Sorted by date Results 101 - 125 of 125
By Sandra Coopersmith Features Writer If you've never been the victim of a scam, you have yet another reason to be very, very grateful this Thanksgiving. Scams abound, and events such as the Nov. 12 Senior Fraud and Elder Abuse Awareness Program held at the National Council of Jewish Women/Los Angeles on Fairfax provided valuable tips that were conveyed with humorous impact by Adrienne Omansky's Stop Senior Scams Acting Program. The seven skits illustrating typical scams, as set forth in last...
(Part 1 of 2) By Sandra Coopersmith Features Writer We've all heard the saying, "You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time." If former child actor Adrienne Omansky and her Stop Senior Scams Acting Program have their way, seniors, who represent 30% of scam victims, will avoid getting fooled any of the time. Omansky, an adult education teacher for Los Angeles Unified School District for 37 years, originated...
We're entering that time of year when holiday greetings are, unfortunately, often interspersed with a hearty "Achoo!" Leave it to Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center ("Kaiser") to come up with a clever way to help avoid the flu and other bothersome bugs that are particularly prevalent during this busy celebratory season. Their suggestion: substitute fist bumps for handshakes. Accordingly, hospital staff, physicians and patients are foregoing handshakes in favor of fist bumps to...
By Sandra Coopersmith Features Writer Halloween in Culver City really went to the dogs this year – but in the best of all possible ways, thanks to Michelson Found Animals' Adopt & Shop at 4235 Sepulveda Blvd., an actively engaged member of the community since its May opening. Adopt & Shop (www.adoptandshop.org), is a humane adoption and retail center staffed by committed volunteers and store associates who help make sure every pet has a safe haven. It was launched in support of the belief t...
By Sandra Coopersmith Features Writer A huge deterrent to accomplishing the goals on one's bucket list would be falling and breaking a hip, an experience which, for those in their golden years, could well accelerate kicking that container. Studies have shown that 90% of hip fractures are caused by a fall, one in three adults over age 65 fall each year, half of the seniors who fall will do so repeatedly, and fear of falling increases that risk. Fortunately, participants in Phyllis Farrell's...
Features Writer For those unfamiliar with the slang of the 1920s, "the cat's meow" refers to someone or something highly admired, and on Saturday, September 20 that cat-egorically described the featured visitor at Culver City's Adopt & Shop, 4235 Sepulveda Blvd. Fans of the celebrity cat sensation, Lil Bub, converged for a charity "meet and greet' with a puss that had everyone purring, and little wonder – this breakout star of the Internet with over one million social media fans is an a...
By Sandra Coopersmith Feature Writer What do you call a woman who transformed herself from a "morbidly obese couch potato" (her words) to a vibrant Zumba® instructor whose busy schedule includes teaching several one-hour classes each week at various locales? How about perpetual motion machine? Someday we may produce one; until then we have longtime Culver City resident Yvonne Griffin Beraldi, who will be hosting a Zumbathon® charity event to be presented by the City of Culver City in ass...
By Sandra Coopersmith Features Writer You'd think someone with "English" as a surname would be destined to teach language and, in a roundabout way, that's just what Jackie English does. After all, line dance has a specific vocabulary that uses choreographed steps to communicate its message – get up, get moving and, above all, have fun. So, if you're a senior who's ever sat on the sidelines wistfully watching others line dance, yearn no more. The delightful Ms. English, whose exuberant laugh w...
Sandra Coopersmith It should come as no surprise that Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center ("Kaiser"), which serves many in Culver City and surrounding communities, continues to garner accolades, its latest being the prestigious Environmental Excellence Award from Practice Greenhealth, the national membership organization for hospitals and health systems committed to environmentally responsible operations and care. The award, in recognition of the significant strides Kaiser has...
"Try this: Run barefoot through a field. When dogs run, their paws paint the earth with grace." That's just one of the suggestions in "Life's a Bark," the delightful new book by award-winning author Larry Kay that shows the many ways in which dogs can be our greatest teachers when it comes to life and love. A book signing was held on Sat., July 12 at Adopt & Shop (www.adoptandshop.org), 4235 Sepulveda Blvd., where "going to the dogs" is a very positive thing indeed. "This book is a great...
Brush off your sneakers and get ready for a day of fun, purpose and inspiration – the American Cancer Society's Relay For Life is coming to Culver City. West Los Angeles College is the site of this 24-hour event that kicks off with an Opening Ceremony at approximately 9 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 2, ushering in a slew of activities that continue throughout the night and into the following morning. Three special traditions (Survivors Lap, Luminaria Ceremony and Fight Back Ceremony) form Relay's c...
By Sandra Coopersmith "Getting to know you, getting to know all about you . . ." As my fellow volunteers and I waited in Room B47 of the Culver City Senior Center on May 22 for a group of 18 students from Inglewood's Oak Street Elementary School to complete a tour being given by Jill Thomsen, the center's Volunteer Specialist, that song from "The King and I" kept running through my head. Why? Because we would soon be partnering up with our new young friends, thanks to the collaborative efforts...
By Sandra Coopersmith Features Writer What symbolizes summer more than kicking back in the yard on a sublimely sunny day, sipping a cool, refreshing drink while grilling something succulent on the barbeque? Mmmm . . . To enjoy outdoor living to the max, check out Armand's Fireplace and Barbeque Equipment at 9400 Venice Blvd. at the southwest corner of Main St./Bagley Ave., a family-owned business and Culver City fixture in the same location for as long as anyone can remember, way back to when...
You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that Culver City is home to some pretty remarkable people, one being Judith Love Cohen, who is on the Astronautical Advisory Board for the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. As an electrical engineer she worked for aerospace companies on many high-profile NASA projects, including the Hubble Space Telescope and the Lunar Excursion Module. Glass ceilings aren't safe around this woman, "Mine was made of concrete," she said. Thrusting a rocket through...
By Sandra Coopersmith Features Writer Curiosity and enthusiasm are certainly primary colors in the engaging personal palette of David Arthur Katz. "I've been working as a digital artist for almost 25 years," this longtime Culver City resident said. "There's nothing more satisfying in the middle of the day than to just get on the computer and start working. I never know what's going to come out of it and I really like sharing it with others." Clearly, what comes out of it is colorful,...
By Sandra Coopersmith Features Writer One would think that in this economy, where hardly a day goes by that we don't read about cutbacks, companies would be putting the brakes on expansion. Westside Brake & Tires, however, is in acceleration mode. This family-owned business was founded in West Los Angeles in 1988 and relocated to 4155 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Culver City in 1996. It stocks well known brands and models of tires and wheels and offers a fully equipped service department with certified...
By Sandra Coopersmith Features Writer Every pet should have its day. In Culver City the likelihood that day will happen was substantially increased on May 13 when Adopt & Shop, a one-stop adoption and shopping experience at 4235 Sepulveda Blvd., had its grand opening. This flagship store at the corner of Sepulveda and Culver is the second Adopt & Shop, the first having opened in Lakewood in 2011. "A dog's life" generally refers to a fairly dismal existence. Sadly, it's one that's faced by many...
By Sandra Coopersmith Features Writer "How many Ms. Senior Culver City contestants does it take to screw in a light bulb?" "A light bulb? Seriously? With their talent and personality, these ladies already light up any room." And on Sunday afternoon, May 4, that radiant room was at the Culver City Senior Center, the site of the seventh Ms. Senior Culver City pageant. The judging process was divided into four segments: personal interview before the doors opened to the public (30%); evening gown...
By Sandra Coopersmith Features Writer Remember that restaurant scene in "When Harry Met Sally"? While sampling some of the offerings at LA Spice Café I came close to emulating Sally, except my reactions were to the food and totally and deliciously genuine. For that I must thank Executive Chef Chris DeVillier, truly a magician in the kitchen, who recently joined LA Spice and brings his 25 years of culinary experience to this Culver City café. As the former lead culinary consultant and a...
By Sandra Coopersmith Features Writer Culver City's Turning Point School is known for creating friendship, altruism and awareness through its service learning projects, its latest such venture affording its students a literal as well as figurative opportunity to learn from the ground up. Last summer Deborah Richman, Head of School, appointed three Service Learning Coordinators (Matt Kline, Traci Demuth and Tram Habib) to plan an activity that would engage students, faculty and community and...
By Sandra Coopersmith Features Writer Everyone is a story waiting to be told. With "White Rose: Stories of Love, Loss and a Dog Named Holly," Marian Silverman tells hers in an engrossing memoir reflecting the struggles, pain, insights and healing experienced on her life's journey. "All we have is love," says Silverman. "Love is all there is." She is a licensed family therapist, educational psychologist, and companion to Gracie and Tabatha, the two feline friends that share her Culver City...
By Sandra Coopersmith Feature Writer If reincarnation exists and the universe is listening, consider this my bid to come back as a student at Turning Point School in Culver City. Please. In 2010 the Intergenerational Writers Workshop, comprised of the school's Level 6 students and volunteers from Culver City Senior Center, first convened. Having been lucky enough to participate from Day One, it has become my annual rite, and this year's recently concluded fifth workshop was certainly one to...
By Sandra Coopersmith Features Writer Culver City's Turning Point School (pre-K through 8th grade) and Babytalk LA, two child-focused organizations, were a winning team on Feb. 4 when they partnered to present a dynamic 90-minute panel at the school: "Kids & Sports: Team, Esteem, & The Athletic Dream." Zachary Hinkle, Turning Point's Director of Auxiliary Programs, explained that the two are philosophically aligned: "Understanding the heart of each learner is paramount to success, as is setting...
By Sandra Coopersmith Features Writer French lesson for today: "À tout seigneur, tout honneur" (honor to whom honor is due). "I just did what I had to do," said Technical Sergeant Murray Codman, a member of Jewish War Veterans of America, Culver City Post 617 and possessor of the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with Five Oak Leaf Clusters, the Presidential Unit Citation, the EAME Campaign Medal and various other campaign medals. On Jan. 30 that impressive collection gained yet...
Want to double your fun? Easy, with TWO iconic Tito's determined to provide a Taco Tuesday that is truly olé-worthy. It's that serendipitous time again, Oct. 4, not only National Taco Day AND National Vodka Day -- and during National Hispanic Heritage Month, no less. This fifth annual Tito's Fiesta Mexicana is a wonderful fundraiser that benefits the Culver City Arts Foundation (https://culverarts.org/) and is put on by Tito's Tacos (https://www.titostacos.com/) and Tito's Handmade Vodka...
