Sondi Sepenuk
Sondi Sepenuk's Latest Posts

NGA brings home the gold for local charities
Skiers, gymnasts, sprinters, lugers, a rollerblader and even two Olympic torches (one real and one most definitely not) all showed up to support the Hancock Park NGA (National Giving Alliance) annual fundraiser at the Wilshire Country Club on May 14. The theme of this year’s gala, “The NGA Hancock Park Olympics,” was inspired by the […]

Larchmont Charter Hollygrove campus searches for new site
After 16 years, Larchmont Charter School (LCS), which resides on four separate Los Angeles area campuses, will pull up stakes at one of its original locations, the famed El Centro-to-Vine Hollygrove campus, and look for new school grounds. Uplift Family Services, which leases the Hollygrove space to LCS, is planning to increase the adolescent and […]

Joane Pickett was more than a friendly face: Pickett Fences closes after 27 years on Blvd.
To say that closing her beloved Larchmont Boulevard store of 27 years, Pickett Fences, was completely traumatizing, would be the understatement of the year. But that is what happened, and this is where we are. The pandemic has taken a devastating toll on many Larchmont businesses, both restaurant and retail, and as the pandemic wears […]

Larchmont is going to the dogs (and cats): Tailwaggers to open in Flywheel spot
Every dog has its day, and the dogs and cats of Larchmont will get their lucky day in March. That’s when Tailwaggers, the locally-owned small business of former Brookside resident Todd Warner, will open its doors in the former site of Flywheel and Blockbuster and Security Pacific Bank, and — once upon a time — […]

Kip’s Toyland celebrates 75 years of good, old-fashioned fun
Five years ago, I wrote the Larchmont Chronicle’s article celebrating Kip’s Toyland’s 70th anniversary. It’s now five years on, and life has changed quite a bit around the globe. But thankfully, not at Kip’s Toyland. “We just keep trucking along,” says Lily Kipper, the granddaughter and buyer / store-manager of store founder Irvin ‘Kip’ Kipper, […]

Larchmont-area skateboarders seek a place of their own
Skateboarding and Southern California go together like peanut butter and jelly. Or sunsets and the ocean. Or surfers and waves. So it’s only fitting that we should see skateboarders zipping up and down the streets of our SoCal neighborhoods on a daily basis. While many observers see skateboarding as harmless, youthful fun, others have been […]