GIGA GRANADA HILLS

Local martial arts and yoga studio North Valley Aikikai is organizing a blanket drive this weekend and is asking for donations of any extra blankets for donation to the homeless. Giga Granada Hills readers may recall our past story about one of our town's homeless encampments, hiding in plain sight between Trader Joe's and Two Guys From Italy. Lee Lavi Ramirez, head of North Valley Aikikai, became aware of the encampment shortly after her martial arts studio moved into the same shopping center. The studio offers free yoga, exercise, and martial arts classes to first-time students ( click here for coupon ), so drop by for a class and drop off an old blanket. Here is Lee's letter: As temperatures are going below freezing, we will be collecting blankets to be distributed to the homeless. If you have an extra blanket that you would like to donate, please bring it by this weekend. The hours we will be there are: Thursday and Friday: 8:30 am - 12 noon, and 5-6 pm Saturday: 9 ...

In this morning's Los Angeles Times , an article that could easily be describing the Granada Hills Holiday Parade, but was actually about the Hollywood Christmas Parade, spoke admiringly of the parade's "down-home charm." "There is a certain magic in turning a street from its usual traffic. It promises something special, a departure from daily business: a holiday, a party.... "Apart from sitting city officials, it relies on second- and third-tier celebrities to fill the slowly driven classic convertibles that alternate with the marching bands, big balloons, equestrian troops and floats." Read the full article here.