In Memoriam: Father Greg Goethals

Posted on December 5, 2025 by Sue

In Jimmy Dunne’s November 30 Substack “Jimmy Dunne Says,” he honored Father Greg Goethals and wrote: This past week, California lost one of its true treasures—Father Greg.

For 19 years, Father Greg has been the leader and heart of Loyola High School of Los Angeles.

He went to high school at Loyola, then on to his college days at Santa Clara University, and earned three master’s degrees. As a proud Jesuit, Father Greg’s journey brought him back to his Loyola roots.

What a difference he made there—building every part of Loyola into one of the most revered private high schools in the country.

A handful of years ago, Father Greg asked me to write an alma mater for Loyola. It’s a collaboration I will forever treasure.

We spent a morning at the grand piano in the serenity of Loyola’s stunning chapel—with Father Greg in a chair right next to me.

All I can tell you is this.

Those words are a mirror of that man. That extraordinary, selfless gentleman.

Creating an alma mater deeply mattered to him. He wanted it to tell the story of the most beautiful, inspiring, exciting place at Loyola.

The hearts of the young men.

All I did that morning was frame, with music, what poured out of his soul.

With tears running down his face, he spoke for every young man who has called that campus home. He said,

“I am Loyola
I’m in its walls
I feel God’s love
Inside its walls

In my heart, I know
We can change the world
We are men for others
Forever, band of brothers
Loyola, I am”

It may have been a story about all Loyola Cubs, but it was also a memoir. Of what his home meant to him.

If what defines a man is the difference he makes in others’ lives,
If it’s the joy and love he brings to the world,
If it’s the way he sees the best in you, long before you see it yourself,
If it’s his unwavering devotion to what he passionately believes in,
If it’s the countless unseen moments of kindness and courage,

Then Father Greg was a giant among men.

How blessed we are to have walked your halls with you, Father Greg.

 

Posted in Obituaries | Leave a comment

Vittorio Toy Drive Is “On” This Year

Posted on December 5, 2025 by Sue

Vanessa Pellegrini stands in front of holiday gifts given to foster children in 2018.

For 15 years, the Pellegrini family, owner of Vittorio Restaurant and Pizzeria, has hosted an annual toy drive to benefit children who might not have gifts  this holiday.

The January 7  Palisades fire destroyed the popular restaurant on Marquez Avenue, which had been in business for 41 years.  The three owners, Mercedes Pellegrini and her daughters, Vanessa Pellegrini Henriques and Sabrina Pellegrini Kalaydjian, looked for a new site and discovered Santa Monica Canyon.  The business was reborn as a little red trailer in Canyon Square in August.

But, the annual December toy drive and luncheon did not seem like it would be possible.

A reader wrote “This is the 16th year for the event. It was pretty much written off for this and the next few years, since the restaurant burned and so many residents were displaced, but amazingly at the last minute, people have stepped forward.”

With help from The Golden Bull Restaurant, the Sons of the American Legion, friends and some online support, donations are being accepted (including gift cards), through December 15. The annual luncheon for about 70 children will take place this December.

This benefit event began after Vanessa Pellegrini (daughter of Vittorio’s owner Mercedes)  was diagnosed with CNS (central nervous system) lupus in December 2010 and hospitalized for two weeks.

“We weren’t sure I was going to pull through, since the disease was attacking the blood vessels in my brain,” Vanessa said. “My mother, being a devout Catholic, prayed to Nossa Senhora de Aparecida in Brazil. She performs miracles, according to local legend, and so my mother prayed.”

(Vanessa’s mother, Mercedes, was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and met her husband Ron while he was visiting Rio de Janeiro for Carnivale. The couple married, and Mercedes came to the United States, where she started Mercedes’ Continental Delights, a bakery in the San Fernando Valley. In 1984, she opened Vittorio’s with a partner, but when Giovanni Mazzola left to open a new restaurant in Malibu, Mercedes Pellegrini kept Vittorio’s.)

Mercedes’ prayers were answered and after a few weeks of intensive care in the hospital, Vanessa was sent home, well on the way to recovery.

“As an offering, we both promised to give back to the less fortunate children, who are innocent and oftentimes are the victims of circumstance,” Vanessa said. “I had worked with School on Wheels since 1999 and I was intimately involved with kids who were living in abused homes, homeless shelters and transitory houses. These were the children that were forgotten, and so, the Holiday Luncheon was born.”

 

The owners of Vittorios, Vanessa Pellegini Henriques (left), Mercedes Pellegrini (center) and Sabrina Pellegrini Kalaydjan at their new location in Santa Monica Canyon.
Photo: LEVI LANGEN

Posted in Holidays, Restaurants | Leave a comment

Board to Discuss Sod Versus Turf

Posted on December 5, 2025 by Sue

The Palisades High School is a turf field.

The Pacific Palisades Recreation and Park Board (PAB), will hold its monthly November meeting on December 9. The November meeting was cancelled because some members of the community went to the City Attorney and said there was not enough notice.

The meeting will be held in the small gym at the Palisades Recreation Center at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, December 9. The meeting will also be available via zoom (meeting ID: 812 7644 6573, the URL https://hklaw.zoom.us/j/81276446573)

On the agenda is a park update by Senior Facility Director Jasmine Dowlatshahi. Rec and Parks (RAP) General Manager Jimmy Kim will give a ground and soil testing update; a status report of Quimby Funds that were allocated to this Rec Center before the Fire; and a temporary library update.

The last item on the agenda is a proposal for a synthetic turf field proposal that will be presented by Bryan Whalen of the Pali Community Center Committee and Youth Sports Organizations. After the presentation, public comments will be taken on this agenda item. Then, there will be a PAB discussion and vote.

The meeting will conclude with public comment on anything not covered on the agenda.

The source of contention comes from whether artificial turf should be used on a playing field at the Palisades Recreation Center.

People can compare the difference. The community has both turf and grass. Calvary Christian School and Palisades High School have turf. St. Matthew’s and Paul Revere Middle School have grass.

A reminder that members of the Advisory Board are volunteers and have willingly given up their time, many have served years with little or no public thanks. During meetings they hear everything from bathrooms to tree trimming to garbage pickup—these are not single-topic members.

Members have gone on their own time after the Palisades Fire to LA City RAP meetings (held all over the city) in an effort to reopen the park and to see that DWP did not become a permanent fixture at the park.

To join the PAB board, members are usually nominated by the facility director and approved. Most likely they were nominated because of volunteering at the Rec Center as a coach or helping with sporting events. To read about the city requirements for a PAB click here.

The Paul Revere Field is grass.

(Editor’s note: One would hope that after a town burned down and thousands of people lost their homes, that people attending this meeting would maintain civility, despite strong emotions about grass versus turf.)

 

 

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Holiday Get-Togethers on December 7

Posted on December 5, 2025 by Sue

Christmas trees are available for fire survivors.

 

TENNIS AT THE REC CENTER:

The Palisade Tennis Center is back! Mike Tomas invites tennis players to join him at the Palisades Recreation Center from 10 a.m. to noon on Sunday, December 7, at 851 Alma Real Drive. “Play some liveball, grab a bite and help us celebrate being back at the PTC,” Tomas said. RSVP to OGs Return at Partiful Invites.

ARTIFICIAL CHRISTMAS TREES:

A last minute donation of 800 artificial trees (prelit, 7-8’ tall and most are flocked) arrived at 24LA. If you know anyone interested, please have them register and bring identification on December 7 for pickup in Culver City.click here.  People in the fire scar and perimeter are eligible.

ANNUAL HOLIDAY PARTY:

The Pacific Palisades Republican Club is holding its Annual Holiday Party from 3 to 6 p.m. on Sunday, December 7, at the Elks Club, 1040 Pico Boulevard in Santa Monica. It will be a potluck with a no-host bar. The Diane Elder jazz band will be playing. All are invited. Suggested items to bring include appetizers, salads, main courses and dessert.

Posted in Holidays | Leave a comment

Palisades Fire “Paradise Abandoned” Airs Today December 5

Posted on December 4, 2025 by Sue

Homes burned in Pacific Palisades on Jan. 8, the day after the Palisades Fire. No one put them out.

Director Rob Montz grew up in Pacific Palisades before moving to the East Coast for College. His mom’s home in the Marquez Knolls area of Pacific Palisades burned in the January 7 Palisades Fire. His brother Rocky, who works at Palisades High School was also impacted. Rob, a documentary filmmaker came back to his hometown to help.

His film Paradise Abandoned: Inside the Pacific Palisades Fire tries to answer the questions that have either been ignored or unanswered. Montz asks, “How did a single spark in some dry brush two miles from my childhood home wind up incinerating the most desirable real estate in Los Angeles?”

Drawing on dozens of original interviews and previously unpublished video, truths start to emerge about the Pacific Palisades Fire.

It was not a fluke. It was not the inevitable result of the laws of nature. It was, in fact, a man-made disaster. And then the films shows the day no one saw: the second day of the fire. The day the Palisades was… abandoned to burn.

To watch this 30-minute documentary, which is available today, December 5, 2025 click here,

Posted in Palisades Fire | Leave a comment

Viewpoint: Residents “Crying Uncle”

Posted on December 4, 2025 by Sue

This editor is joining residents in “crying uncle.”  For those too young to understand the phrase, it originated around the 1900’s among American school children as a way to surrender in a physical fight, meaning “give up” and was still a term used when I was a child.

“UNCLE!”

Everyone is well-meaning, but what Pacific Palisades has done has produced so many groups that the community no longer has one voice. We are fractured. No one in the City or State is listening to us, because it’s one group after another and each group does not seem to want to relinquish control, and also seems to have slightly different ideas on how to proceed.

We need one voice. We need one voice to get DWP to say “yes” we’re undergrounding and this is what needs to be included in the spec – and Building and Safety needs to know that and agree.

We needed one voice to organize Palisadians to ensure we all reach out to City Councilmembers to ask them to waive permit fees.

We need one voice to go to the governor and tell him its time to drop his dispute with Trump long enough to get FEMA dollars for Pacific Palisades.

We need one voice to ensure that FEMA funds come to Pacific Palisades, so the library is rebuilt and streets repaired.

This editor finds it interesting that so many groups duplicate efforts, with no real results. How many more building expos will we need to attend that tell us that if only we build differently our homes would not have burned. (P.S. that won’t happen unless the State adopts brush clearance and the City reinstates Santa Ynez and the Chautauqua Reservoirs as a helicopter water-filling site.)

It is time to put egos aside and help the people in Tahitian Terrace and Palisades Bowl and all the people on fixed income get back in the Palisades. Where are all the free homes promised by Rick Caruso and Habitat for Humanity? Do only some poor people count?

We need to speak with one voice; no one is listening to individual chatter.  We have so many groups: there is Pali Strong (Palisades High School), Pali Strong (Larry Vein) Palisades Dolphin Strong (Larry Goldberg), Team Palisades, Palisades Recovery Group (Maryam Zar), Pacific Palisades Long Term Recovery Group (Jim Cragg), Action Network (Jeremy Padawar), Steadfast L.A. (Caruso), The Department of Angels ( Evan Spiegel) and the Pacific Palisades Community Council (subsequent subcommittees formed after the fire) and all of the What’s Apps groups that were established after the fire.

That also doesn’t include groups that were established before the fire, such as the PaliBu Chamber of Commerce, individual school groups, Rotary, Palisades Beautiful, Temescal Canyon Association . . .

We need a team of all groups working together. As football coach Vince Lombardi said, “People who work together will win,” whether it be against complex football defenses, or the problems of modern society.

There is too much duplication of effort, without results. There is talk, lots of talk, but there are no results. There are studies and lots of after-action reports, but nothing changes.

Every weekend there seem to be five and six events scheduled, all with the premise of helping people reestablish community and showing those displaced a way to rebuild resiliently.

UNCLE!

Enough events, enough groups, enough wonder materials, enough of being blamed for this colossal failure of local and state government.

Posted in Viewpoint | 6 Comments

CRIME: Arson, Theft Sexual Assault

Posted on December 4, 2025 by Sue

The Palisades Beach patrol continues to provide safety to residents returning to Palisades.

The Palisades Beach detail continues to patrol the hillsides and surrounding area of Pacific Palisades and make arrests.

Two arrests of note were made on November 29:

A male, 23, transient entered an area near the cabanas of the lower Bel Air Bay Club. He attempted to enter a storage room but failed. He found a bucket of rags and placed it in front of the electrical panel and lit it on fire, but it did not stay lit. Security arrived and the suspect was placed under arrest for arson.

A second suspect was arrested that same day.  The man rammed the gate at the Palisades Bowl Mobile Home Park  to gain entry and then proceeded to steal scrap metal. After he was arrested, it was discovered he had outstanding felony warrants. His truck was impounded.

The Palisades Bowl has been declared a public nuisance for failing to clear fire debris. Residents have asked the city repeatedly to clean it because the rain sends debris into the Pacific Ocean (across from the Bowl). Even with a fence, transients have been found camping in the former mobile home park site.

On December 2, a transient was asked to pack up and leave after trying to camp overnight on the beach, which is not allowed.

Today, December 3, police are seeking additional potential victims, following the arrest of a 32-year-old rapper and social-media personality Clinton Adams. The 6’1” male with brown eyes and dreadlocks was taken into custody November 19

Detectives from the West Bureau Special Assault Section determined that on two different occasions, he met the female victims, took them to a Pacific Palisades home that was vacant, but told the women it was his. He then allegedly sexually assaulted them.

“Both victims came forward to report the sexual assaults and identified Adams by name,” police said in a statement.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office filed three counts of rape by use of force against Adams, along with an additional count of assault with the intent to commit a felony, police said.

 

 

Posted in Crime/Police | 1 Comment

Glorious Songs! Glorious Music! Glorious Concerts This December!

Posted on December 4, 2025 by Sue

By Bernice Fox

ANGEL CITY CHORALE

There’s nothing like a chorale concert to replace the sounds of crackling flames and high winds that continue to play in the head. And three local chorale concerts are coming up in the next couple of weekends. Each has some Palisadians or Palisades connections.

In chronological order …

Angel City Chorale

Saturday, Dec. 6 – 7 p.m.

Sunday, Dec. 7 – 3 p.m. – Livestream available for Sunday’s in-person concert

At Royce Hall, UCLA

Ticket link: https://angelcitychorale.org/concerts-events/upcoming-concerts/

 

Calling their concert Blockbuster Holiday, the Angel City Chorale is pulling its playlist from holiday movies. The 180-voice choir will be singing songs from classic films like Meet Me in St. Louis and Holiday Inn to more recent movies, like Love, Actually, Home Alone, The Polar Express and more. Though the ACC’s spring concert was at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center, they’re returning to their Royce Hall home on the UCLA campus for this weekend’s two performances: Saturday evening Dec. 6 and Sunday afternoon, Dec. 7. There’s an option to watch a livestream of the Dec. 7 performance. It will be available for viewing through January 11. RSVPs for the livestream are required in advance at the link above.

 

FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH OF SANTA MONICA CHANCEL CHOIR WITH GUEST SINGERS AND SOUTH BAY CHILDREN’S CHOIR

Sunday, Dec. 7 – 4 p.m.

At the Church, 1008 11th Street, Santa Monica

Free – Tickets are not needed. Donations are welcome.

This concert on Sunday, Dec. 7 at 4 p.m. begins with the augmented church choir of guest adult singers and children performing Arthur Honegger’s unusual Une Cantate de Noël or Christmas Cantata. With music to match, this piece tells of a dark world. The musical imagery lightens up and swells with the story of Jesus’ birth. Following the Christmas Cantata the choir sings a variety of carols. Some are well-known. Some, the audience can sing along with. Other carols, the audience might be hearing for the first time.

 

BRENTWOOD PALISADES CHORALE AND PALISADES SYMPHONY

Sunday, Dec. 14 – 1 p.m.

At Mt. Olive Lutheran Church, 1343 Ocean Park Blvd., Santa Monica

Free – Tickets are not needed. Donations are welcome.

Since the Brentwood Palisades Chorale’s long-time performance venue – Community United Methodist Church on Via De La Paz in Pacific Palisades – burned down in the January fire, the singers now could be described as wandering musicians. Their concert last spring was at a church in West Los Angeles. Their upcoming concert on Sunday, Dec. 14 at 1 p.m. is at Mt. Olive Lutheran Church in the Ocean Park neighborhood of Santa Monica. The Palisades Symphony opens this early afternoon concert, performing the Overture to Antonin Dvorak’s joyous Carnival. Then the orchestra joins the chorale for Ernest Bloch’s Avodath Hakodesh or Sacred Service. This is a musical version of the Jewish Saturday morning Sabbath service. The chorale sings it in Hebrew. The English translation will be in the concert’s printed program. Though this piece doesn’t particularly connect to Chanukah, it’s a way to welcome the holiday, which begins at sundown on Dec. 14, shortly after the concert ends.

Posted in Music | Leave a comment

Palisades First Home Lacks Undergrounding Capacity. How Many More?

Posted on December 3, 2025 by Sue

The first home in the Palisades has electrical wires coming from the back. When a home is constructed a dual panel needs to be placed on the home in order for undergrounding to take place.

After the Palisades Fire, when numerous electrical poles were down in the Alphabet Streets and in the area below Sunset Boulevard, many people reported that subsequent sparks/embers came from downed electrical lines.

One firefighter told CTN that there were “live” lines in the Alphabet Streets, which made navigation difficult. The electrical power was not shut off.

Although the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) is the provider for Pacific Palisades, Southern California Edison’s guidance for first responders includes: Secure the area. Keep yourself and the public at least 100 feet away from fallen power lines: Stay clear of all downed lines and anything they are contacting, including nearby fences, trees, cable or phone lines, and the ground: and Be extremely cautious when using water to fight fires near downed power lines. If you must use water, use only a mist or spray. Do not use a stream—it can create a clear path for current.

Given that information and the fact that all Pacific Palisades is in a very high fire severity zone, Palisades residents have requested that undergrounding of power lines be done.

With new homes being constructed and a different electrical panel needed for undergrounding, CTN checked with DWP to see if the panel is required by Building and Safety to obtain a certificate of occupancy.

DWP Communications’ Christina Holland responded November 26, “Installing conduit now is not required but is recommended.

“LADWP also recommends the use of a combination panel to accommodate future undergrounding,” Holand said. “Each property has unique circumstances, and our rebuild team will provide specific instructions and timelines. Residents are encouraged to visit our support center at 3931 South Topanga Blvd, Monday through Friday 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. or email us PalisadesRebuild@LADWP.com for guidance on their individual situation.”

The first home at 915 Kagawa, a Thomas James Home, does not have the combination panel. How many other homes that are nearing completion in the Alphabet Streets are also not prepared for undergrounding?

DWP presented the steps needed for undergrounding in an August 27 meeting, but those steps have not been codified in the building process. A resident pointed out that without DWP clarifying to building and safety about undergrounding requirements, there is “no way for anyone to track to ensure that parcels being rebuilt are doing DWP requirements. “If only one property does this wrong and has the meter at the back of the house, the poles will need to remain,” the resident said.

CTN reached out to a Thomas James Representative Allison Chvojan who wrote “At the time 915 Kagawa was under construction, the City had not yet determined that undergrounding was required. (That work will be completed retroactively.) Thomas James Homes complies with all applicable City codes and requirements.”

Reza Akef, local builder of Polaris Homes, clarified “It’s true that Thomas James’ new home does not have the underground electrical conduit to the property line at the time of Certificate of Occupancy.”

Akef said that the cost to add it is between $6,000 to $10,000, depending on the distance of the meter to the property line. “LADWP should be telling homeowners NOW whether their power go underground before they spend what little rebuild money they have,” he said.

For this home to be hooked to undergrounding, a trench will need to be dug on the side of the home and ideally should be done during construction.

Posted in General | 2 Comments

Sunset Picture Framer Cesar Found!

Posted on December 3, 2025 by Sue

 

Many Pacific Palisades residents used the Palisades Picture Framing Store, located at 15125 Sunset Boulevard across from Ralphs grocery store. That small business was one of the casualties of the January 7 Palisades Fire.

Resident Adam Goldsmith wrote on December 1, “Today I found Cesar, the owner of the Palisades Frame Store. He is back to his beautiful work managing the frame shop at Stone Art, 419 Wilshire Boulevard in Santa Monica” click here.

Goldsmith spoke to Cesar and learned that he lost everything in the fire, his inventory, store fixtures, money and 28 years of customer contacts, which were on his computer.

Cesar has no way to do outreach, but would love to see some of his former customers. Many of us thought, including this editor, that he did a lovely job with framing. As you start to move back in and replace your art, here is a source.

Goldsmith wrote “I hope you can help this valuable PacPal businessman get back on his feet.”

Posted in businesses/stores, Palisades Fire | 4 Comments