San Clemente Green is also asking residents who live in the fallout zone of the nuclear power plant south of San Clemente to make time to attend a public meeting over a proposed license amendment by the plant’s operator, Southern California Edison. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has scheduled the meeting for June; the day and place have yet to be announced.

“It’s the final NRC meeting that’s public in our area before a decision is made on restart.  It’s our last big chance,” said Gary Headrick, San Clemente green organizer, who pressed regulators for public hearings after a radiation leak last year.

The plant, which operated two nuclear reactors that provided electricity to 1.4 million homes, was closed in January of 2012 due to radioactive gas leaking from worn tubes. Last summer, no blackouts occurred when the plant was offline, though the utility stepped up outreach to residents to curb power usage.

Last month, the city of Los Angeles voted to oppose restarting the plant. Laguna Beach and other Orange County cities last year took a softer stand, pressing for stepped up safety measures at the plant, known as SONGS.

In its ruling on Monday, the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, an arm of the NRC, sided with environmentalists in ruling that the proposed restart of the Unit 2 generator would require detailed public hearings.

As of Tuesday, though, the regulatory agency had yet to comment on whether it will follow the ruling, said Victor Dricks, a NRC spokesman for the southwestern region.  “It’s too soon to say how the agency will respond regarding the hearing opportunity,” said Dricks.  “We’re studying the decision by the ASLB.”

Berkeley based Friends of the Earth formally challenged the utility’s plan to restart the plant at reduced power, which was outlined in an NRC letter to Edison last March.

Edison said the generating unit could run for at least five months at 70 percent power to determine its viability. Independent studies commissioned by Edison predict more tube failure, said Chris Prelitz, president of Transition Laguna Beach, a local group dedicated to ecologically sustainable lifestyles.  “The experts only diverge on that failure happening within two and a half months or, at the most, one year.  It’s time to take San Onofre down.”

Headrick said the ruling recommending public input is “not a sure deal.” “It would be hard for the NRC to go against what they recommended,” said Headrick. “It would look like they’re favoring the industry if they question that.”

If continued public hearings are called for, Headrick said they could last a year. In the meantime, Edison customers continue to bear the $54 million cost of maintaining a non-producing plant and of buying replacement energy, he said.

The California Public Utilities Commission conducted public hearings in San Francisco this week reviewing the rates, operations and facilities at the San Onofre power plant. Archived videos are at the CPUC’s website.

Laguna Beach’s Lindsey Pluimer works out with orphans in Kenya.

Living up to its name, With Our Two Hands, representatives of the Laguna Beach-based nonprofit will welcome orphans to a new home in Kenya this weekend. From funding through fruition, the seven-month, $40,000 project culminates in a ceremonial opening on Sunday, May 19, according to the founder.

Laguna resident Lindsey Pluimer, the organization’s founder, spearheaded building a new four-bedroom house on seven acres owned by an orphanage facing eviction elsewhere, only the latest in her organization’s philanthropic work in Kenya.

The former professional basketball player shot hoops in college at UCLA and later internationally for clubs in Spain and Australia. After a trip to South Africa where she volunteered in an orphanage, she decided to redirect her life and focus on helping the needy.

“I discovered it was something I had to do. It’d been in my heart for a while,” Pluimer says. “I found a little went a long way. The energy and love and joy of children is so beautiful to witness. I decided if I wasn’t going to do basketball, this is what I wanted to do.”

The primary mission of With Our Own Two Hands is to promote the tenets of yoga and sport as well as raise awareness and money to benefit children in Africa.

Pluimer, now a yoga instructor, explains that the practice of yoga requires self-disciplined breathing and body control and connecting to something greater than the self. Through sports, one also learns the value of teamwork in acting on a goal. By applying the two together, Pluimer thinks she can accomplish good works for children.

St. Ann’s will operate rent-free in their new home in Kikopey, Kenya. Though the orphanage owned land elsewhere, they lacked the resources for development, Pluimer says.

Though With Our Own Two Hands was established in 2010, the new home was not its first initiative for Kenya’s children. Previously, the organization provided school supplies and beds for another orphanage. As she spends the next week in Kenya following St. Ann’s opening, Pluimer will visit a school in Nairobi which may become a beneficiary also.

Plumier applies her twin interests in yoga and sport to fundraising also. For example, at a stand-up paddle event planned for June in Newport Beach, participants will perform yoga on the water. The organization will sponsor an upcoming 5k/10k run in November. The last run they put on drew 500 participants. And Pluimer plans a yoga retreat in Santa Barbara in August.

While Pluimer says contributions raised are spent entirely on operations, the organization’s financial results could not be verified at the nonprofit database Guide Star.

Additionally, a documentary about building the St. Ann’s orphanage is in the works, which Pluimer hopes will eventually be screened in Laguna Beach.

“I’m excited to show people where and what their contributions went for,” says Pluimer.

Earlier this week, police obtained a warrant for the arrest of Babak Azadgilani, also known as “Bobby”, of Laguna Niguel, said Capt. Jason Kravetz in a statement. “Attempts to arrest him at his home and place of business have occurred, but he appears to be hiding from authorities,” Kravetz said.

Not only do police want to take him into custody for the April 21 assault, but want to circulate his information in case there are additional victims, the statement says.

Police allege Azadgilani fled the scene of the assault in a Laguna home on a BMW motorcycle with the California license plate 2OM4237.  A woman reported refusing the advances of a man she recently met at the beach; he allegedly choked, hit and sexually assaulted her, the Indy reported on April 26.

“Should you see this man, contact your local law enforcement agency and report it.  He has an active $100,000 warrant for rape,” Kravetz said.

A final flourish of graffiti marks a deteriorating house that neighbors have complained about for years.

A throng of people with quarts of paint doused a boarded-up, ocean-front Laguna Beach structure with balloon-like messages, wall-length streaks and artistic giant-sized lettering last Saturday.

The “graffitiers last hurrah,” was the description of Morris Skenderian, the property’s architectural advisor hired by owner Gary Groves to demolish the deteriorating former boathouse at the south end of 1000 Steps Beach. The architect said the structure would be obliterated by Monday.

Police, responding to a report of about a dozen people swarming over the structure, did not intercede after confirming with the property owner that the visitors had the owner’s permission to enter and film on the property, Sgt. Louise Callus said.

Neither the city nor the county require permits for filming on private property, thus no record of the production could be found. Film directors sometimes request the addition of graffiti at a location, as they would dress a set, but the premises are typically returned to the original state, said the county’s film commissioner, Janice Arrington.

And Chapman University film students often trek to 1000 Steps Beach for location shooting, said a resident whose home overlooks the north end of the cove and declined to be identified.

Even so, the latest graffiti bloom surprised Chimo Arnold, who estimates over 13 years he’s made 30 complaints about fires, trash and drinking around the structure. He and other residents of bluff top Point Place met with the owner’s son, Jordan, last year. “For the first time he learned how aghast we were at what’s being painted on that wall,” said Arnold, who came away feeling confident something would be done.

“You have no idea what pleasure we feel seeing equipment starting to destroy that wall,” said Arnold, a retired executive counselor and author.

He believes complaints by residents brought pressure on city code enforcement officers to push for demolition of the 1940s-era house as a public nuisance, but Arnold thinks another factor played a role, too. At the same time, South Coast Water District was negotiating settlement with property owners, including the Groves, to buy five feet of property beneath 183 residences to make repairs to a sewer running through the bluff top, said Linda Homscheid, a water district spokeswoman.

The soon-to-vanish sand-level structure is but one of at least three homes on the large Groves’ compound entered from Coast Highway. The property slopes away from the street and is bordered to the south by Three Arch Bay.

To clear a path to haul off debris from the expected house demolition, workers last month first tore down a bluff top garage to allow a truck to pass, said City Manager John Pietig.

“We didn’t approve or condone,” the final proliferation of graffiti, he said. Even so, citing the owner for violating the city’s municipal code forbidding graffiti on public or private property is not under consideration, he said. “The goal of code enforcement is to achieve compliance. The structure will be removed more quickly than it can be cleaned up,” Pietig said. “We’re pleased the structure will be removed and the problem solved permanently, something the neighborhood has asked for.”

By Catharine Cooper.

The news this week that the C02levels surpassed 400 parts per million (ppm) at the recording station on Mauna Loa, Hawaii, sent a ripple of distress through the scientific climate community. The monitoring later recanted, and said the measurement was really only 399.89 – while admitting that .11 ppm makes little difference.

The last time there was this much CO2 in the atmosphere was during the Pleistocene era, approximately 3 million years ago. It was much warmer then; Greenland was covered with forests, and the sea level was 33’ to 66’ higher.  That means that most of downtown Laguna was underwater.

The significance of the 400 ppm is relational; a scant two centuries ago, the measure was 275. As a critical benchmark, tipping into the 400s is an indication that the speed in the concentration of the gas is increasing. If the current rate continues, we will reach a doubling of pre-industrial levels of CO2 within the next few decades.  NASA’s James Hanson has stated, “If humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted, … CO2 will need to be reduced … to at most 350 ppm.”

There are natural factors that contribute to C02 – volcanoes and decomposing plant materials – but the overwhelming culprit in the increase are human beings. Our addiction to fossil fuels – coal burnt for electricity and oil for gasoline – has caused the bulk of the increase.

Our love for the gasoline-fueled engine has become an unsustainable proposition.  We need to adapt to alternate fuel sources, and we need to move more quickly.  The United States is the second largest contributor on the planet – approximately 20% – surpassed only by China.

Laguna is a small, albeit tiny component of the United States, but our individual actions count.  Our citizens pledged water conservation in a nationwide on-line challenge and were acknowledged as one of the nation’s most water-wise cities. Proof that our collective energies can make a difference.

The Environmental Sustainability Committee, of which I am a member, is tasked with exploring ways in which Laguna Beach can reduce its planetary impact in areas that include water, waste, energy, air, and ocean. Combined with council and community input, we are working toward suggesting goals and actions that will lead to policies to become part of the general plan.

Together, we need to transition from our current energy strategies to new modalities. Traffic and limited parking are two of our greatest contributors to the C02 problem.  How can we create a more pedestrian friendly city, increase access to public non-polluting transportation, provide more options for cyclists, and limit the never-ending search for a parking space? Can we create more solar opportunities? Can we join with other communities in seeking wind and or sea generated power?

Our community’s collective wisdom and input are invaluable.  Feel free to email me your suggestions.  Thanks for taking the security and future of our home planet into your heart.

Catharine Cooper, a lifelong resident of Laguna Beach, is currently a member of the city’s Environmental Sustainability Committee. Email : cooperdesign@gmail.com

A screening of a 1947 film about returning WWII vets takes place next Thursday, preceding Memorial Day.

The Laguna Beach Film Society’s invites the public to attend a special screening of the Oscar-winning movie “The Best Years of Our Lives,” on Thursday, May 23, in recognition of Memorial Day, which falls the following Monday.

Actor Michael Hall, who played the son of one of the film’s protagonists, is slated to attend the film screening and speak at a 6 p.m. pre-film reception at the Laguna Art Museum.

A portion of the proceeds garnered through ticket sales are to be donated the Camp Pendleton branch of the Wounded Warrior Project, a nonprofit organization that helps veterans with missing limbs adjust to civilian life.

“They rehabilitate the veterans both physically and mentally,” said Arnie Silverman, of Laguna Niguel, commander of the Laguna area Veterans of Foreign Wars post, who . had the idea to donate to the WWP. He is a Korean war veteran.

“It will boost the morale of maimed soldiers and let them know their sacrifice is appreciated,” said another key player in rounding up the veteran turnout, Laguna resident Frank Daniel, a member of VFW and the American Legion.

He hopes participation by veterans might attract new members among film-goers. Recruiting younger soldiers to join local vets groups isn’t easy, Daniel said.

Film Society chair George Weiss made 70 tickets available to the veterans groups to raise funds for the WWP through their sale.

“The Best Years of Our Lives” (1946) won seven Academy Awards, including best picture. It is the tale of three men who return home after fighting in WWII.

The film will air at 7 p.m. at South Coast Cinema, 162 S. Coast Highway. Presale tickets are $8 at lagunaartmuseum.org/lbfs, $10 at the door, and $5 for students.

The pre-film reception at 6 p.m. will be held at the Laguna Art Museum, 307 Cliff Dr. The reception, which includes wine and appetizers, and the movie together call for a ticket of $20.

Designer Jeanine Veldhuis in the room she worked on.

The Philharmonic Society of Orange County this year selected a sprawling Tuscan-style villa in Coto de Caza where local interior designers could showcase their talents and help support the society’s youth music education programs, which serve 150,000 students a year.

Five bedrooms, a wine cellar, the entry, a lounge, living and dining areas, a library kitchen and baths now reflect the designers’ vision as well as complementing the architecture of the house and its surroundings. The showcase’s final day is Sunday, May 19.

Among the 12 designers, four with previous Design House credentials are based in Laguna Beach: Jeanine Veldhuis, Veldhuis Interior Design; Gary Finley, Gary Finley Interior Design; John Wallace Benecke, John Wallace Benecke Interiors, and the late Steve Stein, SLS Designs,Inc. Stein died shortly after finishing the Design House project, a living area he had dubbed “the lounge.”

John Wallace Benecke

Educated at Cal Poly San Louis Obispo, Veldhuis chose the master bedroom and bath, which she transformed into a casually elegant retreat reflecting imaginary owners who traveled, bringing back eclectic mementos.

“I used a fairly neutral color palette with accents of earthy colors like brown, terra cotta, cream and gold and added lots of plants,” she explained. “With a master bedroom you don’t get too inventive but follow a recipe and add spice.”

To Veldhuis, spice arises from a variety of textures and an eclectic mix of materials and artifacts, such as an iron canopy bed, a leather chest, antique iron sconces and Moroccan embroidered bedding as well as contemporary acrylic pedestals.

Veldhuis pulled her entire project together in 10 weeks. “Normally it takes 12 to 14 weeks just to get the furnishings,” she said.

Designers are not granted unfettered creative freedom, but must adhere to some rules, such as retaining the color of the walls and plaster in keeping with the Mediterranean look. And since the home is for sale, designers weigh the project’s cost as well as its effectiveness as a marketing tool.

For example, furnishings and artifacts not lent by distributors or manufacturers must be selected with future settings in mind. Items paid for by firms or individuals will be re-purposed for other showcases or sold. Then again, designers order draperies and upholstery, custom made for the space and absorb the cost.

Finley’s forte is putting art into unconventional settings. A large abstract painting by Luc Leestemaker dominates the sitting room-library, here named Biblioteca, accompanied by 17th and 18th century antique furniture and eye-catching accessories. Laguna gallerists Dawson Cole and Joanne Artman as well as a La Jolla gallery lent works for the project.

Gary Finley

“I wanted the public to know that large works of art need not be imposing, even in smaller spaces,” he said. An adjoining narrow, 30 foot-long hallway proved a challenge that he met by placing two Italian chests of drawers, known as commodes, works of wall art and assorted plants, effecting an airy illusion of width. “I love offering the unexpected,” he said. Practicing since 1987, he said that one of the aspects that attracted him to design was his ability to give his client’s abstract ideas physical form.

Wallace Benecke chose what he considers a home’s focal point, the large entrance foyer and powder room. “The entrance sets the tone for the house,” he said.

He explained that he aimed for an old world house with a youthful sensibility.

His biggest challenge came when he changed out the heavy iron chandeliers suspended from a 36-foot ceiling and put up three drum-shaded fixtures. The new setting needed rewiring but he said the effect was worth it.

Wallace Beneke grew up steeped in classical music as his mother hails from Vienna, he said. He also is a Philharmonic Society board member and chairs a committee dedicated to bringing youth into concert halls.

He advises clients and others to avoid a decorator look and says: “Pay attention to individual collectibles, put them in the right place and don’t overdo it.”

Walls filled with art reflect both the house and the owner’s sensibility, he said, reminding owners that objects need not stay in the same place forever. “Art can be moved, and then don’t forget to put something good into the bathrooms either,” he said. He summed up his philosophy saying: With art and interior design there is really no wrong way of doing it. It’s all a matter of perception, a different approach.”

DESIGN HOURS:

Sat: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sun: Noon to 5 p.m. Park at Trabuco Presbyterian Church,

31802 Las Amigas Drive, Trabuco Canyon, CA 92679.

Call (714) 840-7542 or email Madeline@PhilharmonicSociety.org

www.philharmonicsociety.org/HOD

Osuna’s portrait of Poncho Villa.

“Mexico at the Hour of Combat: Sabino Osuna’s Photographs of the Mexican Revolution,” an exhibition of rare photographs from 1910-1914 shown for the first time in Orange County, will open at Soka University’s Founders Hall Art Gallery in Aliso Viejo on Monday, May 20.

The exhibition and book are based on the Osuna Collection of 427 glass negatives of the Mexican Revolution, which are held in the Special Collections section of UC Riverside. The entire archive is historically important and this is a unique opportunity to experience this rarely seen photography, says a university statement.

Little is known about the principal photographer, Sabino Osuna, though evidence suggests the Mexico City commercial photographer shifted from portraiture to capturing the revolution’s protagonists.

The exhibition is curated by Tyler Stallings, director of UCR’s Sweeney Art Gallery,  and Laguna Beach resident Ronald H. Chilcote, a UCR professor emeritus.

LOCA Marks Its 20th Year With a Nod to Local History

Author Lorraine Passero

LOCA invites members to a reception with author Lorraine Passero on Wednesday, May 22, from 6 to 8 p.m., 2835 Bernard Court.

Passero is the author of newly released biography about former Laguna resident, artist, and writer Clara Mason Fox (1873-1959), the great-great aunt of her husband, sculptor Jon Seeman.

This event will be a unique opportunity to view Fox’s 1890s drawings of Arch Beach and family photos about her life. San Marino’s Huntington Library is featuring some of her botanical watercolors from 1894 in the “When They Were Wild” exhibition.

For reservations, call 949-363-4700 or 949-510-4469 or email locaArts@yahoo.com. $20 per person. Space is limited.

Pacific Edge Shows New Baas Work

“Tricoastal,” an exhibition of 38 new oils from Laguna Beach master oil painter Jacobus Baas, opens this Saturday, May 18 with a reception for the artist from 5 to 8 p.m. at Laguna Beach’s Pacific Edge Gallery, 540 S Coast Hightway.

The show continues through May 31.

Create a Watercolor at Treasure Island Beach

LOCA is offering a tidepool tour and art class on Sunday, May 19.

Laguna Outreach for Community Arts is offering a Watercolors on the Beach class at Treasure Island Beach on Sunday, May 19, from 10 a.m.-11:30 a.m.

Participants will enjoy a tour and viewing of the live tidepool creatures, followed by watercolor mixing instruction with artist September McGee. Beginners are invited.

The cost for adults is $35, and $20 for children ages 5 and up. Supplies and refreshments are provided. Advance registration is required: visit www.LOCAarts.org. or call (949) 363-4700.

Future Leanings Shown

The Art Cube Gallery will host an opening reception Saturday, June 1 for “Nostalgia For the Future,” a showing of Laurie Hassold running from June 1-30 at 266 Forest Ave.

For more, contact Victoria Chapman at Victoria@artcubegallery.com.

Gallery Q Hosts Student Artists

An example from the show.

The Susi Q Center’s Gallery Q hosts “Kreative Kids,” opending Monday, May 20, showcasing the wide-range of artistic exploration offered at the Boys and Girls Club to kids between the ages of 5 and 17.

The show runs until June 20 and the public is invited to an awards ceremony and reception on June 13, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., 380 Third St.

Laguna Beach.  Another perfect day in Paradise, but oh no, there’s big hair.  According to friends (yes I have two and I pay them dearly to maintain that status), “Steel Magnolias” is a terrific show now playing at the Laguna Beach Playhouse.  I’m afraid I’ll have to take their word for it because I’m too afraid to see it. It’s another neurosis of mine, so pull up your barber chair, sweep your hair behind the ears and listen up to a hair-raising tale. It’s worth a listen to because you’ll learn nothing, but you do get a lollipop at the end for reading this without moving your lips.  Do you need a booster chair?

My therapist, Dr. Arnie Paypal, advises me that, if I want to get to the root of my hair problem, I’ll have to pay him in advance. He recommends that I take out a second mortgage, so he can pay off his first mortgage, finalize his divorce from wife number three, and make wife number four happy with a new house on the right side of PCH.  He says that I shouldn’t think that his happiness depends on me. That would be highly unethical.  His problems and my problems are separate issues and must remain that way to assure that he adheres to crazy-high mental health association standards that nobody in his profession can live up to with four, five, or six wives in tow. Notwithstanding, appearances must be maintained.  So before I can begin, he introduces me to Benny Bagmein, his physician associate, who handles front office arrangements.  ccording to new Obamacare guidelines, Bagmein will provide a cursory physical exam and demonstrate the importance of kneecaps and how that body part sets in motion the need to pay for the sessions in non-sequenced numbered Canadian bills.  Bagmein explains to me that the Canadians’ obsession with polite-ness, sets them apart from other sovereign nations that just take your deposits and never say thank you, whereas the Canadian loon is a fowl that flies straight and is never afoul of the law like so many other banking birdbrains.  Bagmein riding shotgun and I conclude the financial arrangements with a quick trip to Toronto, where I withdraw $9,999,999,999 and purchase a new couch from Ikea as an incentive to Dr. Paypal to get to the bottom of my big hair fear, as well as, cushion my bottom for what appears to be a long ride to my mental well being.

Now that money talked and mine said goodbye, Dr. Paypal hypnotizes me and directs my subconscious to isolate the triggering event that makes me scared of big hair.  Bagmein assists by checking my pockets for any loose change still unaccounted for, while muttering thank you-s in the Canadian language.  I am deeply under hypnosis and unaware that the first trigger that’s uncovered is my ATM pin number.  This discovery saves Bagmein many future solo trips to Toronto, which would have been difficult to do from the shotgun position.  After several sessions and many withdrawals later, Dr. Paypal has a breakthrough when I hit upon the split end trigger.

Be alert readers.  The tollowing is the only true thing about to be said so far. I had buried a horrible memory from junior high school.  Two teenage girls in ninth grade made a habit to seek me out, a lowly seventh grader, during classroom changes.  They had big hair kept that way with hair spray that Marge Simpson would have given her first born for, which isn’t saying much because its Bart. Nonetheless, these six-foot hellions, two feet of it being hair, would get me in the crowded stairwell and knock out all my books from under my arms. I was very studious in those days and carted around a lot of books and papers.  To their utter delight, my pursers kept these high jinxes going because I couldn’t alter my course or I would be late for class.  I finally solved things by hiding out in the boys’ locker room until they graduated and moved on to high school. That outcome took several years longer than the average students’ stay due to their obsession with big hair and the long hours needed for maintenance instead of general studies.

Thank you modern medicine.  I’m cured. I’d go the Laguna Beach Playhouse and see “Steel Magnolias,” except that I don’t have any money left to purchase a ticket. Oh well, be sure to say hi from me to Dr. Paypal and wife number four.  I know he loves big hair.

Here’s your lollipop.

Mark is a transplant to Laguna from Chicago.  He occasionally writes the guest column “Pet Peeves.”  His recently deceased Border Collie, Pokey, is his muse and ghostwriter.

Teri Ralston

No Square Theatre presents Broadway singer Teri Ralston in a one night, 7:30 p.m. solo concert on Monday, May 20, 384 Legion St.

Ralston, who grew up in Laguna Beach, will reprise her cabaret show, “Songs I’ve Grown Into.” She is currently in “Steel Magnolias” at Laguna Playhouse.

Reserved seats are available exclusively at nosquare.org.

Short Films Debut in Short Fest 

The Laguna Animation Film Festival, made up of films produced by students of Laguna College of Art and Design, will be held in Laguna Beach’s historic South Coast Cinema, 162 S. Coast Highway, on Saturday, May 18 beginning at 10 a.m.

The screening lasts an hour. Student filmmakers will be on hand to speak about their work.

Laguna Beach Books welcomes former resident and mystery writer T. Jefferson Parker, author of “The Famous and the Dead” on Sunday, May 19 at 4 p.m. at 1200 S. Coast Highway.

There is no charge for the event.

Organizers, from left, Fredda Trehub, Patti Callaghan, Kate Weiss, Evonne Kane and Beth Wolf with some of the finds that go on sale Saturday, May 18.

What started as one woman’s dream to create a high-end, affordably priced shopping extravaganza to raise money to help alleviate homelessness, abuse and hunger, has turned into a community-wide effort that will come to fruition Saturday, May 18 at the Neighborhood Congregational Church.

Thanks to the generosity of local shop owners and residents, along with hours of work put in by a devoted crew of volunteers, this year’s Boutique Benefit is sizing up to be a bonanza for both shoppers and the non-profits slated to receive the proceeds.

The one-day opportunity to shop for a cause will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the church, 340 St. Ann’s Dr. Admission is $4.

For the second year in a row, there will be a Friday presale, May 17, from 5-8 p.m. For $40 early bird fashionistas – and those who simply want to socialize for a purpose – will be able to eat and drink treats provided by six of Laguna’s favorite eateries and then shop NCC’s Bridge Hall, which will have been transformed into an upscale boutique for two hours of leisurely bargain bagging. Tickets for the presale event can be purchased online at boutiquebenefit.eventbrite.com.

Now in its seventh year, Evonne Kane originally brought the Boutique Benefit into being after helping with a Christmas dinner for the homeless at the Presbyterian Church in 2006.

“My heart was touched by the humanity of everyone present,” she said.  Wanting to continue to be “a drop in the sea of compassion,” Kane volunteered to organize the Laguna Resource Center’s clothing room. Realizing that clothing is fundamental to all, and that money follows fashion,  “The idea of a boutique type fundraiser came to me.

“It seemed like a win-win for everyone,” said Kane, who has lived in Laguna for more than 20 years and has her own acupuncture practice. “Closets would be cleaned, tax deductions given, clothes would be recycled and shoppers would have the satisfaction of knowing their purchases were helping others.”

To date, the boutique has raised $85,000 to help people in need both locally and abroad. The major recipient has been the Laguna Food Pantry, formerly the Resource Center.

“Evonne is our biggest booster financially and emotionally,” said chairman Andy Siegenfeld. Funds garnered from the boutique have enabled the non-profit to help alleviate food shortages for thousands of individuals and families struggling economically. This year Siegenfeld estimates that over 20,000 people will sign up to receive groceries from the all-volunteer center on Laguna Canyon Road.

The boutique is no garage sale. A loyal and growing contingent of local shop owners (40 this year) donates quality apparel, handbags and jewelry to the cause and then the items are priced at a fraction of their original retail value.

“Evonne gets extraordinary clothing,” said City Council member Toni Iseman, who for the past several years has both worked and shopped the benefit. “I’ve gotten things I wouldn’t even try on at a store because they’re so expensive and you can get them for $10.”

Kane, Iseman said, “has never lost her focus and she has a way of getting people to open their hearts.”

This year, Elle H, formerly a Laguna shop that has been selling its contemporary women’s clothing online, is liquidating the company and donating its remaining stock. “I have probably six to eight rolling racks right now in my garage,” said owner Linda Hahn, who also volunteered this year help organize the thousand of items that fill three large temporary storage units.

Tootsies, located in The Old Pottery Place shopping center and a consistent contributor to the boutique, will be giving about 100 pairs of shoes, said owner Nini Dake. There will also be lingerie from I C London, scarves from Tibet Handicrafts and children’s clothing from Hillary and Little Free bird,

apparel and fabric from Lala along with a huge selection of men’s dress shirts, jackets and over 100 new surf shirts.

According to Kane there is more inventory this year than ever before, with something for every age, style, size and budget.

Besides the shops, a dedicated contingent scours their home closets cherry picking the prizes and saving them for the boutique.

Though she hated to, Patricia Twitty reluctantly gave Kane the peacock in her own closet, a hand-beaded skirt won at an art auction in Venice that never fit right. Shortly after the benefit, a friend of Twitty’s waltzed into a party “looking like a dream” and wearing the one-of-a-kind skirt. “Great friends, great taste in clothes, you never know what treasures you might find there,” Twitty said.

Besides the Laguna Food Pantry this year’s proceeds will go to Laguna Beach’s Friendship Shelter, which since 1987 has helped homeless adults achieve self-sufficiency by providing a stable living environment, life skills, and counseling. The Friendship Shelter also manages the homeless sleeping facility on Laguna Canyon Road.

Impact Giving, a women’s collective giving group, started locally, that annually gives grants to both domestic and international charities chosen by its members, will also receive funding.

And Women for Women International, which provides women survivors of war in eight countries resources to move from crisis and poverty to stability and self-sufficiency, will again be a beneficiary.

Pictures of some of the goodies awaiting shoppers are posted on the Boutique Benefit’s Facebook page.

Local resident Robin Pierson writes about topics she’s engaged in.

Others look around and decide to fill the gap. One of those people is Lisa Farber.

You may not know the name, but you likely know the face: she is sort of everywhere. With eyes so wide she seems perpetually surprised and a mass of curly hair that belies her age, she wanders Laguna Beach cultivating clients for her one-woman enterprise, “Laguna Beach Times” a free, advertising-based newspaper/newsletter/flyer created to spread the word about Laguna business and entertainment.

Something the Visitors Bureau or the Chamber might have done, but did not. Something the newspapers might have incorporated as an insert, or the town might have offered on their website, but did not. As an aside, there has been talk for years about a town-wide calendar incorporating all events and activities, and some list some, but nothing comprehensive, yet.

Five years ago, Lisa published the Times with the tag line: “Living, Thriving and Spending Locally.” Roughly 3500 copies of the six-page publication is distributed at 125 locations every two weeks and includes a list of happy hours in town, a map of landmarks and parks, horoscopes and tide charts, a bit of editorial plus a whole lot of ads at prices highly competitive to local newspapers.

Lisa is an unlikely media tycoon. A Canadian who meant to be an actress, she found her way to Laguna after a skiing sabbatical in the states. She drifted briefly to Las Vegas to pursue the music business but was drawn back to Laguna, she said, because there is so much going on here. On the subject of Laguna, Lisa sounds like the town greeter, and says that her true calling in life is “to get the word out.”

So, she hit the pavement, and that’s where you will find her still, not only to sustain the Times, but launching the second year of her Laguna Beach Bar and Restaurant Discount Cards. Something else others might have done, and a few retailers like Zinc have their own cards, but Lisa wanted to establish a card with broader appeal that will incentivize locals to stay local. She sold just 400 cards last year and hopes to build over time. The $20 dining card offers a 25% discount on 13 restaurants, from ReMark’s to the Beach House to Dizz’s, and the bar card, which is just getting going, offers a Buy 1 Get 1 for $1 drink offer, currently at Ocean Avenue, Mozambique and Cubana Cigar. Cards can be purchased at participating restaurants or at World Newsstand.

When she isn’t working her business, Lisa gives a weekend entertainment report on KX 93.5 FM, Thursday and Friday mornings, and she might be found at the Cliff at Sunday afternoon Music Matters or the Pearl Street Sessions on the first and third Tuesdays at the Wine Gallery or attending happy hours and events. Perhaps the only time she isn’t promoting the town is at her regular Bikram Yoga class where the heat and tranquility restore her for everything else.

Randy Kraft is a freelance writer who previously covered the city for the Indy and pens the OC BookBlog for www.ocinsite.com. Minding our Business focuses on 

Jeff Grice

Jeff Grice, a real estate investor and broker with a background in property management, has joined Re/Max as owner of its newest office in downtown Laguna Beach, 302 Glenneyre St.

Re/Max Evolution will open with five agents – Mark Miller, Kim Avery, Kim Larsen and Angela McIver — and will serve the communities of Laguna Beach, Newport Beach, Dana Point, San Clemente and the surrounding area. The office will offer a range of services for residential real estate, property management and commercial properties.

More info, visit: www.coastalcitiesrealty.com, or call: 949-342-2244.

New Juice Bar Receives Approval

Laguna Beach’s Planning Commission last week approved a conditional use permit for Juice and Shakes, a fresh juice and take-out salad shop at 154 S. Coast Highway, formerly occupied by Haagen Dazs.

Owner Chris Keller, who owns two other Laguna Beach restaurants as well as a bar, aims to capitalize on the flourishing juice. And he’s a fan himself, admitting he maintains his physique by relying on juice drinks three days a week.

Paradise Creations Relocates

Student Sharlene Zarrabi

After three years on Diamond Street in a building remodeled as a spa, bridal salon owner Judy Morrison recently relocated her formal wear shop Paradise Creations to another Laguna Beach storefront, 1891 S. Coast Highway.

While the shop is still in transition, the doors are open and taking care of girls seeking prom dresses, said Morrison, of Laguna Niguel, who’s operated the shop formerly located in San Clemente and Mission Viejo for 30 years.

Recently, the shop, Tanya Clark hair salon and photographer Ed Krebs outfitted high school student Sharlene Zarrabi for an academic scholarship competition.

“When the need arises, we try to help people out,” said Morrison, who choose her pursuit because “you make people happy.”

Heather Lloyd and her great-grandmother, Lillian Lloyd, last year.

Laguna Beach resident Lillian Lloyd celebrated her 101^st birthday this week. She outlived her late husband Stanley and lives in a retirement park, still enjoying cooking, cleaning, spending time with her family and friends and watching basketball, says great-grandaughter Heather Lloyd.

Stanley and Lillian Lloyd in the ‘30s