degree in counseling and planned to get<br />
a Ph.D., but she changed course to take up the law.<br />
“There were so few resources for families going through divorce. I had a<br />
transformative experience. I thought I would do something different, work<br />
with people in a different way,” she said.<br />
“There had to be a better way to do divorce,” she said.<br />
As her daughter entered kindergarten, Davidson entered law school, taking<br />
classes at night and finishing in four years.<br />
She began working as a family law attorney, and 15 years ago she opened<br />
her own practice. She began serving as a neutral mediator, helping spouses<br />
and their separate lawyers work out divorce agreements.<br />
Then she learned about a method of divorce that had spread from the<br />
Midwest to Northern California – Collaborative Practice, in which spouses<br />
negotiate in four-way meetings, with their attorneys present, and pledge not<br />
to go to court.<br />
Davidson estimates that about 95 percent of her clients successfully complete<br />
divorce mediation, and 80 to 85 percent successfully complete collaborative<br />
practice.<br />
In either method, a couple must trust each other enough to see a non-litigated<br />
divorce as a possibility.<br />
“In my personal opinion, families<br />
going through divorce do not<br />
belong in the legal system. It’s really<br />
about families, and continuing relationships,<br />
and how to co-parent.<br />
We want to help solve problems,<br />
not create more of them,” she said.<br />
“Traditional adversarial divorce is<br />
like a tug-of-war. If you tug and pull<br />
and get what you want, eventually<br />
you’ll lose something else.”<br />
Mediation is more difficult when<br />
there is “a real imbalance of power<br />
in the relationship,” whether financial<br />
or psychological. In those<br />
cases, the less powerful partner can<br />
feel more protected going the collaborative<br />
route. Either way,<br />
Davidson urges clients to get support<br />
from professionals such as<br />
divorce coaches, child specialists and divorce financial planners. With that in<br />
mind, she and family therapist Jon Kramer created the Collaborative Center<br />
of Southern California, which brings together in one space at their Hermosa<br />
<strong>Beach</strong> offices, those professionals that support a non-litigation approach.<br />
Sometimes, she said, a couple will avoid divorce after consulting with<br />
experts. If the problems are financial, for instance, a post-nuptial agreement<br />
might iron them out.<br />
“Divorce is one aspect of what we do,” Davidson said.<br />
Kimberly Davidson, Attorney | 2200 Pacific Coast Highway, Suite 312, Hermosa <strong>Beach</strong> | 310-374-2025, kim@kimberlydavidson.com<br />
<strong>November</strong> 12, <strong>2015</strong> • Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine 45
each business<br />
FRESH BROTHERS GIVES ITS<br />
BEST TO MANHATTAN BEACH<br />
F<br />
resh Brothers brother Adam Goldberg credited his<br />
“mentor” Michael Greenberg of Skechers, his “fixer”<br />
restaurateur Michael Zislis and the broader community<br />
of Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong> for the meteoric success of his family’s<br />
pizza company. Goldberg’s thankyous came during his<br />
acceptance of the “Best of Manhattan” award last month<br />
1<br />
during the Chamber of Commerce’s annual Best Of dinner<br />
at the Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong> Marriott.<br />
The evening’s Bob Meistrell Local Legend Award was presented<br />
to Judy and John Peetze for their work with this<br />
year’s Special Olympics. The two formed a committee that<br />
hosted Special Olympians from Hungary and Nepal.<br />
Other 2014 Best Of Manhattan awardees were:<br />
Leadership Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong> for Business Bringing MB<br />
Together; Wilshire Bank’s David Curry for Home Sweet<br />
Home, which recognizes leaders in real estate, mortgages<br />
and wealth management; the Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong> Education<br />
Foundation for Enhancing MB; Two Guns Espresso for Small<br />
and Mighty; Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong> Post for Branding MB; The<br />
Strand House for Dine MB; and the Manhattan Village Mall<br />
for Pay It Forward. – Kevin Cody 3<br />
2<br />
1. Wilshire Bank’s David<br />
Curry, recipient of the for<br />
Home Sweet Home<br />
award.<br />
2. Best Of nominees<br />
Jason and Alison Shanks<br />
of Nikau Kai Waterman<br />
shop.<br />
3. Manhattan Education<br />
Foundation executive<br />
director Farnaz Golshani<br />
accepts the Enhancing<br />
Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong> Award.<br />
4. Chamber Executive<br />
Director James<br />
O'Callaghan.<br />
5. Pay It Forward award<br />
recipients Liz Griggs,<br />
Monica Frey and Valerie<br />
James of the Manhattan<br />
Village Mall with emcee<br />
Jill Brunkhardt of Chevron.<br />
6. Chef David Lefevre<br />
(on crutches) and his MB<br />
Post crew received the<br />
Best of Manhattan<br />
Branding award.<br />
7. Michael Zislis and the<br />
crew from Strand House<br />
with the Dine Manhattan<br />
<strong>Beach</strong> Award. Presenter<br />
Susan Burden of the<br />
<strong>Beach</strong> Cities Health<br />
District is left.<br />
8. Judy and John Peetz<br />
(center, with award) with<br />
fellow their Special<br />
Olympics helpers.<br />
9. Best of Manhattan<br />
award recipients Scott<br />
and Adam Goldberg and<br />
Adam's wife Debbie.<br />
10. Two Guns Andrew<br />
“Stan” Stanisich and<br />
Craig Oram with Mayor<br />
Mark Burton.<br />
4 5<br />
6<br />
7<br />
8<br />
9 10<br />
46 Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine • <strong>November</strong> 12, <strong>2015</strong>
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<strong>November</strong> 12, <strong>2015</strong> • Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine 47
Chase Gaffney, 9, sets up a bottom turn.<br />
Kenny Brechtelsbauer gets<br />
the air of the day and later<br />
the wipe out of the day.<br />
Billy Atkins shows why he was<br />
presented the Pure Surfing<br />
Experience Award, presented to<br />
the surfer who best embodied<br />
the spirit of contest namesake<br />
Jimmy Miller.<br />
Contest director Jeff Miller insists it’s all about fun, if<br />
pulling into shallow closeouts is your idea of fun.<br />
Family line up<br />
Father-son team wins<br />
Jimmy Miller Fiesta contest<br />
by Kevin Cody<br />
Overhead, closeout<br />
waves, 74 degree<br />
water and 80 degree<br />
air made for a dramatic 10th<br />
Anniversary Jimmy Miller<br />
Surf Fiesta at 42nd Street in<br />
Manhattan <strong>Beach</strong> on Sunday,<br />
October 11.<br />
Over 200 surfers competed<br />
on 32 five-member, handicapped<br />
teams — some more<br />
handicapped than others.<br />
Father and son duos Matt<br />
and Keiran Walls and Chris<br />
and Shane Mosley, along with Charlotte Sabina tempts fate.<br />
ringer Ben Ruby out-endured<br />
the 31 other teams in the nine-hour-long, single eliminations competition<br />
to claim first place.<br />
Nearly half of the surfers were under 16. The most impressive was<br />
Finley Murphy, who took home the Best Grommet award and a<br />
Sector 9 skateboard.<br />
Mira Costa twins Ben and Miles Choromanski received the Modom<br />
Surf Accessories Best Performance by a Family Award. The two<br />
advanced to the finals on a<br />
team that was led by Dave<br />
Schaefer and included Kevin<br />
Cody and Jon Scalabrini.<br />
The award carrying the<br />
most bragging rights, the Spy<br />
Optics Best Wipeout Award<br />
went to Kenny Brechtelsbauer,<br />
who also pulled off<br />
the biggest air of the day..<br />
The Curley family won the<br />
ET Surfboard <strong>Beach</strong> Lounger<br />
Award for their color coordinated<br />
swim suits and<br />
umbrellas and Dayton Silva<br />
won the Spyder Surf Best<br />
Maneuver for a big slash on a giant wave.<br />
Charlotte Sabina won the Trilogy Best Female award and Billy<br />
Atkinson won the Pure Surfing Experience Award for best exemplifying<br />
the spirit of Jimmy Miller, in whose memory the Jimmy Miller<br />
Foundation was established.<br />
Proceeds benefited the Jimmy Miller Foundation. For more information<br />
visit JimmyMillerFoundation.org. B<br />
48 Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine • <strong>November</strong> 12, <strong>2015</strong>
Helping clients create wealth<br />
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<strong>November</strong> 12, <strong>2015</strong> • Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine 49
Buying or Selling<br />
Office: 310.546.3441<br />
Cell: 310.643.6363<br />
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Musical Concert &<br />
Variety Show<br />
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Thanksgiving Day,<br />
Thursday, <strong>November</strong> 26th<br />
12 noon - 4 pm<br />
Hermosa Kiwanis Hall,<br />
2525 Valley Drive<br />
FREE-Open to Everyone!<br />
We Need Help!<br />
All Kinds!<br />
Volunteers, Cooked Whole Hams, Cooked Unstuffed Turkeys,<br />
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Volunteers call Donna at<br />
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Entertainers<br />
call Jon Coleman<br />
(310) 991-0929<br />
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Volunteer Shifts<br />
11:15 - 1:30 and 1:30 - 4:30<br />
SPONSORS:<br />
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50 Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine • <strong>November</strong> 12, <strong>2015</strong>
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Pub Date: December 10, <strong>2015</strong> • Deadline Date: December 4, <strong>2015</strong><br />
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<strong>November</strong> 12, <strong>2015</strong> • Easy Reader / <strong>Beach</strong> magazine 51