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Family Fun Events in LA This Week 5/29/15 – 6/4/15

By |May 28th, 2015|Local news and info|

LA this week

There’s always plenty of family fun & friendly events going on throughout Los Angeles, but unless you hear it through the grapevine, it’s hard to know what’s going on until you see the events photos in the paper after the fact. Hopefully we can help keep you in the loop with this new blog section!

Friday 5/29

Free Lobsta Truck “Lobsta Rolls”

11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
5645 Sepulveda Blvd., Culver City CA 90230

Click here for more details

Matilda: The Musical

8 p.m.
135 North Grand Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Click here for more details

Ice Age Encounters

10:30 am, 11:15 am, and 12 pm
Page Museum
5801 Wilshire Blvd
Los Angeles, CA  9003

Click here for more details

Saturday 5/30

Free Public Star Party at Griffith Observatory

2:00 p.m. to 9:45 p.m.
2800 East Observatory Rd
Los Angeles, CA 90027

Click here for more details

Tomorrowland screening (With preshow magic performance)

9:45 a.m.
El Capitan Theatre:
6838 Hollywood Blvd. Hollywood, CA 90028

Click here for more details

Midnight Showing of Jim Hensons: Labrinth

11:45PM
611 N Fairfax Ave,
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Click here for more details


Eat, See, Hear Santa Monica: Zoolander Screening + Live Music & Food Trucks

Doors Open 5:30 p.m.
Santa Monica High School:
601 Pico Blvd,
Santa Monica, CA 90405

Click here for more details

Sunday 5/31

Arts & Crafts: Silly Masks

Zimmer Children’s Museum:
6505 Wishire Blvd Suite 100
Los Angeles, CA 90048

Click here for more details

Monday 6/1

Story Time in the Galleries

2 p.m.
LACMA
5905 Wilshire Boulevard,
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Click here for more details

Tuesday 6/2

Free Lego Day

10 a.m.
Glendale Galleria:
1126 Glendale Galleria
Glendale, 91210

Click here for more details

Wednesday 6/3

Free day at Santa Monica Pier Aquarium

2 p.m. – 5 p.m.
1600 Ocean Front Walk,
Santa Monica, CA

Click here for more details

Are we missing anything? Send us an email if you know of any other family fun events in LA this weekend coming up!

Raising a Middle Child

By |May 19th, 2015|BLP Family, Cheviot Hills|

spencer
Unless you have three children or come from a family of three siblings, it’s hard to know what it’s really like to be that middle child. In our family, there are three boys and while (as parents) we know the individual qualities that make each of our children special and unique and perfect and fabulous, ‘the middle’ often feels a little passed over in favor of the spotlight-grabbing bookend brothers. In the interest of convenience and manpower, we were guilty of doing what the parenting books cautioned against: the middle child was often dragged to the classes of the elder or play dates of the younger. His accommodating nature made it easy to justify his lack of activities by making the excuse, “He learns just as much from watching the older kids do it!”
He’d compromise television choices and ice cream flavors to please the other two. Even his bedtime is geared towards when his younger brother (and roommate) goes to sleep. It’s hard to prove to him how special he really is. He even brought it to my attention that these newsletter articles often highlight the foibles of my youngest and oldest sons but not as much is said about Spencer.
While I can’t go back in time and give him more classes or solo play dates, I do have the power to give him this! So last month, our family spent spring break in Hawaii. It was paradise.
I was able to leave the hectic world of westside real estate behind and focus instead on the sand, the sea and spending uninterrupted time with my wife and kids. One day, Lilli recognized a neighbor from Cheviot. They were traveling with another Cheviot family (one we didn’t know) and everyone was staying at the same hotel. Now, to backtrack a bit, at this particular hotel we were given the most amazing upgrade known to man. They had sold out and with nowhere else to put us, they basically handed us the keys to the palace: the Presidential Suite.
So, upon discovering that Cheviot families were in our midst and with an embarrassment of riches with regards to our enormous, ocean-view suite (it had a grand piano for goodness sake!), we decided to have a party and invite these neighborhood families up for cocktails and to watch the sunset.
They accepted our invitation and, amidst the glorious views and uproarious laughter, it struck us all as quite lovely that the bond of being from Cheviot Hills was strong enough to turn one-time strangers into newfound friends. But as fantastic of a night as ‘the party in the presidential suite’ was, it wasn’t the number one highlight of the trip. It wasn’t the whale watching or waterfalls, either. I think, if I had to choose the one memory of our week in paradise that will make me look back and realize that moments of pure happiness exist, it would be when I went out into the ocean with a surfboard and my son, Spencer.
It was just the two of us, enjoying the elements, sharing some laughs and I was able to introduce my great love of surfing to my cherished middle son.
Sometimes we go back to Goldilocks and the Three Bears to remind him that while one bowl of porridge was too hot and one was too cold, the bowl in the middle was just right. Spencer, you are just right and I love you. Surf’s up, dude. Let’s go.

Free Emergency Survival Kits For Country Club Estates Residents

By |May 18th, 2015|Cheviot Hills, Local news and info|

Country Club EstatesFree to the California Country Club Estates Residents, Cheviot Hills.
There’s always so much filming going on around the Country Club Estates, sometimes it’s nice to witness benefits that can come from it (other than seeing a familiar house on TV!). The California Country Club Estates Homes Association works with Film L.A. to mitigate the effects of filming in the neighborhood, and also works to ensure that filming done in the neighborhood brings benefits to the whole Association.
Toward that end, the CCCHA Board has used donations received from the filming to generously treat the residents of each of the Association’s 410 homes to emergency survival kits, free of charge. The kit includes everything needed for a family of four to survive for 72-hours, complete with food, water and 17 other items in a handy red backpack.
If you live within the boundaries of the Country Club Estates (the 100 acres of Cheviot Hills that, up until 1951, was actually a golf course) and have yet to pick up your emergency kit, please contact the CCCHA president Allyson Saunders: allyson@agsaunderslaw.com or Vice President Francesca Beale-Rosano: francescaart@sbcglobal.net or 310.838.3233. If you have any questions about how to bring emergency kits to your block or neighborhood, Allyson or Francesca will be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Cheviot Hills Fun Fact: Maria Altmann – Former Cheviot Resident

By |May 14th, 2015|Cheviot Hills, Local news and info|

Maria Altmann cheviot hills

Don’t we all love knowing little bits of trivia about our hometown, in this case Cheviot Hills!
Perhaps you’ve seen the movie that is out in theatres called, ‘Woman in Gold,’ starring Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds. In case you’re unfamiliar with the story, it is the riveting tale of how Jewish refugee Maria Altmann (Mirren) successfully fought to reclaim Klimt paintings that belonged to her family but were seized by the Nazis. One painting in particular, “The Portrait of Adele Block-Bauer” (otherwise known as “The Woman in Gold,”) features Altmann’s aunt. While the Austrian government claimed the painting was part of their national pride and culture, Altmann considered it a family portrait that was wrongfully stolen during the Nazi’s regime. Altmann and her attorney, Los Angeles native Randy Schoenberg, took the case all the way to the Supreme Court.
After a lengthy battle, Schoenberg successfully argued for the painting’s return and won the case. The Austrian government returned the Woman in Gold to Altmann and it is now permanently on display in the Neue Gallery in New York City.
Here is an interesting fact you may not have known: Maria Altmann lived on Danalda in Cheviot Hills! She lived in Cheviot Hills after relocating from New
York and died at the ripe old age of 94, twelve years after beginning her battle against the Austrian government to reclaim her beloved paintings. She was not only a great defender of human rights but also a much admired neighbor in Cheviot Hills and now her story will live on, helping to shed light on not just the Nazi’s atrocities but how justice can ultimately persevere.

Market Climate Map Released for LA Sales Volume

By |May 8th, 2015|Buyers, Home owner advice, Local news and info, Sellers|

The MLS just released the First Quarter Market Climate Map for the Greater Los Angeles Area. This map and chart (See below) compare the LA sales volume of single-family homes from the first quarter of 2014 to the first quarter of 2015 in the different areas of Los Angeles. Click on the image below to zoom in.

LA Sales Volume

If you would like more information about the current real estate market in your neighborhood, or would like a obligation free home value quote, please do no hesitate to contact me!

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