For Those About To Decorate, We Salute You.

The Santa in a Granada Hills front yard in the photo at left hangs his head in shame and exhaustion. That's because he was erected three weeks before Thanksgiving.

For those who have resisted the pressure to put up Christmas decorations prior to the carving of the turkey, I heartily applaud your restraint.

Despite relentless haranguing from retailers, you have not fallen for the lie they are trying to feed us: that Christmas is something you need to begin worrying about sometime in mid- to late August.

Some wild rebels out there won't even start decorating their homes until December, and to them I say: right on. Stick it to the man. The Santa in a Granada Hills front yard in the photo at left bows to you in gratitude.

The Turkey Of Terror

Granada Preschool occupies a lovely, green, pastoral setting on Haskell Avenue just south of Chatsworth Street. The spacious grounds offer plenty of room for children to romp in the grass, sandboxes, and play yards, and the school is also home to several animals.

Inside one classroom is a tank holding a bearded dragon, who patiently waits on his hot rock for the next delivery of crickets. Just outside another classroom stroll two laying hens, whose eggs provide a monthly fresh omelet breakfast for the teachers and their young students. Plenty of wild squirrels also frequent the grounds; they recently dined on pumpkins left over from the school's Halloween celebration. A giant tortoise munches the green grass in the shady central courtyard, and near the drinking fountain are Snickers and Oreo, two soft, fluffy rabbits, and their next door neighbors, a pair of snow-white geese.

And then there's Doc.

Doc is a turkey. For those unaccustomed to encountering turkeys not yet in sandwich form, Doc's appearance is shocking. He bristles when anyone comes near, fanning out his feathers aggressively, and turning his blood-red, scaly, alien looking head towards you, a head that is covered in sagging, dangling, wrinkled flesh that looks like something that should be photographed for a medical textbook or at least hidden behind bandages. His beady eyes peer from circles of cyanotic skin, and an obscene-looking growth sways down from the center of his forehead, dangling over his dagger-like beak and dripping down to his scrotal throat. Dewlap, wattle, snood, caruncles: even the proper names of these supposedly healthy structures sound like diseases.

"His body is funny but his head is scary," said one four-year-old.

"He tries to scare me all the time," said another child.

"He scared me. He scared me when he said gobble gobble," said another.

"Well, if you get down on your knees and get to their height..." says Granada Preschool teacher Miss Kathy, trying to explain the children's response to the turkey.

"But I'm scared of him now, at my current height," I reply.

"He's a baby!" Miss Kathy said of the turkey's temperment. He's never hurt anyone. I can pick him up. He's aggressive with the other animals, and he wants to be first to get the food, but he's never, ever hurt a child or me. He's a male, and when he puts the feathers up he's just trying to show off."

Kathy tells me Doc is a Royal Palm, which is not the breed of turkey we baste in butter and smother with giblet gravy. Those varieties, when Granada Preschool has housed them, rarely make it much past a year old before they succumb to problems inherent in their breeding, such as arthritis of the legs. In other words, they're not bred for living, they're bred for Thanksgiving. Doc, by contrast, is a robust specimen, and he's been here happily frightening small children for about seven years.

Any Safran-Foerian guilt I might have begun to develop upon learning that this shriveled red alien is actually just a docile barnyard creature is mitigated when I learn that the more edible variety of turkeys are ones who are the jerks. "One of them chased one of our teachers all the way down the street," Kathy says. But then again, if the only thing I had to look forward to in life was being plucked, gutted, and stuffed full of bread crumbs I'd probably be something of an jerk myself.

Doc is a rescue turkey, which means he has a lot to be thankful for -- a peaceful existence with plenty of food and companionship, and no butcher knives. "It's been really a joy having him, because we've had him for so long, and he's such a character," says Kathy Mitchell, director of the school. "He's very very curious. Whenever we read stories, he's right at the fence. A lot of people keep them as pets, because they're so curious, and they're so interesting."

Alright, Doc. I won't kill you. Yet.

Dueling Turkeys!

How is it possible that I never before noticed the phenomenon of the Cream Puff Turkey?

Looking something like a cream puff swan put through a mutagenic process of unchecked cell division, there's not one, but two shops in Granada Hills that are proudly displaying these creatures: Ara's Pastry in the Old Town section of Chatsworth Street, and Vrej Pastry in the Trader Joe's center.

I learned from speaking to the lovely lady manning the counter at Vrej that in parts of town with large Armenian populations, like Burbank and Glendale, the Cream Puff Turkey is a standard offering at Armenian/European bakeries -- a time-honored Armenian-American tradition, it seems. The bakeries even compete with one another for supremacy in the field of Cream Puff Turkey artistry. It's something like a war over there -- and in a Cream Puff Turkey war, everybody wins.

The competition is so stiff that at first, Vrej didn't want to let me photograph their turkey -- I think they may have feared that I might be a spy from a competing bakery. After all, these turkeys are big business; Vrej has already sold 400-500 this year.

I also learned that cream puffs aren't just used to make turkeys; during the rest of the year, they make cream puff Christmas trees, cream puff baskets, and all sorts of cream-puff containing structures. I wonder if they could make me a Cream Puff Sta-Puft Marshmallow Man?



Vrej Pastry's Cream Puff Turkey

Small, $40.00, Large, $50.00

Notes: Looks like a red-headed swan.

Eyes: Big and googly. Like it knows what you're thinking about doing to it.

Posture: regal and un-turkey like.

Phone: (818) 366-2526

Ara's Pastry Cream Puff Turkey

One size, $55.00

Notes: More anatomically correct than Vrej.

Eyes: Sleepy, like it ate too much turkey. Mildly bloodshot.

Posture: languid, like the rest of your family by dessert time.

Phone: (818) 368-3388

The Last Man Standing

A few short months ago, I reported that Granada Hills had more medical marijuana dispensaries than it did Starbucks.

That is true no longer. The landscape has quickly changed over the course of the past five months, and now there's only one place left in town to legally buy pot.

One might think that any business owner would be pleased to have all of his competition eliminated. But Junior Martinez, the owner of California Herbal Providers, or CHP, located on Chatsworth near Encino Avenue, is actually feeling a lot of pressure, because he knows that as the last man standing, he's under intense scrutiny. "We're the only people they're watching -- and they're watching us like a hawk," he says.

In the recent sweep that shut down every Granada Hills dispensary but one, how did CHP wind up as the sole survivor?

"Because we play by the rules," Junior says plainly. "I'm not just some neighborhood drug dealer. We have all of our permits, we have our business license. This is a family business. It's my wife, my brother-in-law, and me, and even my mom comes in here to clean up and help me open."

Even your mom?

"Yeah," Junior says. "At the beginning she was really scared, and I had to reassure her a thousand times that it was legal. When she started seeing the type of patients that we have in here -- lots of elderly people -- she finally accepted it and she was a little more relaxed about it."

Junior was forced to make a career change after he was disabled by a motorcycle crash that happened just two years ago. "I used to be a mechanic, but there was no way in hell I was going to be able to go back and do that now that I'm paralyzed. I had to figure out something to do, and this was something that I was able to do. So my goal is to be here for the long run, not for the short run. We're not doing it like most of the shops are, make a quick buck and get out."

There are actually a number of things CHP isn't doing like some other shops. "The one up the street at White Oak, the rumor was they were selling stuff out the back door, letting everybody and anybody in, and they weren't paying their taxes. According to the newspaper, I think they found about 400 pounds of marijuana there, which is a lot -- it's way, way too much. That's like a year's supply and then some. And I heard that CEO on Balboa and Chatsworth was shut down for having concentrates, which are a controlled substance."

If the other dispensaries in town had kept their noses clean, CHP might have avoided some the guilt by association they've experienced, but Junior has done his best. "Our goal was to keep the high traffic away from the store. Basically, we kept the kids away -- that's what our main goal was. And that's what seemed like the people up the street from us (the now-shuttered G.H.D.F.) were dealing with -- the younger kids -- because they had the skateboard shop right next door. Whenever we passed by, they had a line of kids coming in and out of there. I think that's what the community wasn't too thrilled about. And I personally wasn't thrilled about it either, because if he's doing it, everybody thinks we're doing it too."

To keep a too-young clientele away from his shop, Junior employed a number of methods at the outset. "Our prices are a lot higher than anybody that was near us -- that was one way to keep kids away, because basically people that were able to afford us were older people with professions and with real jobs. I can't refuse service, because there are some kids that are really sick. I had a young kid with brain tumors -- his parents would come in with him. But when kids would come in here and say, 'Man, you're expensive,' I'd be kinda rude to them and say, 'Yeah, I am, and there's a purpose to it -- to keep you guys out of my shop.' And that's the way we did it, and for the first two or three months I had these big stickers made for the front door that said '21 and over only,' and I got rid of pretty much a lot of them that way."

Junior is also trying to be responsive to complaints he's received about the appearance of the property he leases. "We've been cleaning up the parking lot, we've made the doctor's quarters up front just to give it a nice storefront, and the next phase is to paint the fence, paint the building, change the awnings, just give it a facelift. Our goal is just to clean the place up. The landlords aren't helping us, so it's kind of a group effort."

Another way Junior has tried to be a good neighbor: by attending neighborhood council meetings. He says the council wasn't exactly supportive, but that they were courteous. "The council themselves were professional. They heard what we had to say. Of course they're still against it. But there was one lady at the meeting, not on the council, and she attacked us. I thought the poor lady was going to have a heart attack. It was a sight to see, how she got. But my wife gave everybody cards, said you guys are all more than welcome to come, look at the store, we'll show you what we do and don't do. They never came, but they can't say we never invited them."

If any neighborhood council members support the existence of the dispensary, they haven't spoken up about it, Junior says. "I started going to those meetings so they could see the face behind it. I invited them to come over and see the shop, to come and see who comes in here, who we cater to. It's not what they think. For all they know, it's probably one of their neighbors coming in here." He adds, "I remember somebody coming in here and telling me that they used to be part of the Neighborhood Council, and they said there's some that are on the council that do medicate with this. I just wish somebody on there would say something to help us out."

The dispensary's patients run the gamut -- "I have patients that have cancer, chemo, insomnia, you name it, but mainly people that have cancer" -- but the common thread is that a majority live right nearby. Junior estimates that about seventy percent of his clientele lives in Granada Hills; "A lot of people are from right here in the neighborhood, some from right around the corner," he says.

Watching him work, I see that Junior seems to have an easy rapport with the patients that come in to CHP; perhaps it's because he's no stranger to physical discomfort himself. His shop is busy, and although business is good, sometimes he feels overwhelmed. "I open up at 11, but depending on how I wake up -- if I wake up a little too sore sometimes I won't get in until 11:30. That's what's nice about my patients -- they understand that if they come by and they don't see my truck here it's because I'm not having a good day, so they'll show up a little bit later, or they'll call to make sure that I'm all right and I'm here. Cause there's days when in the mornings my body's aching. There's weeks where I feel great, there's other weeks when I have a hard time getting up, everything aches, especially my back, where I have my bars -- I have bars where they're fusing six pieces of my back. Being here six days a week from open to close, my body takes a toll. I'm in my chair all day and I don't get off my chair until I get home. There's times when some of the members come in and they say, "Are you alright?" because you can see on my face that I'm not doing too great. But I've got a service I got to provide, and I try to do what I can."

Hiney Clinic Today

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If you have a child under the age of ten who was immunized at the H1N1 clinic we had in Granada Hills last month, it's time to have them immunized again; the CDC recommends that children under the age of ten receive two doses of vaccine, four weeks apart.

No word yet on a second vaccine clinic in Granada Hills, but in nearby Pacoima, there will be a clinic today, held at the Ritchie Valens Recreation Center,10736 Laurel Canyon Blvd. Avoid long lines by delaying your visit until late afternoon; the clinic is open until 5:00 p.m.

CDC H1N1 Information Page

That's What The Desert Is For, Dude...

Thursday night, Reseda Boulevard was completely shut down near Lassen -- it tangled up traffic for miles and made it tough to get in and out of Granada Hills.

Rumors swirled about a car bomb, a bomb threat at CSUN, a bomb threat at the Fire Station. But the Daily Sundial reported the reason why: "a man drove up to the fire station, had a car full of explosives and wanted to get rid of them."

Wow. Why let the bomb squad have all of the fun? If that guy had a car full of explosives, all he'd have to do is add a sleeping bag and a case of beer and head straight out of town on Highway 14, and he'd have all the makings of an excellent weekend in the desert.

Cozy Doggies, Courtesy of Operation Blankets Of Love

Granada Hills resident Eileen Smulson never owned a dog -- or even thought of owning one -- until after she was in her fifties and her husband persuaded her to adopt a dog from the Petco in Porter Ranch.

The dog, whom the couple named Ginger, quickly moved from a cold cage in a shelter to the couple's bedroom floor, and then to their bed.

During a future visit to the West Valley Animal Shelter with a friend, Eileen noticed a sign that said the shelter needed donations of blankets and towels for the animals -- they had no budget to provide these items.

Eileen, who had extensive experience working with charities, decided to try to collect fifty or a hundred blankets for the shelter. Within a month, that turned into 400 blankets, and in another two weeks the number doubled again as Eileen began placing drop-off boxes in local pet stores. The Daily News wrote a story on her project, called "Operation Blankets Of Love," and the operation has snowballed into a full time job with more than one hundred thousand blankets and towels donated to shelters, not just in Los Angeles, but all over Southern California.

"I need to go to Lancaster, I'm going to San Pedro, I'm going to Santa Barbara. I'm getting calls from all over -- I just got an email from Kern Country from a shelter with 500 to 600 animals," Eileen said when I spoke with her this morning. "I literally have thousands of items in my garage."

Because this project has become a full-time job for Eileen, she has been appealing for donations, not just of blankets, but also of funds to cover expenses like the gas money it takes to deliver blankets from Bakersfield to San Diego.

"My goal is to reach every corner of the country as a nationwide charity, and to inspire people to help the animals in a way they never thought was possible. It doesn’t matter what economic level you are – everyone has an old towel or blanket, so anyone can become involved."



Operation Blankets of Love

It's Good Pho You!

An oasis of cute in an otherwise homely shopping center, Good Pho You is like so many experiences one has in Granada Hills: a pleasant surprise hidden beneath an unglamourous exterior. But that's always been the name of the game in GH: scratching the surface.

Located near the busy intersection of Balboa and Chatsworth, this Vietnamese noodle shop's sign doesn't face Balboa Boulevard; it faces the Casitas Care Center, so it's easy to miss from a speeding car unless you're speeding to visit your hundred- year-old grandma. But the positive Yelp reviews didn't steer me wrong; this place delivers the goods. Hooray for pho!

I had the #4: the pho for "Meatball Lovers," because its name described me. I love meatballs of all stripes, but I especially adore the sproing-y textured Vietnamese style that give your teeth a jolly, bouncy feeling as you eat them. They fight back as you chew, but it's more of a giggly pillow fight than a slugfest. Toss some cold, crunchy bean sprouts into the hot soup, squirt on some Sriracha, and squeeze on some lime, and there's a party in your mouth and everyone's invited. Had Americans back in the sixties known their soup was this good, we never would have contemplated war with these people. And do drag yourself out of bed and get to this place if you catch a cold; pho's restorative properties are formidable.

Negative Yelp-ers frequently boo-hooed about a lack of parking, which is an oh-so-Valley thing to moan: I can't believe I actually had to walk a quarter of a block! Oh, get over it, you corn-fed heifers -- do you really wish the world was covered in more open expanses of black asphalt? Here on Balboa Boulevard we don't even have meters! Try that in Little Tokyo, ya whiner!

More to the point, others complained that the pho wasn't an amazing, knock-your-socks off experience, but just your good average workaday pho. Still, some swear by the place. Maybe in a city as large as Los Angeles this place isn't a singular phonomenon, but my assessment is that it is the best pho shop in Granada Hills.

In addition to quality pho, Good Pho You also offers boba tea and frozen yogurt. A few months from now, Granada Hills will get a Menchie's franchise at the corner of Chatsworth and Zelzah, and that's where all of the obvious people will go to get their frozen yogurt. But you: you're a renegade. You're an explorer. You're an adventurer. You're in the know. You will get your frozen yogurt at a charming pho restaurant hidden in a dowdy strip mall, and you will like it.

Homegrown Music.

Enjoy this Granada-Hills-based band, Alex and the Hwangjays. I think you will.

Why The Long Fence?

Our little green triangle is under construction.

Everyone in Granada Hills knows it, but few have ever walked in it, and even fewer know that the tiny green space at the intersection of Zelzah and Chatsworth has a name: Granada Hills Veterans Memorial Park.

The back side of the "Welcome To Granada Hills" sign in the park has a plaque paying tribute to Granada Hills residents who died in Vietnam, and the area is about to receive more items of tribute: bricks engraved with veterans' names', and a brass statue of a little boy giving a bear hug to a folded American flag. According to SFV News, the statue was donated by Jake Parunyan, owner of Kenn Cleaners.

Dry Cleaners Closed Indefinitely After Car Wreck

Quality Cleaners, on Balboa Boulevard just south of San Fernando Mission, will remain closed indefinitely after a motorist crashed their car through the shop's front window yesterday morning at 8:00 a.m.

The shop owner refused to comment other than to say a lawsuit is pending after the crash, and that everything else surrounding the incident -- when and if the store will reopen, what repair costs will be -- was "undetermined."

Officer Khoury of Valley Traffic Division said that the driver was a 47 year old female who simply "confused the gas and the brake," and that the driver was not intoxicated. The owners of Top Donut, the shop next door which does a bustling business at that time of the day, said that the driver was one of their regular customers.

The driver was not injured in the wreck, but a person on the sidewalk suffered minor injuries.

KCal 9 Coverage
Daily News Coverage

The Roof, The Roof, The Roof Was On Fire

This evening around 8:30 p.m., firefighters put out a small fire on the roof of Big Lots, on the corner of San Fernando Mission and Woodley.

The fire was the result of torch-down roofing work recently done on the building which caused smoldering that erupted into flames this evening. According to firefighters, it "could have been a big one" if it hadn't been detected quickly.

The store was open when the fire erupted, but no evacuation was necessary because smoke was not entering the building.

Do You Heart Granada Hills?

A message from Granada Hills South Neighborhood Council:

Become part of the Granada Hills South Neighborhood Council!

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, AT 7:30 P.M.

GRANADA HILLS PAVILION
16916 San Fernando Mission Blvd., Granada Hills

A representative from the L.A. City Clerk's office will give a short presentation
about the requirements to become a candidate for the Board of the
Granada Hills South Neighborhood Council.

He will give details of the election, including candidate and voting eligibility
requirements, voting age, etc. This introduction will also serve as an
opportunity for the board and stakeholders to raise any questions or issues
specific to our board's election.

THIS IS A "NO OBLIGATION" MEETING!
If you are even slightly interested, come for the information!
You don't have to make a commitment to run yet.
The filing period to become a candidate will be
December 4, 2009 through January 4, 2010,
with the election to be held on March 3, 2010.

There will be other opportunities to learn about the Neighborhood Council
elections and becoming a candidate.
DONE (Department of Neighborhood Empowerment) will be offering community
"What Is a Neighborhood Council" education sessions, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Thursday,
Nov. 19 and again on Jan. 14. The location is yet to be announced, but may be
Lawrence Middle School in Chatsworth.

In addition, the City Clerk will be hosting Region-A
Stakeholder/Candidate Information Meetings, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Monday, Dec. 7
and 9:30-11:30 a.m., Saturday, Dec. 12, at the Winnetka Recreation Center,
8401 Winnetka Ave., Winnetka.

For more information, check our website: www.ghsnc.org or call: 818-668-5969

There Is Such A Thing As A Free Cappuccino...

Every weekday from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m., Lead Pastor Darrell Maston and his crew give out free coffee and hot chocolate from the parking lot of Center Church, at the corner of San Jose and Louise, directly across the street from Patrick Henry Middle School.

So what kind of hoop are they gonna try to make you jump through? After all, we're not talking drip here, we're talking cappuccinos and espressos.

I wanted to get to the bottom of this, so I headed to the portable coffee cart and peppered the boss man with questions.





What are you doing here, and why?

We are handing out free espresso drinks and hot chocolate, and on Thursdays we do Krispy Kremes, and it's all free. We roll out here about 6:30, get it set up by 7:00. We're doing it just 'cause we want to be a blessing to our community, and let them know we're here. People wonder why we're doing it, and it's pretty much as easy as that, just to be a blessing. Today we did 120 drinks in about 45 minutes time.


What impact does that have on the traffic around here?

If we did 120 drinks today, that might have been 60 cars or so off of the main boulevard, which is a crunch over here at San Jose and Louise. And they're able to drop their kids off as they go out the back exit of the church, and the kids can cross at the crosswalk. So it is getting cars off the street, and helping parents out with a drop off point that's safe.


It also lets people know that the church is here too, right?

Absolutely. The church has been here a long time; our team has been here a couple of years now, and so we're just kinda getting started. It took us a little while to get our bearings, and now we're doing lots of stuff. We're doing this every morning, tons of kids are coming over for our skate park in the afternoon, we have a student store and hang center/drop-in center after school, probably two or three hundred students every day here in our facility, and that's really cool. It gives them a safe haven to hang out until their parents pick them up.


And you do some music events as well?

We did a music series this year -- we did a jazz night, a Brazilian music night, our last one which was a big kick, a lot of fun, was our classic rock night, and this Saturday at 6:30 we have a Flamenco night. Incredible players. The group that's playing this Saturday has played for Arnold Schwarzenegger, and these guys are really well known around the L.A. basin.


And you're a music lover too, right?

Well, I'm a music lover, not necessarily a musician. I'm a hacker probably, but I do play drums. I'm glad we have real players that play here at the church. All of our worship band on Sundays are all professional guys that do this for a living and so we're really blessed to have some incredible players.


Why do you do these types of events?

I think sometimes there's a misconception of Christians, that they don't relate, or that they're not relevant in today's world, that we kind of live in this cloud that's out there and we don't relate to anybody. We're just kinda real people here. I'm not bagging on anybody else, but we just feel like God's put something incredible on us and can be shared in a way that isn't always in your face. We have a message, and we do our best to relate to people.

We're here to serve primarily. That's what my team does, we just serve, and we get a kick out of it. It used to be the case that a city was established with a church in the middle of it, and then they would build the city around the church. The church had influence and impact on the city. And then I think that over the years churches kinda got busy doing what churches do, and forgot about their community that was there that they were put in the middle to serve.

We're trying to re-establish that, going back to our roots of serving the community. So I think that people have a misperception -- that churches are just interested in building their little kingdom, always asking for money, that kinda stuff. Which is one of the reasons why we try to do as much as we can free, just sending of that vibe that hey, we are also giving in our community, we're not just here to do services and have people put money in the plate. We're giving back.


I'm going to be brutally candid with you...

Go for it.

And tell you my stereotype of Christians is, "We hate gay people, and we're here to support the Republican party." Those are my stereotypes of Christians. Now bust them down.

Wow, you're going for my throat! (laughs) I think it would be obvious that as a Christian the bible would be my standard of living. We have people in our church that are Democrats. I don't use my pulpit to be partisan. I don't preach politics, I preach the bible.

As far as gay issues, I know that there are certain churches that have been very vocal -- it might even come off as gay bashing. We don't do that. We believe that God created everyone. There are people that have made choices with their lifestyle, I do not judge that. I would do my best to talk with somebody, try to understand them, understand where a person's coming from. We've had gay people that have attended here. We had a lesbian couple that put their children in our programs, and we accepted them into our church and let them come in and worship with us and we have a family environment for them. What I teach has not been about dividing or cutting in terms of what we feel about people's choices as far as the gay lifestyle.


Okay, so do you have to be Christian to get coffee here?

Not at all.


And if I come and get coffee here for free are you going to try to convert me?

Not at all. We'll love you just like we love anyone else driving through. We don't ask about your spiritual or religious preference, or your lifestyle preference. We just give out the coffee.

Baklavaaaaaaaaaah...

This tray was full until I got there.

Granada Hills has a newly-opened pastry shop, and if you love baklava, get there ASAP.

Royal Pastry, on Zelzah just south of Chatsworth, specializes in Turkish and Armenian pastries, and they make their baklava and boreg(both the cheese and spinach varieties) with a special variety of dough imported from Turkey. Everything else is baked fresh on the premises.

"It's the butter," says Ani, the shop's head baker, when asked about what gave Royal Pastry's baklava an almost cheeselike richness and meltingly moist texture, without the tooth-punishing syrupy sweetness the dessert can sometimes possess.

Both the cheese and spinach boreg had the same uncommon moistness as the shop's baklava, with tender centers almost reminiscent of freshly made noodles, but with flaky (not soggy!) pastry on top and underneath.

The shop has all of the tarts, cakes, and cookies one would expect, and a few unexpected items, like imported Turkish candies and pink and blue baby shower cakes supplied with enough plastic babies to give even Octomom pause.

Royal Pastry may specialize in Turkish and Armenian treats, but sugar is a universal language.

Kogi On Parade

Yep, they're in GH AGAIN tonight, 10:30-1:00. Don't bother getting in line until at least 11:30. I might hit them on the way home from the Pixies show -- see you there!

L.A. City Attorney Carmen Trutanich To Speak At Granada High

Old Granada Hills Residents' Group will be welcoming L.A. City Attorney Carmen Trutanich to speak at Granada Hills High School this Thursday, November 5, 2009 at 7:00 p.m.

Hopefully, the discussion will be more productive than the one in this video, that leaves little question as to why Trutanich has often been referred to as a "bully":



Woman: "Hi. I'm a medical marijuana patient in Los Angeles, and..."

Trutanich: "How do you like smoking pesticides?"

Woman: "Well, I don't. I believe that in order to say that this is a public health issue you have to have at least one emergency room in the city saying that..."

Trutanich: "So let me see if I get this right: let your children play with lead toys."

Woman: "What are the FDA guidelines, sir? The FDA Guidelines that you reference, it is my understanding, that with organic material, ten pounds is required..."

Trutanich: "Wrong! You're wrong!"



Moments later, Trutanich shuts the woman's attempt to ask a question about medical marijuana down by saying, "I want you to go down and buy some lead toys for your children to play with; you won't be sick today but I guarantee you down the road your brain function will be." She tries to continue, quoting statistics she says are from a UCLA study, but Trutanich again shouts her down, saying, "Make sure that you go home, and take some pesticides, and spray it on yourself."

City Attorney Clashes with Speaker at 2009 Congress of Neighborhoods from Michael Cohen on Vimeo.