Volunteer Elf Jacqueline Padillia, 15, passes out gifts to each child.

A Little Miracle in Motion; YWCA Feeds 400 Kids A Pancake Breakfast Saturday With Santa Spreading His Holiday Cheer

By Diana L. Chapman

Luz Flores, wearing elfin clothes, spirited around the youths and told about 100 children at a pancake breakfast what to say to get the Big Guy to come.

“Who are we going to see?” Flores piped up musically. “Santa Claus? O.K. We need to sing Jingle Bells.”

With parents, volunteers and kids clapping and singing  happily, Santa for the 25^th year in a row magically appeared on a stage at the YWCA in San Pedro  where children up to 10-years-old plopped on St. Nick’s lap.

Some kids cried. Some giggled. And some seemed actually happy to sit on Santa’s lap.

Santa arrives to hold kids of all ages.

St. Nick took it all in stride as the YWCA staff once again poured out the festivities as it has done annually since 1987. It’s one of the employees favorite times of year because they are markedly doing a service for children, most of whom would get nothing  for  Christmas otherwise.

“My mom is the only one working and we are all living with her,” said 21-year-old Jessica Gonzalez as she sat outside with her two little girls, Mayah, 4, and Alyjanae, 2, waiting for next seating.  Her husband, Derian, “and I are both in college. We tried to get jobs. We’ve been applying to Target, Ross, Payless and Pizza Hut.

“We didn’t even get call backs.”

For Mayah and Alyjanae the gifts they receive at the Y this year may be the only presents they will see this Christmas “unless their Aunt gives them something.”

Jessica Gonzalez helps her girls,  Mayah, 4, and Alyjanae, 2, cut their pancakes.

The popular holiday breakfast first started in 1987.  In the beginning, there was only one seating with about 75 children. But as time moved forward from Christmas to Christmas, the celebration became increasingly popular. This year, 400 children – at four different seatings received a pancake breakfast, a photo with Santa and a single $10 to $15 gift, said the elf, Flores, the Y’s director of operations.

“This is the one community event where I have to turn volunteers away because I have too many,” Flores explained. “It’s open to the entire community. Many parents tell me that this is the only gift their child will get.

“This grounds me and makes me realize how fortunate I am to have a job and to be thankful for my family.”

Y Interim Director Margaret Hernandez, who filled the vacancy recently, said she brought her son when he was 3-years-old.

The breakfast “has a long history at the Y,” Hernandez said. “I’m grateful to help keep this going. There’s nothing better to see then a child receive a toy and it makes them smile.”

Parents pored in holding children dressed in an array of holiday styles, some girls wearing pure white dresses while others sported reindeer antlers, mufflers and holiday T-shirts.

Herlinda Perez and Heriberto Pacheco, who brought their four children ages 2 to 10, said the Y’s generosity brings them relief. She can’t work because of how many children they have (it costs more to hire a babysitter, she explained) and Pacheco was laid off from his construction job.

Junior Pacheco, 4, shows of his book and animal balloon he received.

“It’s just so fun for the kids,” said the mother. “They love to come here. They are happy just to see Santa Claus. It’s been hard. My husband was in construction and now he looks for metal in the streets.”

With all the clapping and sing-a-longs, it was hard to separate out who was happier – the volunteers or the guests.

Port Police Officer Byron Culbertson, his wife, Jeannette and sons, Gavin, 11, and Jordan, 8, have come the last two years. Byron flips the pancakes and the sons build an assembly line. Gavin placed two pancakes on each plate along with sausage, then passed it to Jordan to add the butter.

“It’s a tradition of serving the community and my whole family loves it,” said Byron. “It just warms the heart to see them (the children) get a meal and to see them smile.”

Port Police Officer Byron Culbertson and his family help whip up pancakes. His wife, Jeanette, son Gavin, 11, and Jordan, 8, enjoy helping.

Added Gavin:  “I enjoy it so much. It just makes us feel good.”

Besides a gift, children were treated to crafts – and a brand new book from "Hippo in a Tutu" to "Pirates of the Caribbean" along with "Bernstein Bears" and "Baby Einstein." Students from San Pedro High and Port of Los Angeles High Charter School gave out books to scores of excited children.

“This is what I love to do,” said Bailey Duarte, 16, who serves as the vice president for Rotary Interact at the charter school. “The first thing the kids do is make a beeline for the books. That’s so fulfilling. It’s my passion. I’d rather be here volunteering then sitting at home watching T.V.”

Bailey Duarte, 16, right, and friend, Natalie Patey, 15, left, help hand out new books to the children who attend.

With merriment abounding,  Edwin Ramirez, 10,  said he and his sister, Johana, 8,  and their 5-month-old baby sister, Denise, were delighted to be there.

“I liked the event,” said Ramirez holding his head proudly. “We got free food. We could color. I really liked that Santa was there.”

Johana  8, Denise, 5-months-old, and Edwin Ramirez, 10, attend with their mother, Angelica.
@ Diana Chapman

Another Sweet Success At San Pedro High School's After School Cooking Club Thanks to the Coastal Neighborhood Council's Support

Students excitedly slice and dice to prepare for the dish -- which students said was delicious.

 Teacher Sally Leonhart gives students directions to make curry.

This is truly about how a Neighborhood Council can aide a school in need. Three years ago, San Pedro High School's culinary program was sliced from the cutting board due to budget cuts.

One of the most popular classes -- with hundreds on the waiting list -- was lost. It once provided a most important life skill to students -- how to cook.

The Coastal Neighborhood Council provided $1,000 for the year to keep an after school cooking club going. It was launched this year first by Jeanette Stevens, the principal, who taught students how to bake holiday pies. Other teachers have followed suit, including Sally Leonhart.
Leonhart showed her students how to cook South Indian Style Vegetable Curry which packed the room.
Several said the curry was some of the best they ever tasted and that they enjoyed learning from one of the high school teachers.
Next on the January Menu, Italian Teacher Ida Lanza plans to show students how to cook pasta from scratch.

     The club attracted a lot of boys, some of whom said they wanted to learn how to cook before they leave for college.

Seven Golden Secrets writing student Cate Lynn Ashford writes her expressions about music.

Announcing a New Winter Session for the Seven Golden Secrets to Writing Workshop

And One of Its Students Writes “Music Tells Such Wonderful Stories”

     A winter session for the Seven Golden Secrets to Writing begins this Wednesday at the Corner Store in San Pedro.

   Students learn how to enjoy writing while improving at the craft. Longtime writer Diana Chapman teaches the workshop.

   The new session begins Dec. 7 and will run each Wednesday (minus holidays) for six weeks. Six week sessions cost $60 or students can pay $10 per class. Students range in age from six to 14. Please email Diana at hartchap@cox.net for more information or show up for the class. The Corner store is located at 1118 W. 37^th Street.

Take A Peek At This Amazing Piece; Seven Golden Secrets to Writing Student Tells About Her Passion for Music She Gained While in Band at Dana Middle School

Dear Readers: 

Sometimes you don’t have to say much about a piece. You just have to let readers take the plunge to read a work created during the Seven Golden Secrets to Writing Class. This student’s passion is worth it. Diana

My Expressive Passion

By Cate Lynn Ashford, 13

   Music can tell such wonderful stories. It can be the peppy up tempo or marches or an engaging piece that throws you straight into the middle of a story. All the sounds – the deep rumbling of the bass of the tuba and euphoniums, the reedy sounds of the saxophones, the screech or purr of trumpets depending on the type of piece it is. Also, one of my favorite instruments, is the flute. It’s beautiful lyrical sound pulling the strings of your heart and adding a beautiful shining top to the rest of the arrangement of instruments.

   I’ve played in my (Dana) middle school’s band for two years and I have loved it. Tons of songs have engaged me, and I have felt really proud of my part in adding sound to the band. One piece that I have especially loved is Seagate Overture. It’s beautiful and takes you on an adventure through the sea and has a pretty peppy start, then turns slower and more emotional in the middle.

   A reason music can give such wonderful thrills to people is because of the different nuances of sounds and tempos. Long, lingering and connected notes can give a sense of beauty, and loud staccato holes can give a different feeling.

   I can lose myself in a piece of music whether it be an invasive march full of loud powerful brass sounds tipped with high flute and piccolo notes or a concert piece with a careful blend of rhythms, and notes and trills.

   I paint pictures in my head when I hear music, sometimes only dashes of color with light slashes of silver making a scene of instruments and a conductor, and other times, the music makes a colorful movie in my head of moving, running, leaping colors shaping into animals or people or things with no name for them.

   Music is all about these things, expressions. Emotions. Stories. They leave lasting effects on people and can change their mood. When I’m feeling frustrated or sad, and I pick up my flute and start playing a piece of music, my mood evaporates as I focus solely on making that sound come alive in a flurry of moving fingers and high notes.

I’d like to share a few of my musical stories by putting them onto paper in written stories.

Los Angeles Aquatic Officials Agree to Return Parents to San Pedro’s  Peck Park Pool Deck; Parents Were Banned From Coming Into The Public Facility

By Diana L. Chapman

After working with a mayoral aide, Los Angeles aquatic officials agreed to allow the return of parents – who aren’t swimming – back to San Pedro’s  Peck Park pool deck so they can watch their children.

Ricardo Hong, a Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa aide who handles the Harbor Region, fashioned a deal with pool management that allows adults to enter through the back fence of the facility and sit at locations marked for parents and other non-swimming adults.

That  area will be cordoned off from swimmers.

“We agreed that parents could stay on the bleachers,” Hong said. Aquatic officials “aren’t trying to be bullies. They have to deal with dangers. They have kids inside of the pool and there are hundreds of them.

“I wanted to find a solution.”

Under the verbal arrangement, parents who aren’t swimming will enter the pool through a back fence and be allowed to sit on the bleachers, which will be sectioned off to keep them off a large portion of the deck.

In this case, all parents will be allowed in. Initially, however,  the aquatics staff wanted only adults whose children are enrolled in swimming lessons or other pool programs, such as the swim team.

After meeting with Hong, however, they agreed non-swimming parents could also enter the facility.

While parents have sat on the Peck’s deck for years, this past summer, the latest manager Richard Rincon, banned those who weren’t swimming from entering and asked them to sit outside where there is no shade and few benches.

Parents were crammed in a corner this past summer under a beating sun jockeying for a place to sit in a sliver of shadows extending from the facility’s building.

Aquatics officials say they have good reason to ban parents from the deck.

There are too many dangers, they said, including they track bacteria in with their street shoes and might interfere when lifeguards are in a life-saving mode or teaching swim lessons. They also contended that parents at other Los Angeles pools lied, saying that they were going inside to watch children to avoid paying the $2.25 fee to swim. Lifeguards would later find them swimming.

Hong defended city Aquatics Director Trish Delgado for supporting the initial ban, saying she carries the weight of managing 62 public pools along with 11 locations of lakes and beaches. The safety of each, he said, is her top concern and is partly what led to such strict restrictions in the first place.

Delgado directed all calls to city media relations and Rincon, the pool manager, is not allowed to make any comments.

Other solutions under consideration, Hong said, included removing a fence that separates the pool deck from a grassy area – a cost estimated about $200,000. The grass section that parallels the pool is currently underutilized and offers little in the way of shade or benches. Some parents said they also don’t enjoy sitting there, because it seems like a prison.

With the fence removed, however, it opens a large section for watching adults to sit far enough away from swimming patrons and lifeguards.

To fix some of the problems, Delgado earlier this fall ordered staff at the year-round pool to put out more benches and said when the budget allows additional shades and tables will be included in the grass area. Removal of the fence would be scheduled in the future when aquatics has had an opportunity to budget for it.

Hong said his efforts extends from his desire to make government more understanding of resident’s desires.

“I’m trying to get government to be more user-friendly,” Hong explained as to why he helped parents with a solution.

The tide is still out as to whether parents find this compromise workable.

“ Unfortunately, this is a bureaucratic compromise to a reasonable concern from parents who should be allowed to be in a safe and comfortable spot, close to their kids,” said attorney and San Pedro resident Tim McOsker, whose five children and wife frequently use the pool. “It shouldn't be so difficult to solve an obvious and simple problem.”

 San Pedro High Principal, Jeanette Stevens, who brings her daughters, Teel, 9, and Taylor, 11, to the pool, said while she enjoys the aquatics programs, she’s still discouraged that she has to enter from the back of the facility.

“I still don’t understand what’s wrong with going in the front,” Stevens said.

Readers Respond To The Underdog For Kids Column About the Paseo del Mar Landslide from a Geologist to a Researcher

Keep it Natural

There is really only one way to keep a place "natural", undisturbed, etc... Stay out of it. This is not a jest. It really has been proved repeatedly in ecological research.  Even the Jane Goodall's upset the balance.  So, nature has made it harder for folks to get to this area, and now it will be a little more protected.  Like most every change in the universe, there are benefits as well as drawbacks.  

--John Mattson 

Recounting Memories

Wow, Diana....what a beautiful article...and amazing pictures! I never realized that so many of us have a special bond with that tree. My dear friend Al Carr, who has since passed away, used to call it the "pineapple palm" because of its chubby base and shape of the fronds. He and I would take walks along Paseo and turn around at the "pineapple palm"- such fond memories. You are right, Diana, when you say that the landslide is breaking hearts- it truly is!

Thank you, Diana, for capturing the mood of what so many of us are feeling. I have forwarded your article to my friends who used to live in San Pedro. I so appreciate your writing, Diana!

--Annie Johnson

Area Landslide Histories

Provided By Mike Bennett

1929           Six-Acres of Point Fermin Park began to slide into the ocean, today known as                                Sunken City.

             It should be noted that while Sunken City began in 1929, it continued to slip until 1934/1935.  All but two homes were pulled towards Shepard Street and saved.  *

1933            A Japanese constructed a seaside resort centered on a sulphur spring bathhouse at Royal Palms, closed due an earthquake, which sealed off the sulphur springs.

            I include this occurrence due to the area being between two of Southern California Earthquake faults and wonder (no proof) what became of the water from the hot springs, as the geological phenomena of the area is called a "Slump."

1956            Portuguese Bend slide began destabilizing 260 - 300 acres of hillside on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

1969/1970   A 300-foot-long crevice opened up at edge of the slide area in Sunken City. Along the “Palisades” portion of Paseo del Mar, due to heavy storms eroding the cliffs and poor storm run-off, one home was lost as were a series of guesthouses. 

(This is how/reason we have "Zero-lot-lines" on the ocean side of Paseo, due to      houses being pulled toward the street and away from the cliffs and I have one of the massive storm drains).  *

 More cracks appeared a few streets away (East of our current slide area), from an Active/Historic landslide area  (as Sunken City is also labeled).  

It should also be noted there is also the South Shores Landslide Area (Dormant), just beyond the Western Border of South Shores.  All of these are illustrated on the California Geological Survey: “Landslide Inventory Map of the Palos Verdes Peninsula.”  (Wayne D. Haydon).

1999             A landslide at Trump’s Ocean Trails Golf Course sent 16 acres into the ocean.

2009             A portion of the cliff beneath Paseo del Mar, less than a quarter of a mile from the current landslide, eroded.  The cliff was bridged & repaired from underneath the street.  

No one to date has noted that a large portion of this repair was lost in the current slide, as can be seen in recent photos.  It should also be mentioned that a comparison of Google Earth Maps, for the Nature Preserve, show moment in the South-Eastern portion of the Preserve and has been identified as unstable in a number of geological surveys of the area.

2010             Another large chunk of Sunken City dropped 100 feet into the surf.

As presented by Pipkin & Ploessel, (1972) in their paper: “Coastal Landslides of Southern California;” “Between Abalone Cove and Cabrillo Beach …53% of the shoreline has undergone some form of land sliding, and the remainder has experienced rock falls.”

A Geologist’s Point of View

In every generation in San Pedro there will be land movement. The first big one most people remember is Sunken City. Another example, though much more directly connected to human influences, was the sinkhole on Western Avenue at Summerland. And how about the 18th hole at Trump National Golf Course? The current landslide is not much different.

As a professional geologist, I'm a bit taken aback by people's reaction to the current landslide, also known as "Paseo No More." There seems to be an out pouring of emotion. "Let's save the tree." Realistically, that's not going to happen. The time for doing that was before the sinkhole turned into the landslide, and even then, tree removal would have been risky. For all we know, it was that tree's roots that kept the land so stable for so long. Taking away the tree could have then been seen as the cause of the landslide, whether or not that actually was the case.

Is the loss of this strip of land heartbreaking? Is this a major tragedy? As much as I am saddened by the loss of a favorite strip of earth to walk, my personal reaction has not been one of absolute loss as much as some other people. I am awed by the forces of nature. I am in wonder that a sinkhole could change so dramatically with just the right rainfall, and I anticipate that with the next few rainstorms, the geometry of this area will continue to change.

The study of geology tells us that cliff erosion happens. Landslides happen.

The geology of San Pedro is not that different from that of Palos Verdes Hill. Old landslides line the coast. Buried clay deposits in the ground are resting at just the right angle for a landslide to occur should there be enough moisture to make the surface slick enough to fail.

The real question that I see at hand is what about the nature preserve? How long will the nature preserve remain here? When--and not if--Paseo del Mar is rerouted in the area, it will need to cut through the preserve. How much of the nature preserve will remain afterwards? The street will not be placed at the newly formed cliff's edge. There will be a setback. The question is how far will the setback go and how much of a bend will be needed to reconnect one part of the street to the other. Not easy questions.

Moreover, there will be debate about leaving the concrete bunkers in place. Did the old infrastructure accumulate and leak water to the subsurface? Would a new road be placed too close to these old structures? Because of these questions, the federal government--which placed the military structures in this location--will need to be involved in the construction of the new road.

And when all of the new road-building studies are done, how much of the nature preserve will remain? Somehow, in the face of these questions, the fate of the lone palm tree pales. How about the future of all the brush and critters in the preserve. Is that little bit of nature in San Pedro doomed?

--Rachel Fischer

Ocean views many of us witnessed along Paseo del Mar. LAist/Jimmy Bramlett

Meditative palm tree, likely to end up on the ocean floor if the slide keeps moving, now sits on its own island. -- Sky News

The Paseo Del Mar Landslide Breaks Hearts and Forces Us to Face a New Future

By Diana L. Chapman

We lived it. We walked it. We breathed it.

For decades, through births, deaths and presidents, a 600-foot section of Paseo del Mar served thousands of us: visitors taking scenic drives, locals scurrying on their daily constitutionals and even lost drivers who would ask me for directions to Hollywood.

No, I didn’t laugh at them. I figured they were blessed for seeing a stretch of road where we biked, jogged and skateboarded perched 100 feet above the frothy sea.

That luminous stretch of Paseo – which  slipped away from us more than a week ago during a Sunday of pouring rains --  provided us with ample opportunities to spot whales, view cliffs veiled in gray mist or the chance to linger in the luxury of dusky, golden dawns.

 Moods of every kind; often one of a kind -- until the strip became mother nature's victim.

A landslide that first became noticeable in September-- starting out with a bump and dip in the scenic highway -- recently stripped away chunks of the road, tons of earth and storm drain hunks, plunging some of it into the ocean.

What’s left is a beautiful stretch of road now cut in two by a ravine 600 feet deep, jumbled asphalt, massive pieces of a storm drain salting the beach line and fears that the land could move some more.

Due to the real danger of trodding on land that could fall into the ocean in seconds, pedestrians have repeatedly been warned to stay out. Police helicopters continually buzz overhead. But for those of us who considered this strip a part of our lives, we’re having trouble letting go.

 We’ve lost a place of meditation, of solace. 

Our lives will be different now. I am realizing my son won’t complain profusely when I drive the long way home down Western Avenue to Paseo del Mar, breathing in the sea air and watching pelicans grace the sky, blue whales surface with towering plumes and crashing waves that chew away at the cliffs of time.

I am realizing that the fat palm tree I walked by now sits on a treacherous island of its own and appears to be slowly melting into the horizon. The emerald palm reminded me of one of my favorite childhood books (now considered offensive): Little Black Sambo. It was the story of a boy who ran into four hungry tigers and cleverly traded articles of his clothing to stay alive. He was a kid I wanted to be like.

Every time I walked past that palm, it sparked my memory of stupid tigers racing around a tree and melting into butter as the boy who outwitted them looked on.

“I loved that tree,” said Peggy Lindquist, owner of the Corner Store, who has served hundreds who once used the now disconnected Paseo del Mar to get to her business.

Many others have expressed concerns about the palm and wonder if it can be saved. That seems like us trying to grasp at ghosts now past.

It’s time to look ahead, step out of the quicksand of memories and work on what’s next. It’s likely it will be nearly impossible to fix the slide. Cutting another road anywhere near it clearly makes no sense, because any construction could trigger more movement.

It all should be incorporated, many say, in the White Point Nature Preserve
that drifts on the hills above the road. Perhaps that's where we should begin to put focus.