They came. They built. And by the time last weekend’s Ninth Annual Solar Cup boat race was finished, the scrappy teen underdogs from Camp David Gonzales had conquered, too.

Profiled here last week as they were preparing to become the first team of incarcerated teenagers ever to enter the scientifically challenging contest, the Camp Gonzales kids, led by teacher Ty Kastendiek of the Los Angeles County Office of Education, ended up with a second-place finish in the sprint in the Rookie Division, and 12^th place overall among 40 teams of students, most of whom—like the winners—attended suburban high schools.

Earlier, they took first place in a preliminary round involving the creation of a public service ad on water conservation. The team had spent some seven months building a solar-powered skiff, which they then raced for two days at Lake Skinner near Hemet.

For the teenagers, the glory was less in the race than in completing the project. The group that built the “Miss Ann” knew from the start that they would not be the group that raced it because their sentences at Camp Gonzales, a Los Angeles County probation camp in the hills above Malibu, didn’t coincide with the school year. Most had never been in a boat, let alone built one, and even the most mundane contest rules—attending a mandatory boat-building workshop, for example—posed procedural hurdles.

But as each challenge was met, Kastendiek says, the students gained dignity and maturity. For him, he says, the real triumphs came in random, unguarded moments: Watching an 18-year-old named Richard who had never steered a boat “take full control” and order him to stop talking and help get their boat out of the water. Or listening to the suddenly child-like laughter of his young probationers as they sat around a campfire eating moon pies. Or hearing Christian, one of his liveliest charges, muse that “he liked the endurance race more than the sprint, because the sprint was over too fast and it was beautiful to be out on the lake for a while by himself.”

At one point, Kastendiek says, their boat hit a mechanical snag that cost the team the endurance portion of the contest. “It was a repair,” he says, “that normally would have taken 40 minutes.”

But, in what for him was one of the most gratifying moments of the weekend, he says, one of his students, a 16-year-old aspiring electrician named Marco, looked at him and just said, “Mr. Ty, relax—we got this.” In less than 25 minutes, as bystanders shouted advice from the sidelines, the “Miss Ann” was back in the race again.

“The students demonstrated dedication and the ability to solve problems and overcome adversity,” said John R. Mundy, general manager of the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District, which sponsored the probation camp team and congratulated both the students and L.A. County Office of Education.

Kastendiek, who was only able to take three of the more than 20 team members to the actual boat race, says he hopes to enter the Metropolitan Water District-sponsored event again next year. But in any case, he says, the project was deeply gratifying.

“We set a goal,” he says, “we did the journey, and the final outcome was not decided on Sunday, but hopefully in the lives of the young men who had a chance to shine in a new arena, to believe in themselves in a different way and to touch the other participants who got to know them.”

 Posted 5/18/11

On July 15, moviegoers around the country will find out whether Voldemort meets his doom in a showdown with the wizarding world. But if you’re thinking of catching a midnight showing of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” in Westwood, better find a way to get there that doesn’t involve the 405 Freeway.

That same night marks the beginning of the end for the Mulholland Bridge. After two hours of prep work starting at 10 p.m. on July 15,  demolition of the bridge will begin just after midnight—a maneuver that will require a weekend-long closure of one of the most heavily traveled freeways in the nation.

Moviegoers are just one L.A. interest group that will need to come up with alternate routes to navigate the 53-hour closure, which will be in effect all day Saturday, July 16, and Sunday, July 17, and will continue till 5 a.m. on Monday, July 18. At this point, plans call for closing the freeway from Getty Center Drive to the 101 Freeway, but that and other details may change depending on the outcome of meetings being held this week among Metro, the CHP and other agencies.

Updated 5/27/11: The latest plans call for the 405 Freeway to be closed northbound from the 10 Freeway to the 101. The southbound freeway will be closed from the 101 to the Getty Center Drive offramps. Full details are here.

Already, the mega-closure has event organizers and others scrambling for ways to cope. From LAX-bound travelers to beachgoers, golf lovers to museum hoppers, the closure promises to throw a big curve into that perennial L.A. question of how to get there from here.

The Skirball Cultural Center has decided to close its gallery doors altogether for the weekend—which means you’ll need to pick another time to check out the center’s popular Houdini and “Masters of Illusion: Jewish Magicians of the Golden Age” exhibits.

At this point, just one private event—a wedding—is still on the books for the Skirball that weekend. The staff is “cooperating closely with the families to come up with best options for guiding guests to our site as efficiently as possible and extending welcome to them upon arrival and throughout the event,” spokeswoman Mia Cariño said in an email.

Like that intrepid wedding party, the nearby Getty Center has opted to stay the course and will remain open. The Getty expects “strong visitorship despite the freeway construction,” spokeswoman Julie Jaskol said in a statement, pointing out that, as plans stand now, the northbound Getty Center Drive ramp will be open, while visitors coming from the south will need to take Sepulveda Boulevard.

Updated 6/2/11: The Getty has since decided to close for the weekend. And that last wedding party at the Skirball? They’ve rescheduled for July15.

The Hermosa Beach Open Beach Volleyball Tournament is also scheduled for that weekend—and the freeway closure plans were not welcome news to organizer Dave Williams.

“This is the first I’m hearing of it. Yes, it will be very negative,” he said. “It’s a big event. We may have to move it.”

Further south, the Trump National Golf Course in Rancho Palos Verdes is the setting for the big Los Angeles Police Celebrity Annual Golf Tournament on Saturday, July 16—which may also require some extra planning by those traveling from the Westside or San Fernando Valley.

“We’re trying to figure out how we’re going to notify people of alternate routes,” said Alan Atkins, executive director of the Los Angeles Police Memorial Foundation, which puts on the traditionally star-studded tournament, to be hosted this year by Jerry West. “It’s going to cause a lot of headaches because probably half of them come from the Westside.”

And at UCLA, school’s not in session, but parents of students enrolled in high school summer programs on the campus that weekend are being notified of potential pick-up and drop-off challenges.

Whatever your summer plans may be, the advice from Metro, which along with Caltrans is running the 405 Sepulveda Pass Improvements Project, is to stay home that weekend if possible or become well-acquainted with the official detour maps before leaving home, since freeways and surface streets beyond the 405 may be affected.

Mike Barbour, in charge of the project for Metro, said picking the date for the weekend-long closure meant avoiding holiday weekends and times when schools were in session.

“We think this is the right date. It was sort of a light weekend, really,” Barbour said.

While the project’s other demolition work on the Sunset and Skirball bridges required a series of overnight closures of the freeway, the steepness of the Mulholland Bridge means that it will be safer for motorists if the demo work is done over one weekend, Metro officials said.

Still, the demolition of the Mulholland Bridge will be the easy part compared to the “very daunting” task of arranging and communicating the freeway closure, Barbour said.

“I would say that the technical work is not that big of a deal,” Barbour said. “But traffic management, and working with all these different agencies, and coming up with a plan to convince people to stay off the freeway—it’s very significant. It’s very challenging.”

Posted 5/18/11

Short of a visit from Ty Pennington, it’s the ultimate homeowner’s daydream: $10,000 or even $50,000 to bring the old place up to date.

In the case of six lucky Los Angeles County families, just such a windfall is headed their way. But don’t turn green with envy—because these environmentally-friendly home improvement projects are meant to benefit everybody.

Winners were announced today in the Home Energy Makeover Contest sponsored by Energy Upgrade California, an alliance among L.A. County, local cities, Southern California Edison and the Southern California Gas Company.

The $50,000 Grand Prize makeover went to the Gerardo family of San Fernando, whose 1953 one-story home will be transformed into a “near zero energy house.” (Which means that this prize will be a gift that keeps on giving as far as future energy bills are concerned.)

The upgrades to the Gerardo home will range from solving ventilation and insulation problems to replacing their antiquated swimming pool pump.

The other makeover prizes, worth $10,000 each, went to families in Encino, LaVerne, Pomona, Baldwin Hills and Whittier.

Meet the Gerardos and the other winners here.

More than 1,425 homeowners entered the contest, which is meant to inspire all of us to get with the energy-saving program. (You can start your own action plan here.)

Posted 5/12/11

Leave your carbon footprint in the dust as you pedal the Westside on Saturday for art with “Santa Monica Museum of Art ‘Hearts’ Bikes.”

Organized by the Santa Monica Museum of Art (SMMoA), this half-day bicycle expedition offers a behind-the-scenes look at the studios and projects of artist Blue McRight and architect Warren Wagner. Riders will pit stop at the Frank Gehry-designed Edgemar Center for food samples and information about the benefits of buying locally from the Buy Local Program.

The trip includes a museum tour and a sneak peek at three new exhibits: Marco Brambilla: The Dark Lining, Simmons & Burke: In Media(s) Res, Media(s) In Res, and Park Studio: State of Mind. All three exhibits open to VIPs and the public this Saturday evening, but will be shown to bikers before they head out.

 Partnering in the ride are Santa Monica SPOKE, a regional chapter the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, and Cycle Chic, a Copenhagen-based group that promotes functional style for cyclists.

The event lasts from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. this Saturday, May 21, and embarks from Santa Monica Museum of Art. Tickets are available for $10 via the museum’s website, and directions are available online as well. Put on your most stylish biking attire and roll on over.

Posted 5/18/11

First, the bad news: An estimated 26 million Americans, roughly 10% of the adult population, are currently living with diabetes. Here in L.A. County, the number’s even higher—roughly one out of seven. That’s a potentially serious problem, since uncontrolled diabetes can impair blood circulation so severely that amputation becomes necessary. It can also cause blindness or life-threatening insulin shock, when falling blood-sugar levels can lead to unconsciousness and death.

There is good news, though: most new cases are Type 2 diabetes, which is far less dangerous and can be controlled with proper diet, exercise and medication.

And this weekend, there’s even more good news: the American Diabetes Association’s Diabetes Expo is happening at the downtown Los Angeles Convention Center. There you’ll find free professional health screenings for blood glucose and cholesterol along with dental screenings and foot exams. There also will be cooking demos, fitness and dance classes and expert speakers on every facet of diabetes, from “Diabetes 101” to “Diabetes and Your Child,” with bilingual presentations in English and Spanish.

It takes place this Saturday, May 21, 2011 from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. in the Convention Center’s South Hall K, located at 1201 S. Figueroa St. Visit the Association EXPO page for more information or call 1-888-DIABETES, ext:7503. If you take public transportation (visit Metro trip planner at metro.net or call (323) GO-METRO), you can enter your ticket stub in a special prize raffle.

Posted 5/18/11

Lace up your Converse All-Stars—the hipster rubber hits the road this weekend with the Silver Lake Jubilee, a two-day street festival in a community that’s a known haven for artists and musicians.

The Jubilee, now in its second year, is a production of the Los Angeles Arts & Athletics Alliance (LAAAA.) Proceeds from the event will fund the group’s community efforts.

This year’s show features more than 50 up-and-coming bands playing an eclectic range of cutting-edge rock-and-roll. You won’t find most of these mostly-local acts at Coachella—at least not yet. Their set times are now available on the website.

In addition to the tunes, plenty of other diversions are planned. A literary stage features author readings, theatrical productions, art installations and comedy. Artists will paint murals and create jewelry from recycled materials. Food vendors will serve everything from caramel apples to Korean sausages.

The Eco Village and Children’s Grove, sponsored by the Hollywood Arts Council, will teach sustainable gardening, cooking, and eating. There will also be games, children’s book readings and even a special 3-D interactive space presentation by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The festival has made an “Eco Commitment,” so you won’t find any Styrofoam, single-use plastic bags or single-use water bottles there. Concert-goers are encouraged to bring their own bottles for the free water fountains that will be available courtesy of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Additional earth-friendly measures include compostable food service materials and a free bike valet.

The Silver Lake Jubilee takes place this Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the neighborhood of 1070 Myra Avenue (directions available online). Tickets are only $5, but parking is limited and costs up to $10, so bike there or plan your trip with Metro.

Posted 5/18/11

When President Barack Obama lunched earlier this month at a fire station in Midtown Manhattan, he sat down to pasta in cream sauce and eggplant parmesan—traditional New York firehouse fare.  Too bad for his waistline he didn’t roll West Coast-style with Sheila Kelliher and her fellow Los Angeles County firefighters.

“We do a lot of grilling,” says Kelliher, a firefighter-paramedic at West Hollywood’s Station 8, where the take on firehouse cuisine is a far cry from the carb-heavy comfort fests dished up at fire stations in other parts of the country.

“Chicken, fish, pita breads, salads. Eleven years ago, when I first came on the job, it was meat and potatoes, but now healthier food is the trend. At least it is here.”

Kelliher should know. Last month, her quietly healthy recipe for Texas chili won the Barney’s Beanery First Annual Five-Alarm Firefighter Chili Cook-Off, a region-wide contest launched by the restaurant in honor of its 90^th anniversary.

The recipe—a secret concoction of grilled tri-tip, red sauce, “no extra fat and not too many black beans”—was so delicious, yet light, that, starting June 1, it will appear on the Barney’s Beanery menu. Proceeds will benefit the Alisa Ann Ruch Burn Foundation, a nonprofit for burn survivors.

“Her chili was just very flavorful, it wasn’t too heavy and it wasn’t overloaded,” says the restaurant’s regional manager A.J. Sacher in a description that firehouse food experts say could easily sum up the philosophy of Southern California firefighters.

“In Chicago, they’ll grind up four pounds of meat and put in some macaroni and call it dinner,” says Jeff Gatesman, the West Los Angeles producer of “Feeding the Fire,” a web-based TV cooking show featuring firefighter chefs from across the country.

“But it’s a whole different story in California. We just shot an episode in Santa Monica and the guy made, like, pan-seared sea bass.”

Firehouse cooking is a venerable institution, particularly in cities where firefighters bunk in the fire station for 24-hour shifts that last several days.

“They work together, they sleep together and they break bread together,” says R.G. “Bob” Adams, author of “Firehouse Cooking: Food From America’s Bravest,” an international compilation of firefighter recipes that he says has sold more than a million copies since its first publication in 1993.

“The chef in a firehouse is the hub,” says Adams. “Kind of like the mother in a family.”

And like mothers everywhere, firehouse chefs are stewards of a community’s priorities and sub-cultures, from ethnic traditions to attitudes about nutrition and weight.

Long Beach Fire Capt. Eddie Sell, who is developing a cooking show for television called “Firehouse Chefs,” says that because firefighters have increasingly reflected the diversity of cities, firehouse meals “open the door to a city’s customs, so that when we have to make emergency calls to peoples’ homes, things aren’t as foreign.”

Where an East Coast firehouse might specialize in Italian feasts and a Southern company might be famed for rich desserts and gumbos, Sell says, West Coast stations will line up for pho and fish tacos.

“And definitely, there’s more heart-healthy stuff on the West Coast,” adds Matt Jackson, a West Covina firefighter-paramedic whose year-old Company Chow blog has become a recipe clearinghouse for firefighters from New York to Hawaii.

“Some crews I’ve worked on, the guys will have, like, gluten-free diets, or they’re not eating any simple sugars. Last year, ‘Live! With Regis and Kelly’ had a firefighter barbecue cook-off, and the California firefighter’s entry was actually a salad with barbecued pears.”

Kelliher, a Woodland Hills mother of 8-month old twins who does competitive bodybuilding in her spare time, says health is a priority at her station. (Check out one of her recipes here.)

“Our county leads the charge when it comes to fitness,” she says. “We have a program called Fitness for Life. We have to pass a physical every year and meet certain benchmarks.

“And L.A. life is all about healthy lifestyle—a lot of our guys surf and snowboard and go to the river. Colder parts of the world, you don’t to do those things year-round, you’re covered up, maybe you eat more comfort food. But here, you hit the beach, the shirts come off and vanity kicks in.”

The 13 firefighters on her shift take turns at kitchen duty, she says: “Everybody puts in their money for chow—$12 for two meals, $7 for one meal—then whoever is the cook takes the money and goes to the store.”

All firehouse meals must meet two basic criteria, she says: “You can’t come up short, and it has to taste good.”

But health is a given, even for the younger firefighters who can eat as much bread as they want to. Grilling—which allows the fat to drip away from fish or meat during cooking—is such an art form at Station 8 that a few years ago, the whole crew chipped in and built an outdoor barbecue and grill station.  “Everybody has their own specialty,” she says.

As for that special chili, she entered it in the contest at the behest of a friend, who knew it as something that Kelliher, who grew up in a family of Texas restaurateurs, served at Superbowl parties. Kelliher did her cooking off-duty and pressed her husband into helping her to serve massive quantities of the chili during the competition. It’ll be on the menu till September at all five of Barney’s Beanery locations in Los Angeles County.

Which may be the only chance her fellow crew members get to taste it. Ironically, she’s never served it at the firehouse. “It’s too labor intensive,” she said.

Posted 5/17/11

The Board of Supervisors today formally placed two of the county’s most troubled agencies—the Probation Department and the Department of Children and Family Services—under its direct control, rebuffing a last-minute motion that called the move “impulsive” and even potentially dangerous.

The motion by Supervisor Don Knabe, which sought a 45-day delay in adopting the new structure, was seconded by Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas but failed to win approval by the board majority.

Supervisors Michael D. Antonovich, Gloria Molina and Zev Yaroslavsky approved the ordinance permitting the board to retake authority for managing the departments. The ordinance was tentatively approved on its first reading last week.

With the two departments no longer under supervision of the county’s Chief Executive Office, supervisors believe they will be able to obtain more timely and direct information from the departments, both of which have been plagued with embarrassing and sometimes tragic miscues.

In the case of DCFS, a series of children’s deaths has raised widespread concerns about the department’s operations and management. The agency’s director, Trish Ploehn, was reassigned to the Chief Executive Office last December and an interim replacement, Antonia Jimenez, resigned last month and returned to her former CEO post. Under the new governance structure, selecting someone to head the department now becomes a top priority for the Board of Supervisors.

As for probation, a new team led by former Alameda County probation chief Donald Blevins is working to fix problems ranging from employees’ sexual misconduct to lax management practices to poor educational outcomes for young people under its supervision. Going forward, supervisors will need to make sure those efforts stay on track and will also be at the forefront of ensuring that the department complies with a series of Department of Justice-mandated reforms.

The move to reassert control over both departments comes as supervisors consider making changes to the county’s overall governance structure. A report by Chief Executive Officer William T Fujioka and the supervisors’ chief deputies is expected to come before the board next week.

Posted 5/17/11

Los Angeles, you’ve already lived through plenty—from detours to demolition—as the 405 Sepulveda Pass project carves out a 10-mile northbound carpool lane between the Westside and the San Fernando Valley.

Well, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

After a couple of hours of demolition prep work beginning at 10 p.m. on  July 15, the 405 Freeway will be closed in both directions—from Getty Center Drive to the 101—for 53 straight hours so that the south side of the Mulholland Bridge can be demolished. The freeway will be closed all of Saturday and Sunday, and will not reopen until 5 a.m. on Monday, July 18.

Updated 5/27/11: The latest plans call for the 405 Freeway to be closed northbound from the 10 Freeway to the 101. The southbound freeway will be closed from the 101 to the Getty Center Drive offramps. Full details are here.

With a half million or so vehicles moving along that stretch of the 405 during a typical July weekend, the closure has the potential of becoming a midsummer night’s nightmare for motorists heading to LAX, the beach or other destinations. But, with enough planning and advance notice, Metro officials say that the worst can be averted.

“This is manageable as long as the public cooperates. They’ve got a lot of summer plans and we don’t want them to be surprised,” said Metro spokesman Marc Littman. “If you can stay home, great. If you don’t have to drive, great.” And if you do have to get behind the wheel, follow the officially marked detours, which by that point will have been widely publicized.

Already, Metro is gearing up for a major blitz to raise public awareness of what will almost certainly be one of the project’s most disruptive weekends. (The other will come when the freeway is closed again for the demolition of the north side of the bridge some 11 months after.) Ads in local newspapers are expected to start running next week, and a press conference—the first of many outreach activities— is scheduled for May 23.

Getting out the word is a big job, given the magnitude of the closure, which may be the largest of its kind through such a heavily traveled stretch of freeway. “I think this is bigger than anything in memory,” Littman said.

In an email to elected officials Thursday, Metro CEO Art Leahy cited the 1984 Olympics—when Los Angeles streets and freeways moved amazingly well, despite widespread predictions of gridlock and other traffic horrors—as an example of how the region can get through a major transportation headache, given enough early warning.

The 1960 Mulholland Bridge is one of three bridges being demolished and rebuilt during the project. Demolition work on the Sunset and Skirball bridges took place over a series of nights, and was managed without such a lengthy closure of the entire freeway. In the case of the Mulholland Bridge, officials say its steepness makes the weekend-long closure necessary to protect passing motorists.

In addition to the 10-mile carpool lane and the modernized bridges, the $1.034 billion project also is widening underpasses, building 18 miles of sound and retaining walls, and creating new or improved ramps, including new “flyover” ramps at Wilshire Boulevard.

“There’s short-term pain, but long-term gain,” Littman said.

Posted 5/13/11