Samohi students get a wage of potential future professionsOn April 24, Santa Monica High School hosted the Samohi Futures Fair on campus, with a host of local businesses coming out to share information and possibilities with Samohi students. Put together by former Santa Monica City Councilmember Greg Lorena, a committee of Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce members and Samohi leadership, the fair included businesses in five district fields: Hospitality, Retail, Real Estate, Technology and Government. In addition, Samohi seniors were able to take part in a flex-time panel that included Santa Monica Mayor Phil Brock and Mayor Pro Tem Lana Negrete.
Multiple offices burglarized in SMDP’s building
An unknown suspect broke into the building that houses the Santa Monica Daily Press offices in the property and ransacking several. The suspect is believed to have broken the window of a vacant office to gain entry to the building and then used a fire extinguisher from the building to smash the door handles of most suites, forcing doors open that were not dead-bolted. While the building is predominantly vacant, a handful of offices, including the Legal Aid office and the Daily Press remain. While some tenants said they would close until further notice, SMDP remains open.
Sammy’s Law pushes past state Senate Judiciary CommitteeIn April, the California State Senate Judiciary Committee voted 9-0 to move SB 1444, also known as the Let Parents Choose Protection Act of 2024 or Sammy’s Law, onto the Senate Appropriations Committee. Authored by state Senator Henry Stern, D-Calabasas, the bill would require large social media platform providers “to create, maintain and make available” a set of third-party software applications to manage a child’s “online interactions, content and account settings,” which would notify parents or guardians when a child’s account is interacted with by harmful solicitors such as drug or firearm dealers. Fighting for this bill are a group of parents who have linked their childrens’ interactions on social media platform Snapchat, run by Santa Monica-based company Snap, Inc., to drug-related deaths.
Following recent office burglaries, suspect attempts to set fire to SMDP office buildingA homeless man tried to set fire to the SMDP building this past week, with the suspect remaining on the loose. The incident occurred just days after the building was burglarized and follows a recent squatting incident at the adjacent property. On April 29 at about 9am, SMDP employees saw a man approach the building from the south end of the 1600 block of 5th Street. The suspect appeared to be trying to enter the property and when employees went to contact building security, they saw the suspect crouching at the corner of the front door trying to ignite debris. SMDP employees saw the suspect holding a piece of flaming trash and exited the building to confront the suspect who threw the ember into the storm drain underneath the sidewalk before walking away. The debris and trash in the storm drain quickly caught fire sending smoke into the street prompting multiple calls to 9-1-1. The Santa Monica Fire Department responded within minutes to extinguish the flames.
SaMoTech continues supernova ascent to top of robotics fieldIn March, the SaMoTech Robotics team in partnership with local middle school squad CyberDragons once again went far in the SoCal Regional Championship of the FIRST Tech Challenge. In a competition where each team is challenged to design, build, program and operate robots in head-to-head challenges, the two teams lost in a double tie-breaker in the Regional Semifinals. The CyberDragons began as the official team of John Adams Middle School in 2015, and have since become an independent unit, the same status of SaMoTech. Working out of parent Chris Rowe’s backyard, SaMoTech has gone 28-0 in head-to-head competitions over the past two years.
Next generation brainstorms sustainability, climate change with local groupsAt the New Roads School on April 28, the NextGen Climate Summit spearheaded by the local nonprofit Sustainable Works offered resources and information to students on environmental issues. Along with Sustainable Works, participating organizations included Climate Action Santa Monica, Heal the Bay and The Climate Reality Project. The summit’s main activity was a brainstorming of what a sustainable future could look like in the city, a discussion led by Walker Wells, a principal with sustainable consulting service Raimi + Associates and the former Executive Director of Global Green USA.
Dance Day held at SMCFor the second year in a row, the Santa Monica College Department of Dance hosted area high school dance students for an immersive “dance day” on April 24 and April 25. The experience provided high school students with a taste of college-level dance classes and introduced them to dance education opportunities at the college. Visiting students experienced a diverse dance curriculum through classes in Tahitian, Indonesian, African, Hip Hop, Ballet and Contemporary dance forms.
City officially unveils first, fully-functional strut-placed Wayfinder kioskThe first Wayfinder kiosk was officially unveiled last week on the southeastern corner of the Wilshire Blvd and 4th Street intersection, already proving popular amongst locals. According to officials, there is no cost to the City for the kiosk installation, rather the City will begin earning 50% of adjusted gross revenues as soon as the first kiosk goes live. A minimum annual guarantee of $5 million will become effective once all 25 kiosks in the first phase are operational. City Communications and Public Information Manager Lauren Howland told the Daily Press that initial advertising space on the kiosks is already sold out and that the city is “optimistic” that revenues “will meet or exceed” expectations.
State of play alive and well with new Venice experiencesOn April 27, the Zeno Space in Venice became a playground for locals’ inner children, competing in “marble runs” by building contraptions to launch a marble as far as they could. The event, under the Something New banner crafted by Venice local Sean Jordan, also had a goal to break the Guinness World Record for the longest marble run in recorded history. While the groups inside Zeno Space didn’t end up breaking the record, Jordan said that he succeeded in his mission to bring people together in the name of play.
Fresh faces and fresh homes in store for Santa MonicaRejuvenation for both Santa Monica residents’ bodies and homes were celebrated in April as the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce welcomed one business while embracing another’s rebrand. On April 24, the Chamber held a ribbon cutting ceremony for the newly-branded Rejuve scalp-hair heads treatments location at 319 Wilshire Blvd. The space well-known as Cha Spa introduced the Rejuve branding in order to promote the unique scalp hair treatment arriving to Los Angeles from Japan and Korea. The following day, the Chamber cut the ribbon alongside Vicki Galvan at her House of Designs & Interiors at 2011 Pico Blvd, which offers a wide variety of home design services covering categories like kitchens, bathrooms, furnishings, decor, wallpaper and drapery.
Families take part in Virginia Avenue Park ‘robot invasion’:
On April 27, Virginia Avenue Park hosted the 2024 Arts & Literacy Festival, the 10th festival held by the City of Santa Monica in collaboration with Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District. This year’s theme was “The Robots Are Here,” with robot-themed activities and demonstrations from the likes of the SaMo Tech Robotics team and the Santa Monica Resource Recovery Recycling organization. The activities aligned with the Santa Monica Cradle to Career Building Blocks for Kindergarten campaign, which promotes social and emotional development and other early learning skills.
From music to mortgages, Winston Bernard Cenac Jr. dies at 73Santa Monica resident and realtor extraordinaire Winston Bernard Cenac Jr passed away on January 22, 2024 at Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara, California, aged 73. Born on December 23, 1950, on the Caribbean island of Aruba, he contracted polio at a young age and was forced to endure numerous operations throughout his childhood. Cenac persevered, however, and was driven to succeed with a career in music, working with the likes of Motown Records and then CBS Records before managing punk band The Ratz, later renamed The Knack. After leaving the music industry, he remained successful in business for 20 years with his company Bulldog Realtors, personally selling or supervising the sale of properties in Santa Monica, Venice and Westside communities exceeding a total value of more than $3 billion.
Rich history of Santa Monica Pier the focus of new book by Jim HarrisExecutive Director at the Santa Monica Pier Corporation, Jim Harris, has written his second book detailing the rich history of the popular Pacific pier. Entitled Santa Monica Pier: America’s Last Great Pleasure Pier, it features a forward by Robert Redford and an afterword by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Harris was excited to write the new book to add “much more color and wonderful rich stories” to show the Pier as being vital to the community and the world at large. The book’s release date is May 21 and is available to pre-order from Angel City Press.
Mediterranean culinary experience celebrates first year on OceanOn April 30, Mon Ami at 1541 Ocean Ave. celebrated its one-year anniversary with a ribbon cutting ceremony alongside the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce, with Director of Events Courtney Lawrence and Executive Chef Daniel Ulrich letting Chamber members and the public know about its celebratory plans for the anniversary. Those plans took place on Sunday, as the restaurant combined its anniversary party with a Cinco de Mayo celebration, partnering with Don Londres tequila to bring the Mexican flavor to the Mediterranean dining experience.
Cirque homecoming, a decade in the making, set for OctoberIn a homecoming a decade in the making, Cirque du Soleil announced this past week that its “KOOZA” production will take over the iconic Big Top at the Santa Monica Pier beginning in October. The first Cirque performance in Santa Monica since 2014, the Pier has played a pivotal role in the touring production’s rapid rise, with Cirque making its United States debut there in 1987. The “KOOZA” production pays tribute to traditional circus with ambitious aerial stunts combined with slapstick comedy by the show’s clowns.
Housing and homelessness drive local quality of life to the lowest level in yearsThis past month, the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies released its annual Quality of Life Index, which polls a cross-section of Los Angeles County residents on the quality of about 40 aspects of life organized into different categories. For the 2024 index, the overall quality of life for the LA residents polled dipped to the lowest number since the index began in 2016, a 53 out of 100 which also occurred in 2022. Out of the nine categories, “cost of living,” which includes issues related to housing, was ranked last in a rating of satisfaction amongst residents, with the 38 score also the lowest since the beginning of the index.
More laws proposed in Sacramento to protect rentersAt the April 11 meeting of the Santa Monica Rent Control Board, legislative advocate Brian Augusta presented key bills making their way through state government pertaining to rent control and rent protection. Despite a strict budget in Sacramento and this year’s lack of bills with a direct impact on local rent stabilization policies, there are still a number of bills aimed at protecting tenants. Bills came under three themes, those being the broad categories of “tenant screening,” “information sharing” and “tackling corporate ownership of housing.”
thomas@smdp.com
