More Olympics, anniversaries, gatherings, tasty tastings and lithe dancing
Excitement and preparation for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles continue! Last month, Mayor Karen Bass made a second trip to Paris to bring back another Olympic flag — this one, the flag for the Paralympic Games.
PARALYMPIC event participants included Mayor Bass and LA28 chair Casey Wasserman in the front row, with councilmembers behind them, left to right: Price, Lee, Yaroslavsky, Rodriguez, Harris-Dawson, Park, Padilla and de León.
PARALYMPIC official flag is now on display in City Hall.
The symbol of the Paralympic Games is made up of three “agitos” in red, blue and green, positioned in a circular formation on a white background. Each agito (Latin for “I move”) symbolizes movement and underlines the role of the International Paralympic Committee to unite athletes from around the world. The Paralympic Symbol, designed in 2003, was officially launched at the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games.
There certainly is growing excitement about the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games scheduled for our town in July of 2028, just four years away. To show off the two official flags, the city has installed new display cases just outside the mayor‘s suite on the third floor of City Hall. Across the corridor from the flags are fascinating exhibits of memorabilia from the 1932 and 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
DEMONSTRATION of wheelchair fencing took place in the colonnade at the west entrance to City Hall in a salute to the upcoming 2028 Paralympic Games.
The flags were on view on Oct. 12, when the mayor welcomed Olympic and Paralympic athletes, civic leaders, and LA28 officials at a celebratory event in the enclosed west courtyard of City Hall. Speeches were made, and there even was a demonstration of wheelchair fencing. That is, with masks and foils, not chain-link!
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NGA MEMBERS gathering at the Jacquemin home included (left to right) Julie Hoegee, Lora Valoppi, Mary Nelson, NGA Hancock Park Chapter President Danielle Reyes and Erin Garvan.
On Sept. 15 the National Giving Alliance (NGA) began the 2024-2025 year with a Season Kickoff Party at the home of Windsor Square resident Margaret Jacquemin. The late afternoon event was billed as “Nibbles & Nosh,” and current members were encouraged to bring prospective new members to the event to learn about the organization and to join the historic women’s group.
Inspired by Queen Mary’s London Needlework Guild, NGA was founded as The Needlework Guild of America in 1885 in Philadelphia to provide clothing to children in “hospitals, orphanages, and to individuals and families who were needy.” The organization is now known as the National Giving Alliance and has chapters throughout the country, Los Angeles Hancock Park being the biggest with over 100 members.
NGA Hancock Park provides linens, clothing and personal care items to disadvantaged people within the community, through eight organizations: Alexandria House, Aviva, Assistance League (Operation School Bell), Good Shepherd, The Los Angeles House of Ruth, Imagine LA, Pacific Clinics (formerly Uplift at Hollygrove) and Sunnyside 5. These are groups that support women, children, teens and families in need. Cynthia Barrios, a representative of The House of Ruth, a shelter for homeless women and children, was on hand to speak to what it provides. “We never abandon a family … we will open our doors and hearts to assist in whatever is needed. We think of ourselves as becoming families with the families that we are privileged to serve… NGA has supported us a great deal, helping us with bedding, clothes and backpacks for the children, which has been greatly appreciated.”
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EBELL BOARD MEMBERS J. Lee Braly (left) and Lauralee Gooch served as greeters at The Ebell’s open house.
Also on the 15th, but during the day, an open house at The Ebell of Los Angeles took place, where guests explored the gardens and building, enjoyed local music, dance, theater, and visual arts, including the voices of an all-female mariachi ensemble, Las Colibrí, plus the club’s own all-female Ebell Chorale.
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TASTE VIPS included Roya Milder, Hope Net executive director, at left, and volunteers Patti Carroll and Romi Cortier, right, shown with Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez.
For those who love to taste everything on the menu, the 32nd annual Taste of Larchmont was tailor-made! The Sept. 16 event, which took place from 6 to 9 p.m., featured tastings from 21 participating local food venues that donated samples of their wares to the cause.
That cause is HopeNet, a local nonprofit organization that coordinates a dozen local church and temple food pantries which provide free and healthy food to people in need. The $50 Taste of Larchmont “Passport” was, yes, the ticket to gain access to tasty treats ranging from pasta to sushi to guacamole to cookies to gelato.
TASTE OF TOW for a parked car whose driver ignored the “No stopping, 11AM TO MIDNIGHT” signs.
DAPHNE BROGDON (right) and her children Vivien and Rex Peel enjoy the dessert offerings from Bacio di Latte.
LOCALS Ethan Ogilby and daughter August are excited to sample all of the food choices at the Taste of Larchmont.
Participants started out in the Taste of Larchmont Pavilion, located in the city parking lot (where one parker ignored the warning signs and had his car towed just before the event). Participants purchased their “passport to palatable paradise” (my words), which included the names of all participating venues. The users would then stroll the sidewalks of Larchmont Boulevard, having each tasting checked off as they sampled their ways toward the inevitable food coma. The pavilion also housed a silent auction, raffle, plenty of tables and chairs for socializing, music and was a great spot to rendezvous with friends, family and neighbors throughout the evening. Silent auction items included gift certificates to El Coyote, the Original Farmers Market and The Edmon on Melrose, as well as a walking tour of Hancock Park with Jane Gilman, founder of the Larchmont Chronicle and local historian extraordinaire. Raffle items included a case of Pinot Noir from Peake Ranch Winery and dinner at Marino Italian restaurant. If you missed this year’s event, you can check out Larchmont’s wonderful restaurant scene on your own.
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HEIDI DUCKLER Dance gala featured choreography by Shoji Yamasaki (left) and costumes by Snezana Saraswati Petrovic (right).
Heidi Duckler Dance (HDD) has been creating immersive and site-specific dance performances in Los Angeles since 1985. On Sept. 21, HDD celebrated its 39th year with a gala, “Dance in the Light of the Harvest Moon,” at the Loyola Law School campus just across the 110 Freeway from downtown Los Angeles. Duckler told us that she was drawn to the bright space and buildings (created in a 1980 enlargement of the campus with designs by architect Frank Gehry) particularly because of the unique exterior stairwell climbing one of the bright yellow buildings.
DOWNTOWN SKYLINE was backdrop for the Heidi Duckler Dance dinner held on the top floor of the Loyola Law School parking structure.
As with most HDD events, the gala evening included multiple dance performances throughout the campus. One piece involved dancers ascending and descending an exterior stairway. The last number was conceived by Shoji Yamasaki, a 2023 California Institute of Arts graduate. Yamasaki was a big fan of HDD, but didn’t know Duckler personally. On a whim with nothing to lose, he emailed her an invitation to attend his thesis performance. She accepted, and now he’s collaborating with her. After extensively researching Frank Gehry, Yamasaki found that the architect likes fish and that they have influenced his work. Yamasaki, along with costume designer Snezana Saraswati Petrovic, fashioned fish heads out of plastic zip ties for six dancers. The zip ties symbolized plastic waste. As Yamasaki said, “a school of fish.” Attendees followed the dancing school of fish up a five-story parking garage, accompanied by a jazzy saxophone and bubble machines the dancers held. The evening concluded with dining on the rooftop with a beautiful view of the lights of downtown to the east.
During the gala, Duckler also introduced Raymond Ejiofor, who will succeed her as HDD artistic director beginning in 2025.
And now you’re in the Larchmont know!
Category: People