Legendary actor Ed Asner will serve as the Grand Marshal of the 65th Annual Pacific Palisades Fourth of July Parade, “Waves of Freedom.” Best known for his Emmy Award-winning role as Lou Grant on both The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its spin-off series, Lou Grant, Asner’s career in film, television, stage, and voice acting has spanned six decades. Asner, a former President of the Screen Actors Guild, has won more Emmy Awards for performing than any other male actor (seven). In 2003, he was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame. In recent years, Asner provided the voice of Carl Fredricksen in the Academy Award winning Pixar film Up, starred in the sitcom Michael: Tuesdays and Thursdays, on CBC Television, and the one-man stage production “FDR.” Look for a full story about Mr. Asner’s Grand Marshal role in the week’s Palisadian-Post.

PAPA is pleased to announce this year’s winning parade theme, “Waves of Freedom.”  This theme represents several appropriate metaphors including the waves of the ocean off of Pacific Palisades and the waving of the American flag, which represents freedom.   We received more entries for this year’s parade theme selection than at any time in recent memory.  We congratulate and offer thanks to Rosalie Huntington for her creative, and winning theme idea.

We are thrilled to announce that Palisadian Chris Shiflett will be the headliner of this year’s Palisades Rocks the Fourth Concert and Fireworks.  Chris is best known as the lead guitarist of one of the biggest rock bands in the world, the Foo Fighters, but on July Fourth he will be showing an unexpected side of his amazing musicianship when he performs with his side project Chris Shiflett & The Dead Peasants, who will treat the Palisades to an infectious blend of country music and American-laced rock.  General Admission tickets for the show are available in advance for just $5, with kids 12 and under free.

Los Angeles Lakers guards Andrew Goudelock and Darius Morris will ride in this year’s parade, and veteran actor Jeffrey Tambor will perform a comedy set during the Palisades Rocks the Fourth concert and fireworks.

Morris, a Los Angeles native who attended Windward H.S. in Mar Vista, recently completed his rookie season with the Lakers, appearing in 20 games. The young point guard holds the single-season assists record at the University of Michigan. Goudelock also just completed his rookie season and appeared in 40 games for the Lakers. A four year starter at the College of Charleston, Goudelock averaged 23.4 points per game and was the fourth highest scorer in the nation. Lakers fans are excited about the bright future of this young guard duo.

Proud Palisades resident Tambor served as Fourth of July Parade Grand Marshal last year, and this year will perform a comedy set prior to the fireworks. The veteran actor has earned deep respect (and multiple Emmy Award nominations) for being one of the most versatile and accomplished character actors in film and television. Tambor’s unforgettable roles in such popular programs as “The Larry Sanders Show” and “Arrested Development” reveal his unique comedic gifts, while his roles in films such as “And Justice for All” and “Meet Joe Black” display the depth of his dramatic sensibilities. He has been accorded numerous honors for his professional work, including six Emmy nominations and two Screen Actors Guild Awards, as well as being nominated for a Television Critics Association Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Comedy Series. Tambor has recently finished filming the features “Untitled Phil Spector Biopic,” opposite Al Pacino, and he will next be seen on the small screen in the NBC TV Comedy “Next Caller Please.” Jeffrey will also lend his voice to a Disney animated film called “Cinder Biter.”

How can you both proudly show your patriotic spirit AND win bragging rights on your block, all at the same time?  By entering this year’s PAPA/Joan Sather Real Estate Patriotic Home Decorating Contest!

Now entering its fifth year, the contest has become one of the most popular Pacific Palisades Fourth of July traditions.  More and more Palisades homes each year are being festooned with flags, bunting and ever-more creative patriotic displays.  This year, PAPA is excited to welcome a new sponsor for the contest, Joan Sather Real Estate.  Joan is a long-time Palisades resident and one of the most successful and respected real estate professionals in Los Angeles.  She has served as a PAPA volunteer over the past several years, with duties that included organizing last year’s patriotic home decorating contest, making her a perfect name sponsor for the contest.

Valuable prizes — including a flag that flew over the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. — will be awarded to the two homes that the panel of celebrity judges deem to be the “Most Patriotic” in the Alphabet Streets, Huntington Palisades and Via De La Paz Bluffs neighborhoods.  There is no entry fee or registration required: every home in the contest area that is decorated by July 2nd will be eligible for the contest.  Final judging will be conducted, and awards presented, on the afternoon of July 3rd.  For more information, contact PAPA at info@palisadesparade.org.

This year’s great line-up of musical talent is not the only way we’re improving our Palisades Rocks the Fourth concert and fireworks.  This year we also are enhancing the attendee experience by greatly expanding the food concessions and offering advance reserved parking.

PAPA is pleased to offer reserved VIP Parking right on the Palisades Charter H.S. campus, just steps from the concert site, for the reasonable price of $10.  Parking will be available in the Northwest student parking lots, entering from the El Medio Avenue entrance, one block south of Sunset Boulevard.  Spaces are extremely limited — there are less than 150 spaces remaining, and we expect concert attendance of over 5000 persons.  To ensure your reserved parking, we highly recommend purchasing your parking pass online in advance at https://palisadesparade.org.

We also are pleased to offer a wide array of delectable gourmet food truck dining options, that will be available just outside the stadium behind the press box.  Our current list of deliciousness is as follow.

Mr. B’s Kettle Corn
El Burger Luchador (gourmet burgers)
Slap Yo Mama Truck (cajun and soul food)
Tornado Potato Truck (flavorful spiral cut potato on a stick)
bakerytruck (yummy cupcakes and cream puffs)

Pacific Palisades becomes Hockeytown USA on the morning of July 4th, as we celebrate our Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings with a visit from the L.A.Kings Ice Crew!

This promotional team for the L.A. Kings will be on hand signing autographs, taking photos, and handing out free L.A. Kings giveaways!  For kids to test their hockey skills, there will be a full street hockey set up with sticks, goals, boards and goalie equipment.

The Ice Crew appearance will occur between 8:30 – 10:30 a.m. near the start/finish line of the Palisades Will Rogers 5k/10k and Kids Run, at the corner of Toyopa Drive and Alma Real Drive in Pacific Palisades.
GO KINGS GO!

2012-04-26
This year’s Fourth of July fireworks concert will feature rock star Dave Wakeling and his band, The English Beat. The group’s music is a hybrid of pop, punk and reggae, with a good dance beat.

Wakeling, who lives in Pacific Palisades with his wife and two children, is an international star. His guitar, a VOX Teardrop, was even ‘inducted’ into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland in 2006.

‘He wanted to play in his hometown,’ said concert organizer Keith Turner, who has successfully transformed the pre-fireworks event from canned music to one with live music and celebrities, all from the Palisades.

Turner said that he has been in touch with Wakeling the past few years, but like many performers in demand, the singer has a heavy tour schedule in the summer. ‘This year he arranged his schedule so that he would be available,’ said Turner, a local attorney and a member of the Palisades Americanism Parade Association.

Held at the Palisades High stadium, the concert is family-friendly and for all ages. General-admission tickets are now on sale at palisadesparade.org and are $5 for adults (free for children 12 and under). A portion of the proceeds will go to the PaliHi music program; the remainder will help defray the cost of the 25-minute fireworks show ($21,000).

Sponsorships are still available, including naming rights for the concert and the fireworks show, produced by the world-famous Pyro Spectaculars. To learn more, contact Turner at kjt@kjtlaw.com or (310) 454-6190.

Wakeling, who started playing guitar in Birmingham, England, at age 12, was a member of The English Beat in the 1980s. The group recorded hits such as ‘Mirror In The Bathroom,’ ‘Hands Off, She’s Mine’ and ‘Can’t Get Used To Losing You,’ before dissolving.

His next band, General Public, found international success with its first album ‘All the Rage.’ The album charted high in the U.S. and U.K. and won a Juno Award in Canada for Best New Artist. Two of the group’s hit singles included ‘Too Much or Nothing’ and ‘Come Again.’

When the band disbanded in 1996, Wakeling began touring with the reformed English Beat, which he now has played with longer than his original band.

In 2003, Wakeling did a benefit concert for Marquez Elementary (his children attended the school), and in 2006, he gave a concert at the Palisades Recreation Center to help fund handball courts.

The Rec Center director at that time had easy access to the star, because Wakeling was also coaching his own son’s basketball team.

Wakeling told the Palisadian-Post that he agreed to do the concert because he wanted to encourage other Grammy and Oscar winners who live in the Palisades to give back to their town.

‘After 9/11, the destruction of the Twin Towers helped us realize that the simple pleasures become all the more valuable,’ Wakeling said. ‘There are true family and community values in the Palisades.’

April 09, 2012
The Fourth is a big family day in Pacific Palisades, and Jerry Mathers, a member of one of Golden Age of television’s most famous families, Theodore Cleaver on ‘Leave It to Beaver’, is the perfect choice for grand marshal of the parade.

‘I’m honored,’ Mathers said, noting that his wife Teresa will ride with him in the parade. ‘It’s an honor to be part of the celebration, to honor veterans and the people who have sacrificed their life for this country.’

Although he has never been in the Pacific Palisades parade before, his ‘mom’ from that show, Barbara Billingsley, who lived in Santa Monica Canyon, served as the grand marshal in 2003. (Also staring in the TV series were Hugh Beaumont as Ward Cleaver and Tony Dow as Wally Cleaver.)

Mathers has participated in numerous parades around the country, and was even taught the correct way to wave. ‘Pretending to screw and unscrew a light bulb, and then switching hands every five minutes,’ is the advice that was given him when he rode in the Hollywood Christmas Parade as a child star in the late 1950s.

Although he’s sought for numerous parades on the Fourth, he generally turns them down, but Pacific Palisades was the perfect location.

‘My mom throws a huge Fourth of July party in Tarzana, with about 100 people, we read part of the Constitution, everyone brings something for a potluck, there’s fireworks in the evening,’ Mathers said. ‘So I generally don’t go far from home on the Fourth.’

‘Leave It To Beaver,’ which debuted in 1957 and ran until 1963, can still be viewed in reruns. It has been seen in more than 80 countries and in 40 languages.

‘The first episode of the show we did was banned by the censors,’ Mathers said, explaining the story line. ‘Our parents said we couldn’t get a pet because they would end up taking care of it. We sent away for an alligator from an ad in a comic book, which you could do at that time. We were going to take care of it and show our parents we were mature enough.’ Once the boys got the alligator, they thought the safest place to hide it was in a toilet tank.

‘Toilets could not be shown on television,’ Mathers said. ‘The producer had to negotiate with the censors to get the show on the air.’

Mathers explains the show’s enduring popularity: ‘The entire family can watch it.’ He comments that he was lucky because when his children (Noah, Mercedes and Gretchen) were little, cable network was just becoming big, and there used to be more standards about what was shown. Now it’s more difficult for parents to police television programs.

‘Kids take their cues from shows and some of them [shows] give bad information,’ said Mathers, who admits he now watches mostly financial networks and news programming.

When ‘Leave It to Beaver’ taped its last episode in 1963, Mathers had offers for other television shows.

Instead, he opted for a different direction. ‘I had a personal tutor from first though eighth grade and I wanted to go to a regular school so I could play sports,’ said Mathers, whose dad Norman was principal at Granada High School at the time. He got his wish, attending Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks and playing football and running track.

‘During summers, I picked up acting jobs on ‘Lassie,’ ‘My Three Sons’ and ‘Batman,” said Mathers, who had also played the son of Shirley MacLaine in a Hitchcock movie, ‘The Trouble With Harry’ and the son of Bob Hope and Eva Marie Saint in ‘That Certain Feeling.’

When he graduated from high school in 1967, the country was embroiled in the Vietnam War, so Mathers enlisted in the Air Force National Guard. He then enrolled at UC Berkeley and graduated with a degree in philosophy in 1974.

‘I planned to go to law school, but was hired by Security Pacific bank [now part of Bank of America],’ Mathers said. After working with mortgages and loans at the bank, he switched to real estate and became familiar with Pacific Palisades and Beverly Hills, even living in Topanga Canyon for a while. (He currently resides in Santa Clarita.)

In 1983, Mathers stared in a made-for-TV movie, ‘Still the Beaver,’ which became a weekly cable series, ‘Still the Beaver’ (1985-1989). In 2007, he made his Broadway debut as Wilbur Turnblad in the musical ‘Hairspray.’

In the late 1990s, he had his own successful catering company, ‘Cleaver’s Catering,’ but being around all the great food, Mathers gained 55 pounds. Eventually a doctor friend convinced him to come in for a physical and he found out that he had full-onset diabetes.

Mathers started eating smaller portions and began exercising, eventually losing all of the weight he gained. He currently is pre-diabetic, which means he doesn’t need medication, and he has appeared in front of the Congressional Caucus in Washington, D.C. and other venues discussing the importance of early diagnosis, diet, exercise and treatment.

March 29, 2012

‘Home Is Pacific Palisades on the Fourth of July’ is this year’s winning parade theme, submitted by longtime resident Christine Borland. As her reward, she and a select group of family and friends will ride the Station 69 fire truck in the town’s annual parade.

‘When my family first moved to the Palisades, we lived on Toyopa and the parade went directly by our house,’ said Borland, who attended Palisades Elementary, Paul Revere Middle and Palisades High School (Class of ’86). ‘We always considered the Fourth a big family day. My father even set off fireworks in the front yard, but you can’t do that anymore.’

When the Borland family, father Lynn, a lay leader at the Methodist Church, mother Vicki and daughters Christine, Laurie and Angie, moved from Toyopa to Ocampo, Fourth of July remained a day to stay in the Palisades and celebrate.

‘It’s exciting,’ said Borland, who has always enjoyed watching the town’s organizations that participate in the parade, like the American Legion, the Optimists and the Girl Scouts. ‘Everyone loves it when the skydivers come down.’

The entire Borland family still watches the parade together, but their new favorite location is at the starting point in front of the Methodist Church on Via de la Paz. ‘It’s the perfect spot, shaded under the trees,’ said Borland, whose sister Angie, husband Rob Quigley and their children Quinn and Caroline have moved back to town after living in Sacramento. Laurie and her husband Terry Garcia, who live in Acton, will also be back for the parade.

This was Borland’s first year of submitting a theme, although her mother Vicki has entered regularly. ‘My mom encouraged me to enter something,’ said Borland, who submitted four themes, but admitted the winner was her favorite.

A graduate of USC, with a degree in English, Borland now manages the Latitude 33 condominium building in Marina Del Rey. Her daughter Devin is a junior at UC Santa Barbara and daughter Jenna is an eighth grader at Revere. Borland’s father always competed in the Will Rogers 5/10K Run until the past few years, when he began helping with race logistics as a member of the Ridge Runners. This year, to honor his 70th birthday (in April), Dad has challenged the entire family to run in the 5K.

‘It’ll be all of the girls,’ said Borland, who will be joined by her sisters, her daughters and two nieces (who will participate in the Kids Fun Run). Vicki has been designated as the official family photographer for the race.

‘It seems like people who grew up here and have moved away always come back on the Fourth,’ Borland said. ‘You feel welcome here, like you still belong to the community, and will always belong.’