"Eagle Rock: Where land use and
planning is a contact sport"
THE EAGLE ROCK
ASSOCIATION
-- e.letter --
October 4, 2001
In
this issue:
1. EAGLE ROCK RESIDENT APPOINTED TO CALIFORNIA
SUPREME COURT
3. EAGLE ROCK'S 90TH ANNIVERSARY -- MARK YOUR
CALENDARS -- OCTOBER 27
4. ART SHOW ON NOW -- THROUGH OCTOBER 30
5. WOODCUTS AND LINOCUTS ART SHOW AT AVENUE 50 STUDIO -- RECEPTION OCTOB ER 6
6. MORE GOOD PRESS FOR EAGLE ROCK!
7. KORA MASTER PRINCE DIABATE TO PERFORM AT
OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE -- OCTOBER 12
8. MORE THOUGHTS ON RECENT DISASTER
9. NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCILS WORKSHOPS
10. NEUTRA BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION -- OCTOBER 6
11. DOG PARK MEETING NEWS
12. SHOPPING BAG BUILDING -- WILD OATS CONTACT
INFO
13. LETTERS AND E.MAILS
14. QUOTE OF THE WEEK
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1. EAGLE ROCK RESIDENT APPOINTED TO
CALIFORNIA SUPREME COURT
This is in from former
TERA Board member and life-long Eagle Rocker Phil Barbaro, and it was also
reported in last Sunday's Los Angeles Times:
Eagle Rock has a small
claim to some big news, at least to the legal community. The nomination for the newest member of the
California Supreme Court made by Governor Davis is Eagle Rock's own Judge
Carlos Moreno. I first met Judge Moreno
when I coached his son in baseball at Eagle Rock Park 5-6 years ago. At the time he was a Municipal Court Judge
and in the short period of time that I have known him he was elevated to the
Superior Court, shortly thereafter was appointed by President Clinton to the
Federal District Court and now to the California Supreme Court. Such a progression of appointments can only
occur if you are an exceptional jurist and even then it is rare that a judge
can accomplish so much so fast. He may not be done yet -- the United States
Supreme Court could one day use a Justice of his caliber. The article in the Sunday Los Angeles
Times [September 30] details his background and the reasons why he is so
highly regarded.
Former TERA Board member and life-long Eagle Rocker Eric Warren also called with the news and was proud to say that Judge Moreno is his next-door neighbor.
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3. EAGLE ROCK'S 90TH ANNIVERSARY -- MARK
YOUR CALENDARS -- OCTOBER 27
Join the celebration on
Saturday, October 27, at one of Eagle Rock's architectural treasures, the
Women's 20th Century Club, at the corner of Colorado Boulevard and Hermosa
Avenue. A gala celebration will be held
in this 1914 craftsman masterpiece. The
evening begins with a jazz combo and a cocktail reception at 6:30 p.m. Following dinner, big band dancing will be
featured. Proceeds of the event will be
used toward the restoration of this extraordinary historic structure. Tickets for open seating are $50 each. For reserved tables of six or eight people,
tickets are $60 each and wine is included with dinner. For further information regarding tickets,
please call (323) 257-2652 or e.mail jcatdamon@aol.com.
The celebration continues Sunday, October 28, with a Family Festival from 11:30 to 5:00. The festival, which will feature arts and crafts, food, rides for children, and entertainment, will be held at Merton and Caspar Streets (the location of the weekly Farmers Market). Bring the whole family and join with the community and celebrate the history of our vibrant town!
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4. ART SHOW ON NOW -- THROUGH OCTOBER 30
Group Show
painting ~ sculpture ~
photography
featuring artworks by:
Miss Mindy (Allen)
Candace Jeanette
(Allen)
Charles Garcia
Maureen Jacobson
K. Michael Crawford
October 1st - 30th,
2001
Artist Reception is
Thursday October 4th, 2001 from 6-9pm
Regular Gallery hours
Thurs-Fri. 11-5, Sat 2-6pm
@ The Lankershim Arts
Center
5108 Lankershim Blvd.
North Hollywood, CA 91602
818.752.7568
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5. WOODCUTS AND LINOCUTS ART SHOW AT AVENUE
50 STUDIO -- RECEPTION OCTOB ER 6
The Avenue 50 Studio
Presents
El Molino de Nixtamal
(A Printmaking Workshop)
Woodcuts & Linocuts
by
Jaime Galindo &
Artemio Rodriguez
Reception:ćOctober 6,
2001
7:30 -- 11:00 p.m.
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6. MORE GOOD PRESS FOR EAGLE ROCK!
Check out this great article in this week's Los
Angeles Downtown News:
Eagle
Rocks!
By Marcos Frommer
Residents Feel the
Strain of Urban Growth and Gentrification
The
day exhales its final breath into the cobalt sky as a crescent moon appears
above American Legion Post 276. A jazz quartet mixes its soulful meanderings
with the smell of fire-roasted
corn-on-the-cob and swirling barbecue smoke. In the cordoned-off intersection
of Merton and Caspar, organic farmers speak Tagalog, Spanish and English to familiar customers over genetically
unmodified produce, homemade aloe soap and speckled quail eggs. Missy holds up
three-fingers to show her age, her mouth too frozen and syrupy-red from shaved ice to muster a sound.
It's
the last of the deliciously warm summer evenings at Eagle Rock's Friday
Certified Farmers' Market, and in the air is a sense of the impending fall.
Over gourmet tamales eaten with friendly strangers at a plastic picnic table,
longtime Eagle Rock resident Carol Lansing draws a deep, thoughtful breath
before succinctly summarizing her love for
Eagle Rock. "It really gives you a sense of place."
Tucked
away in this northeast corner of Los Angeles along a stretch of Colorado and
Eagle Rock boulevards between Glendale and Pasadena, Eagle Rock simultaneously
encapsulates the diversity of the immigrant driven megalopolis while embracing
the sensibility of small town America. It's a place where residents honk and
wave at each other driving down the street,
go to community-sponsored events, know the gossip around town, form vocal factions around growth and development
issues and opine on controversies that
are important to small communities but seem irretrievably mundane to the
outside world.
The
community's namesake is a huge composite rock formed by hot springs 12 million
years ago. Erosion near the top has created an overhang that casts a midday
shadow allegedly resembling an eagle in
flight, though the shadow could just as well conjure up a furrowed brow. Although it's not immediately
apparent driving down an uninspired stretch of Colorado Boulevard, Eagle Rock
has a vibrant community that considers itself its own town, distinct from Los
Angeles. It has its own historical society, art association, cultural center,
teen center, xeriscape beautification team, home tour and private liberal
arts college--Occidental. It has an
annual "Snapshot Day," when residents are encouraged to capture the
everyday life of "ER" for a community photo album. Families brave
meager parking and long lines to eat at the famously neoned Casa Bianca Pizza
Pie, while across the street and ahead
of the culinary curve, Eagle Rock's Tommy's served chili fries a decade before the Original Tommy's. Most
tellingly, however, Eagle Rock is the only district of Los Angeles to have its
own board game: Eagle Rockopoly.
Incorporated
in 1911 and later annexed by the city of Los Angeles, it was once called the
"Switzerland of Southern California" in a real estate brochure for
its rolling hills and edenically pure
spring water. Its historic craftsmen bungalows and fine Spanish Revival single
family dwellings have been home to a solid middle and working class community
for much of its existence. Some of the founders put down progressive roots,
building the Women's 20th Century Club, one of the first groups in California
to petition for women's suffrage. Eagle
Rock is still a refuge for families seeking nice neighborhoods at prices more
affordable than in districts to its west. It has also become home to the second
largest Filipino enclave in Southern California.
But
Eagle Rock, like many communities east and north of Downtown, is feeling the strains of urban growth and densification.
Urban professionals and creative entrepreneurs have begun to
"discover" Eagle Rock and its adjoining communities. They are
migrating from pricier haunts along the Echo Park-Los Feliz corridor. And they
are bringing the amenities with them that make up the core of their urban
experience--primarily coffee.
A
year ago Eagle Rock had no coffee houses that catered to the latte crowd.
Suddenly, the area boasts four caffeinated businesses within a one-mile radius,
some in restored historic buildings.
Along
with the new urban crowd, however, comes the usual tensions around development
and growth. While Glendale and Pasadena boomed in the '90s, Eagle Rock's main
drag, Colorado Boulevard, remained much unchanged since its initial commercial
development in the '50s, displaying the one- and two-story, low-slung
storefronts common to that era, interspersed with the notorious results of
mini-mallification three decades later. One uncorroborated story has it that
Eagle Rock has no offramp from the 134 Freeway because Marlon Brando's mother,
an Eagle Rock resident, vociferously opposed building it.
The
only major development in Eagle Rock in the last 30 years has been the
construction of the Eagle Rock Plaza in the 1970s, home to one of the first multiplex
theaters. An ode to how not to build a mall, it soon languished in the shadow
of the Glendale Galleria andhas been on a long downward spiral worsened this
past year by the loss of its anchor tenant, bankrupt Montgomery Ward.
As Eagle Rock begins to hang banners announcing festivities for its 90th birthday, there is disagreement over what ER should look like when it reaches the century mark. High-minded urban designers in the area backed by Eagle Rock's homeowners association are pushing to implement a city-funded plan to make the area more pedestrian friendly and to bring in businesses that cater to the needs of its burgeoning crowd of urban refugees.
In a
classic case of competing class and economic interests, one of the targets for
gentrification is the many automotive businesses that have long been a mainstay
of the Eagle Rock economy.
There is little doubt that Eagle Rock will continue its move toward trendiness. Fred Eric, the restaurateur who owns Fred's 62 coffee shop and the chic Vida in Los Feliz, has just made a deal to rehab the old Eagle Theatre on Eagle Rock Boulevard near his home. This will definitely keep the urban flow coming toward Eagle Rock. And as the migrants flood in, Eagle Rock's urban plan will be put to the test: Will it allow growth without eroding that hometown feeling? The question is enough to make the eagle's brow furrow.
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7. KORA MASTER PRINCE DIABATE TO PERFORM AT
OCCIDENTAL COLLEGE -- OCTOBER 12
Kora virtuoso Prince
Diabate, a master of the 21-string harp-lute that originated in West Africa, is
scheduled to perform at 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 12 in Occidental College's Thorne
Hall. Admission is free to Oxy students with their campus I.D. and $5 per
person for all others.
For the first time
ever, Prince Diabate will perform with two cousins, master balafon player
Famoro Diabate and acoustic and electric guitar player Abdoulaye Diabate.
The Twin Cities Reader
in Minneapolis calls Prince Diabate's music and vocals "exotic and
essential listening." Although the Guinea native's main sources of
inspiration stem from the traditional Mandingo or Malinke repertoire, Prince
Diabate borrows from reggae, rap, blues and funk. He is often referred to as
the "Jimi Hendrix of the kora." Prince Diabate sings in five African
dialects, as well as in English and French.
Prince Diabate started
playing the kora as a young boy and, at 16, won first prize in an international
kora competition in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Now living in Los Angeles, he
performs solo and with traditional and fusion bands, having toured in Africa,
Europe, Canada and the United States.
The kora is a fretless
instrument with a hardwood neck and a sound box made of a large calabash gourd
that is cut in half and covered with a thin animal skin. The instrument is played
in an upright position and is known for its light harp-like sound.
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8. MORE THOUGHTS ON RECENT DISASTER
You probably did not
seriously intend to initiate political comment in the newsletter, but you
opened the door in #2 and #3 and you must therefore accept a different
perspective or approach. I'll make it
short.
Clearly the terrorist
attacks in New York City and Washington were brutal and tragic, but in addition
to asking WHO let us also ask WHY. This
does not excuse or rationalize what happened, but it offers a deeper analysis
of the problem and a better and more measured resolution. In other words, why are we so hated in the
Middle East? I have traveled, lived,
and taught in the region for many years.
I have marvelled at the personal hospitality extended to me in contrast
with the initial puzzlement and growing anger at US foreign policy in the Arab
and Muslim worlds.
Does it have any thing
to do with the almost $100 billion given Israel over the last fifty years,
money it has used to intimidate and repress the native Palestinians? And how would you justify the continued
destructive bombing of Iraq and the heavy sanctions against it inposed by the
US, actions which have not deposed Saddam but have been the cause of tens of
thousands of deaths of Iraqi children?
And has not the US backing of supposedly pro-Western but otherwise
authoritarian regimes blocked the development of civil society and democracy in
the area? What does the US stand for
there? What are the people supposed to
think?
The chickens come home
to roost. While we must continue the process of determining who did it, we need
to think about and to reconsider our hostile policies in that part of the world
and to try to work with rather than in conflict with its peoples. Being #1 should not mean being the bully on
the block; that only creates more bitterness and resentment and among a small
minority a feeling of hatred which resulted in the savage attacks of last week.
Brice Harris
History Department
Occidental College
bharris@oxy.edu
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9. NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCILS WORKSHOPS
The
Department of Neighborhood Empowerment
(DONE)
will
be hosting a series of
5
Certification Information Workshops
throughout
the City of Los Angeles.
Each Workshop will be an
opportunity for all stakeholders to learn about
the Neighborhood Council
Process,
to review the Certification
Application in detail,
to clarify any information
needed,
and to network with other
emerging
Neighborhood Councils.
We invite and encourage
everyone to attend!
Registration
will begin at 7:30am.
The
Workshop Sessions will begin at 8:30am.
The 5 Workshop locations are:
Los Angeles Valley College
5800 Fulton St.
Valley Glen, CA 91401
Saturday,
October 13, 2001
Los Angeles Harbor College
1111 Figueroa Place
Wilmington , CA 90744
Saturday,
October 20, 2001
Audubon Middle School
4120 11th Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90008
Saturday,
October 27, 2001
Lincoln High School
3501 North Broadway Street
Los Angeles, CA 90031
Saturday,
November 3, 2001
Loyola Marymount University
One LMU Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90045
For
More Information, Please Contact DONE
@
213-485-1360
Don't forget to mark your
Calendar!
Daniel A. Redick
Department Of Neighborhood
Empowerment
Systems Division
305 E. First St. Los Angeles
CA, 90012
(213) 485-1360
(213) 485-4608 fax
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10. NEUTRA
BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION -- OCTOBER 6
"I saw [the
following] in the LA Times and thought I would send it to you, since I
didn't recall seeing any mention of this in your e-letter. It is gratifying that, of all the buildings
they've designed, the Neutra firm would choose the Eagle Rock Recreation Center
for their anniversary celebration. More good vibes! [Yes, Ma'am!]"
-- Sylvia Sermons,
Eagle Rock resident and TERA member
Celebrating a Visionary
Dion Neutra plans to mark the 75th anniversary of
the architecture firm founded by his father, Richard [at the Eagle Rock
Recreation Center].
By CANDACE A. WEDLAN,
TIMES STAFF WRITER [from September 27
issue]
Even after all this
time, Dion Neutra said he cannot think of anything more exciting than his
chosen profession of architecture. After all, he was weaned on blueprints:
"My dad started me drawing when I was 11," he said recently. His
father, Richard Neutra, was one of the original Modernist architects whose work
included private homes and university and municipal buildings internationally.
The older Neutra, who died in 1970, opened the family practice in Los Angeles
in 1926, the year Dion was born.
Dion Neutra plans to
celebrate the firm's 75 years, along with his own, on Oct. 6 at the Eagle Rock
Recreation Center, which the firm completed in 1953, with the younger Neutra
overseeing design and construction. (His birthday is Oct. 8.)
Neutra oversees the
Institute for Survival Through Design, a nonprofit foundation set up to
preserve Neutra's architecture. Neutra believes his father's most significant
project came along shortly after the firm's founding--the 1929 Lovell Health
House in Griffith Park. "It sort of established the basis for our
practice, even though [Dad] didn't realize it at the time. A man asked if my
dad could design a house that would enhance the health of the occupants, his
own family. That sounds like an innocent requirement, but trying to answer that
requirement became a metaphor for the practice. That is what we ask ourselves
for every project we start: 'How can we enhance the health of the occupants?'
"It is a broad definition of health, including creativity and
productivity. We try to understand how a client works and what would make the
design efficient for them. That building established him as a world figure and
gave us the centerpiece of our whole practice for the next 75 years." There was never a question that Dion would
become an architect, he said. "The first time [it came up] was when I went
to USC and was asked 'What do you want to major in?' I said, 'Well, do I have
to answer that?' 'Yeah.' 'Well, architecture.' Drafting class was easy. I
already knew how to do it."
Father and son were in
joint practice from 1965 until 1970, when Richard died at 88. At the time, the
firm was in the middle of negotiating what turned out to be the younger
architect's favorite project, the Huntington Beach Library. The team was
interviewed in the late 1960s for the project. Neutra said he negotiated the
final contract after his father died.
"We did an
exceptional job. It has many features that I have never been able to bring to
bear in other projects. For example, I did research and found out that books
and plants love the same kind of relative humidity. That led me to say, 'Let's
have a lot of plants--which I wanted to do anyway.
"I hate it when
you go into a library, 'Ssshhh, you have to be quiet.' It is very unnatural for
kids. So I put in a bunch of interior fountains so the noise level is high
enough and natural so that when the kids walk in, they can talk in a normal
tone. I introduced a lot of skylights so that you have changing light
conditions while you are studying. You won't fall asleep or get bored, as you
would under artificial light. Humans thrive on a dynamic environment. Whenever
you can make change happen, that is going to invigorate you. So you get subtle
changes with skylights."
Neutra still maintains
a studio in his home on Neutra Place in Silver Lake, and he said he remembers
well his early experiences working for his father.
"I first started
drafting at the home office on Silver Lake Boulevard; we lived above the store.
My dad said, 'Here is a lettering guide. Why don't you redraw the lettering
guide for our new office standard?' As a kid, I would wander through and see
people with green shades, and my dad said, 'I'll give you a drafting board, and
that's how you'll learn."' Neutra said most of his drawing and design work
are done freehand these days.
His current practice
focuses primarily on preservation and remodels of the firm's existing work. As
for new projects, Neutra says he would love to design a day care center for
children in a high-tech setting. He
said one of the challenges in designing the Eagle Rock center was a request for
as much flexibility as possible. "So we went wild," he said. "We
wanted to be able to open the building like an open-air pavilion, but we also
had to design it like an indoor basketball court. So, we ended up designing a
series of walls that can rise up like a double-hung window with about 8 feet of
clearance." Neutra said the idea was to promote a sense of community,
whether for basketball games or concerts."We have never designed in a
stylistic manner. Our design comes from a deeper place," he said. "We
are not concerned about what it looks like--a style someone has seen in a
magazine. It is a matter of finding what draws them to the style. So the work
has a timeless quality. It resonates with people now. By avoiding modishness,
we tap into a deeper place, and that is why people respond."
The Eagle Rock
building, which ducked a wrecking ball in the 1980s, was declared a historic
monument in 1991 and got a bronze plaque, with the Neutra name misspelled.
The corrected plaque
will be installed in time for the birthday celebration, which runs from 6 to 10
p.m.
Tickets to the
reception and sit-down dinner, which are $25 per person, are available on the
Neutra Web site: http://www.neutra.org, or call (323) 666-1806 or (323)
666-8132. The fee includes membership
for 2001 in the Institute for Survival Through Design. [Fred Eric, Eagle Rock resident and booster,
owner of one of the fabulous homes on TERA's Eclectic Eagle Rock Home Tour 2001
[remember the outdoor shower?], and chef extraordinaire, will cater the event.]
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11. DOG PARK MEETING NEWS
EAGLE ROCK
BEAUTIFICATION COLLABORATIVE (Dog Park
Project)
The first Pet Park
(off-leash dog exercise area) meeting on September 5, 2001 was a success. There were supporters
from Eagle Rock, Mt. Washington, Highland Park and Glassel Park as well. The
meeting was hosted by Sharon Nishihara, Recreation Director for Eagle Rock
Recreation Center as part of the agenda for the Park Advisory Board Meeting.
Ursula Brown presented information about dog parks in general and distributed
information for all in attendance. A question and answer period followed.
Linda Herbert was kind
enough to attend, representing Councilmember Nick Pacheco's office. Currently additional possible sites are
being located. The next meeting will be announced shortly. Any questions can be directed to Ursula
Brown @ 323-255-9400.
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12. SHOPPING BAG BUILDING -- WILD OATS CONTACT
INFO
Wild Oats, similar to
Whole Foods, also has a "need a store" request on their website - http://www.wildoats.com. Click on "Contact Us," then
"Frequently Asked Questions."
All you have to do is indicate the city and state (please include a zip
code) and provide your e-mail address.
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13. LETTERS AND E.MAILS
"Great work you
are doing. Please add us to the
newsletter e-mail. We have been
residents of Eagle Rock for the past three years and love it. Many thanks -- "
-- Roger and Patti
Renick, Eagle Rock residents
"Just wanted to
say thank you for all of your support, strength and encouragement along the
Swork road. I'm so glad to finally be
here! Please enjoy these long-awaited VIP
cards."
-- Trish Neal, owner of
Swork, Eagle Rock resident, TERA member, and "terminal hipster"
"I do not count
myself among those who call for expressions of 'American Pride' in these awful
days. To those who do, I have this to offer. I am not proud to be an
American, for it is my birthright, and nothing that I have earned. Rather, I am
grateful to my parents, and their parents and our forefathers for the privilege
of freedom that I enjoy as an American. What I hope for in the coming days and
weeks and months is that I can be proud of the way America reacts to this awful
human tragedy we have suffered. I believe that the same God whom I thank today
for my family's safety would have our nation act in justice rather than
revenge, with wisdom rather than hatred, with determination rather than pride,
and where possible, with compassion rather than savagery."
-- Bob Warnock, Eagle
Rock resident and TERA member
"Hope it [the TERA
public meeting of 9/11/01] worked out [it did]; you're the greatest. Today I signed up to donate blood and to volunteer doing Red Cross disaster
work, which I did during the LA earthquake. Good to know some of us care. Keep up the good work.
Oh, we saw you at
Fatty's last weekend, but I wasn't sure it was you, and I was in a
non-caffeinated daze . . . next time I'll approach, with caution, of
course. [Don't worry -- I'm always very
approachable, regardless of whether you or I am caffeinated or not, weights or
not.]
-- James Wirrick, Eagle
Rock resident, TERA member, and some-time very tactful and welcome critic of
yours truly's writings
"I am always
impressed with the stuff you communicate in your newsletter. This time you just
did a magnificent job of sending on stuff which is of such importance to the
neighborhood [Tragedy/TERA e.letter Special Edition]. As you know, it's about
people! Bungalow Heaven salutes you.
Preservation and
restoration, each is important. People and neighbors are far more important. We
have slowly moved more and more toward the purpose of our neighborhood growing
beyond its original goal of restoration/preservation to the importance of our
neighbors and their support of each other.
I have spent some time
in small communities in rural areas and know how important that is. Eagle Rock
is happening."
-- Jim Galloway, good
guy, Bungalow Heaven [Pasadena] resident, and former president of the Bungalow
Heaven Neighborhood Association
"Thank you for
maintaining and strengthening our sense of community at this time. I've never met Michael Southard, but I am so
glad he decided to sleep in [on 9/11/01] and hope he can get home soon!"
-- Nancy King, Glassell
Park resident, Eagle Rock Elementary School parent, and TERA e.letter fan
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14. QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"Where is the
harmony, sweet harmony? 'Cause every
time I feel it slippin' away, just makes me want to cry. What's so funny 'bout peace, love and
understanding?"
-- Nick Lowe [as
performed by Elvis Costello and the Attractions]
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Joanne Turner <artburn@earthlink.net>
President, The Eagle Rock Association (TERA)