Christian Burke plans a ‘pain-fest’ for the schools. Photo by Robb Fulcher

by Robb Fulcher

The City Council took a step toward shrinking the pensions of future municipal employees, and heard from an ultra-endurance athlete planning a world record, 24-hour pier-to-pier run to raise money for Hermosa schools.

The council unanimously approved a new formula that would call for future employees to shoulder a large share of the regular payments that go into a state fund, to be drawn upon when they retire. The council’s action amends a state contract that governs the pension contributions.

The city’s management is expected to ask its employee groups to agree to the “two-tiered” pension system, so called because future employees and existing employees would get significantly different pension deals.

For Police Department hires, the new formula would reduce the city’s portion of the career-long pension-fund payments from 48 percent to 13 percent. For Fire Department hires, the formula would reduce the city’s portion from 38 percent to 13 percent, and for other future employees, the formula would cut the city’s portion from 15 percent to 7 percent.

The formula also includes other changes that would further reduce the city’s costs.

“The difference in rates is substantial and will save the city money over time as new employees are hired,” Finance Director Viki Copeland wrote in a report to the council.
City Hall has frozen 14 vacant municipal employee positions, including five in the Police Department. Councilman Pete Tucker said the new formula would allow the city to hire “two police officers for the price of one.”

The two-tiered concept also is being discussed in other areas of cash-strapped California.

In other matters, Hermosa ultra-endurance athlete Christian Burke told the council he will run a continuous loop in the sand between the Hermosa and Manhattan Beach piers from noon Sept. 5 to noon Sept. 6, aiming to break a Guinness-recognized world record.
Burke, who has volunteered extensively at the cash-strapped city schools, said the purpose of his “pain-fest” is to raise money for the Hermosa Beach Education Foundation.

Donations can be made, as well as reservations to trot a lap or more with Burke, at Hermosa24.com. ER

Holly Miyagawa (right) will compete in the National Kidney Foundation’s biannual U.S. Transplant Games, with a kidney donated by her cousin Darlene.

by Robb Fulcher

When Hermosan Holly Miyagawa strikes a volleyball, puts a shot and sprints in the National Kidney Foundation’s biannual U.S. Transplant Games beginning tomorrow, she’ll be competing as a tribute to her cousin Darlene, whose kidney is serving Miyagawa’s body.

“Darlene gave me my life back,” Miyagawa said.

The 39-year-old was born with kidneys that were too small, but they did their job while she was young. At age 16 she had her blood pressure tested and was placed on medication, and told she would eventually need a kidney transplant. Then at age 29 she felt her energy drop off sharply. It was hard to play volleyball on the beach, a favorite pastime.

“It was November, and I thought I was tired because of the time change,” she said. “Then I thought I had a cold.”

One day as she played, she became so drained of energy that she knew something more serious was wrong.

“I looked down, and my thighs, calves and ankles were all the same size, they swelled up so much. My feet were so big I couldn’t put tennis shoes on,” she said.

She realized that her kidneys, which are filtering organs, must have thrown in the towel. She was taken to a hospital and found that her kidney function had slipped to 25 percent. She was placed on dialysis and told that she would need a transplant soon.

“We began testing family members almost immediately. To everyone’s surprise, my cousin Darlene was a match. We were not that close and only saw each other over the holidays. It was a bit of a surprise as to how fast she volunteered to help me, but she’s always been a giving person,” she said.

The speed of events made Miyagawa’s head spin.

“It turned out she had talked to my mom and said ‘What can I do to get tested?’ We laugh about this now, but she didn’t even tell her husband,” Miyagawa said.

On March 6, 2000 the cousins were wheeled into adjoining operating rooms at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles .

Noted surgeon Gerhard Fuchs used a then-new laparoscopic “keyhole-surgery” technique to make a small incision and use a tube to suck out the donor’s kidney, leaving her without a scar. The kidney was hustled into the next room and placed inside Miyagawa. The surgeons put it in front of the normal kidney location.

“I still have the old ones in back. They’re small and shriveled, and nothing’s connected,” Miyagawa said.

Before the transplant, my cousin asked while they were in there, could they suck some of her fat out? We had to make light of it. As scared as we both were, we had to say something to make everyone laugh,” Miyagawa recalled.

Afterward, physicians and “suits” gathered around the donor to admire Darlene’s laparoscopy.

“She was famous,” Miyagawa said.

“We were admitted into the hospital on a Monday and Darlene was released on Tuesday. She was back on solid food by Wednesday and playing in Vegas by the weekend.”

Both cousins enjoy full kidney function.

“My recovery has been amazing… I was back at work within two months, and back on the beach playing volleyball within three months. I was thin and weak and had very little energy, but I was alive and that was all that mattered,” Miyagawa said.

She began speaking at high schools on the importance of organ donation, for the nonprofit OneLegacy, described as the largest of the 58 federally designated organ recovery agencies in the U.S.

In 2006 she represented Team Southern California at the U.S. Transplant Games in Kentucky, winning a gold medal in volleyball and three bronze medals on the track. In 2008 the team again won volleyball gold and Miyagawa won gold in the 100-meter run in Pittsburgh.

This year the Games are being played in Madison, Wis., where Miyagawa will compete in volleyball, a softball throw, shot put, and the 100- and 200-meter sprints.

“It’s competitive, and it’s great to get out and do our thing, but it’s all about the donors and the donor families, paying tribute to the people who save our lives,” she said. ER

Inventor Rick Barraza tows Yoshi Komiyama of Torrance and Niki Koomen of Gulf Breeze, Florida using his Gripski retractable tether. Photo by Olivia Kestin

by Robb Fulcher

Rick Barraza is a renaissance man – an energy healer, a jewelry designer, a garment-company honcho, and now the inventor of Gripski, a lightweight, retractable four-foot tether that a skater can use to get a tow from a bicycle.

Barraza, who runs the tether company with his brother Tim, has been hawking his invention on Gripski.com and in impromptu sales pitches with people on wheels as they roll by on the Strand. He said he’s also placed the Gripski in Pier Surf, ET Surf and a surf shop in Venice, and he had a belated launch party last week at Sharkeez.

He’s sold about 200 Gripskis so far, he said.

Barraza was involved in a skate shop in Tulsa, Oklahoma when he came out west with Tim and another brother, Steve, to join the company that would become LA Gear. Steve would helm LA Gear’s garment operation, and in 2008 Barraza would go on leave to design and sell his Gripski.

He dreamed up the retractable tether a year before, as he sat on a porch on the Hermosa Strand and watched the world roll by.

The result was a tether made of Spectra, a light, strong polyethylene fiber, attached to a lightweight, easy-release handle held by the skateboarder. There are two models, one that stays attached to the bike, and another that the skater would keep, which has a clip that can be attached to the bike at the blink of an eye.

The entire tiny thing is encased in sleek black metal with a “stealth look” aimed to please the aesthetic senses.

Gripskis can be purchased at the website for $39.95 or less.

Although the tether is designed for fluid motion and an easy grip-release, Gripski.com is full of safety disclaimers advising skaters to wear helmets and pads and to skate within their capabilities.

The site advises skaters and bike riders to “always be aware of all city and municipal laws restricting the use of such equipment on public streets and property. Gripski is only intending this product be used in areas designated for bicycle and skate activities and to be used only in a safe environment, never skate close to heavily trafficked roadways.”

Hermosa Beach Police Chief Greg Savelli said “There is no specific law about towing from bicycles, but it could be considered reckless driving.” He added, “It is not recommended.”

“Gripski is primarily intended for recreational use on bicycle paths, and skate paths with surfaces designed for skating,” Barraza says on the website. “This is an amazing device for casual skating allowing you to glide effortlessly for long distances behind a conventional bicycle, enabling you to improve your skills without having to propel yourself.”

He also called the tether an outstanding way to cross train for ice skating, hockey and snowboarding, and predicted that it might find its way into the extreme sports arena.

He said he towed an ice skater from Palos Verdes to Venice, and she was elated that she was able to train for competition by holding difficult poses for extended periods. ER

by Kevin Cody

This weekend, Spyder Surf will host a reopening party for its newly remodeled, 27-year-old, Hermosa Beach shop on Pacific Coast Highway. The party will feature free hats, hotdogs and hamburgers, live music and celebrity surfers signing autographs, including pro surfer and Surfrider Foundation spokesperson Tim Curran.

Jack’s Hermosa Beach store manager Travis Wilkerson. Photos by Kevin Cody

Next weekend, Jack’s Surf, a few blocks south of Spyder on Pacific Coast Highway, will host a grand opening party for its new store featuring rapper Mickey Avalon, celebrity surfers signing autographs, giveaways, and raffle tickets to the upcoming U.S. Surfing Championships in Huntington Beach. A portion of the day’s sales benefit the Surfrider Foundation.

No one in the Southern California surfing industry believes the timing of the two shops’ celebrations is coincidental.

Since learning of Huntington Beach-based Jack’s Surf’s plans to open a 6,500 square foot store in Hermosa, Spyder co-owner Dennis Jarvis has been waging an aggressive, preemptive offensive.

Last Friday, lines of gremmies, 100 deep, formed outside Spyder’s downtown Hermosa store to have posters autographed by Volcom surf stars Bruce Irons, Coco Ho and Alex Gray. A ticket raffle promised a trip for two to the 2011 Volcom Pipeline Pro contest in Hawaii.

Two weekends ago, Jarvis hosted an unprecedented, private surf contest in Manhattan Beach for the CEOs of Volcom, Quiksilver, Billabong and Hurley. The four brands account for over half of the surf industry’s $7 billion a year in annual sales. Contest winner Volcom CEO Richard Woolcott, a former pro surfer, won first rights to paint a surf mural on the outside of the newly remodeled Spyder store.

An unspoken statement made by the CEO surf contest was that surf industry leaders should first of all, surf.

Jarvis is a former pro surfer and still shapes Spyder boards. His store’s motto is “We live it.”

Jack’s co-owner Bobby Abdel, while acknowledging that neither he nor his brother Ron surf, pointed out in an interview in his new store last week, that their kids and cousins, a dozen of whom work for Jack’s, do surf and skate.

In an Easy Reader interview in November, Abdel said he was similarly criticized for not surfing by a Newport Beach competitor when he opened a store in that beach town about 10 years ago. The Newport competitor printed bumper stickers that read “We surf, do you?”

Abdel fired back with a stinging sticker that read, “I pay my bills, do you?”

“I am still in business and he is out of business,” Abdel said.

Spyder Surf manager Josh Kearney (who recently returned from the Van’s Warp tour with his band The Darlings) and former Mira Costa surf star Chris Bromden in the skate section of their newly remodeled Pacific Coast Highway Store. Photos by Kevin Cody

Cutting to the core

Despite surfing’s laid back image, the business side has been cutthroat from its beginning. Like Jarvis, most surf shop owners come from a competitive surfing or surfboard shaping background and the passion characteristic of athletes carries over to their business.

The very first surf shop, opened by pioneer Hermosa Beach shaper Dale Velzy was shut down by the IRS. Velzy suspected he was ratted out by fellow Hermosan Dewey Weber, whom Velzy had taken under his wing and taught to shape. Within days of Velzy’s shop being closed, it reopened as Weber Surfboards, with Velzy’s inventory. Weber Surfboards grew to be one of the sport’s most successful brands. Velzy’s business never recovered and he never spoke to Weber again.

Eddie Talbot, owner of ET Surf, Hermosa’s oldest shop, almost didn’t live to see his shop’s first anniversary. Shortly after he opened ET in 1972 a Molotov cocktail exploded at his front door at three in the morning. Talbot was sleeping in the back of the shop, which was filled with highly flammable surfboard blanks and cans of explosive resin. Fortunately, the breaking glass woke him, enabling him to save his life and his business.

Talbot was never able to prove who woke him that night, but he had his suspicions.

The economy was depressed and local surf shops were being undercut by garage surfboard shapers. The surf shops hoped to stop the garage shapers by refusing to sell them materials. Talbot wouldn’t play along.

One day Grant Reynolds, who ran the largest surfboard factory in Hermosa, visited Talbot’s shop and warned him to stop selling surfboard blanks.

Talbot told Reynolds that if he ever set foot on his property again he would shoot him.

Talbot became Jarvis’s mentor in the mid 1970s after giving the 13-year-old, fatherless store rat a job mixing resin. Within a few years Jarvis was a professional surfer and shaper with his own line of ET surfboards. He called them Spyderboards after his favorite comic book figure.

In 1983, Jarvis left ET to open Spyder Surf. Neither will discuss the reason for the breakup, but it’s generally believed Jarvis wanted a bigger role in ET than Talbot was willing relinquish. Three decades later, though the two speak fondly of one another – Jarvis dedicated an instructional book on surfing to Talbot – the two still don’t speak to one another.

For almost as long as Talbot and Jarvis haven’t spoken, Talbot and Becker Surf co-founder Dave Hollander didn’t speak. Talbot suspected Hollander of conspiring to block his shop from carrying one of the major wetsuit manufactures.

After years of the two ignoring one another at industry gatherings, Hollander walked up to Talbot at a trade show and said, “Hey, Eddie, this is silly.” Talbot agreed. They talked about their kids.

Meanwhile, Hollander’s and Jarvis’ relationship turned chilly when Jarvis and partner Dickie O’Reilly opened a second Spyder shop on Pier Plaza, between Becker’s Pier Avenue shop and the water.

Still, the tensions between the owners of Hermosa’s three largest and oldest surf shops are merely tepid family squabbles by comparison to the furious passions ignited by Jack’s expansion into Hermosa.

In April, an anonymously administered Facebook page appeared titled Keep Jack’s Surf Out of the South Bay. Within 48 hours the page had nearly 2,000 fans. The number has since reached over 3,400. Most of the postings called for boycotting Jack’s, frequently playing the localism card. Jack’s, they pointed out, is from Huntington Beach, Hermosa’s longtime rival for the title of Surf City. But others pointed out that competition is the American way. Hadn’t Becker opened a store in Huntington? The overriding characteristic of all of the posts is an underlying passion rarely expressed for retail outlets, with the exception of restaurants.

Becker Surf co-founders Steve Mangiagli and Dave Hollander sold their stores to Billabong, but kept their surfboard factory.

Why Hermosa?

Though Abdel denies it, surf industry insiders commonly believe Jack’s expansion into Hermosa was motivated, in part, by a comment Becker Surf co-founder Dave Hollander made about the Abdel brothers, which they took to be defamatory.

Like Jack’s, Becker Surf owns five stores. And like Jack’s, it markets beyond the hardcore surfer to followers of the surfer lifestyle.

Why else, the reasoning goes, would Jack’s open a store in a saturated market during a down economy? Hermosa Beach has seven surf/skate stores, nearly one for every 1,000 of its 9,000 residences. That’s two more surf shops than it has coffeehouses.

Surf industry sales, statewide, are reportedly off 30 percent.

During an interview last year, Hollander said the offending remark was not an attack on the brothers’ ethnicity, but on their business practices.

“It was three or four years ago, the first of December, they went 20 to 30 percent off in all of their stores, which amounted to declaring a price war,” Hollander recalled. “Surf retail relies on perceived value. At the time, industry leaders were trying to get everyone to hold prices, to stay together as a tribe.

“Would Apple let this happen? If surfing is hot, why is it on sale during the holidays?” Hollander said he asked.

“I sent an email to three of my sales managers that read, ‘Arabs 1, Industry 0.’ They went for extra sales at the expense of the industry’s perceived value, sucking us all into a price war that no one won.

“A little while later at a trade show I was told the Abdels were saying, ‘If Hollander wants a war, we’ll give him a war.’ They sent me a cease and desist letter, which I turned over to my attorney, who said ignore it.

“If I’d said, ‘Industry 1, Arabs 0,’ I can see why they’d be mad. But I was saying they won.”

Hollander said he phoned the Abdel brothers to clarify that it was their business practices, not their ethnicity that he objected to.

At the time Jack’s signed the lease for its Hermosa Beach store, a strategy to weaken, and perhaps mortally wound its chief Southern California competitor might have looked attractive.

The precariousness of the surf industry was demonstrated in March 2009, when Active, the state’s largest chain of surf/skate lifestyle stores, including one in Plaza El Segundo, filed for bankruptcy.

Because of the recession, now going on three years, Hollander had already cut the low-hanging fruit from his company.

In a May 2009 TransWorld Surf  interview, Hollander said that business began plummeting so quickly at the end of 2007 that, “I pulled all the numbers apart and I thought surf was going out of fashion, which I’ve always thought is a real possibility. Don’t ever let anyone tell you that can’t happen. There are a whole bunch of stores that were selling Izod and stuff that are out of business because they thought preppy was going to be around forever.”

By the start of 2008, Hollander told TransWorld, he recognized it wasn’t just the surf industry, but the entire economy that was spiraling downward.

He responded by cutting staff from 135 to 85, cutting his executives’ salaries and converting his Huntington Beach location to a Becker Basement outlet store. In January of this year, he closed the Huntington store and Becker’s 15-year-old Corona Del Mar store.

Compounding the challenges facing Becker has been roadwork strangling traffic on Pier Avenue through the summer.

But if knocking out Becker Surf was part of Jack’s Hermosa playbook, that page got crumpled up at the end of May. That’s when Hollander and partner Steve Mangiagli announced they had sold the company they co-founded with shaper Phil Becker in 1980 to Billabong for an undisclosed amount. Billabong is a $1.6 billion a year, publically traded conglomerate. Its brands included Von Zipper sunglasses, Honolua Surf Company, Kustom shoes, Palmers Surf wax, Nixon watches, Xcel wristwatches, Tigerlily swimwear, Sector 9 skateboards, Element skateboards, DaKine surf leashes and Billabong’s own apparel and wetsuit lines. Last week Billabong bought RVCA, another popular surf apparel line.

Billabong CEO Paul Naude has indicated the Becker acquisition will not affect Billabong’s relationship with Jack’s or any of its other retailers.

“Whatever entity owns a store is irrelevant. Each competitor will have to find its own place,” he said.

But the acquisition would seem to assure that Jack’s, which is known for its aggressive buying power, will not have an advantage in this area over Becker.

Responding to local suspicion that the Becker sale was triggered by Jack’s move into Hermosa, Hollander and Mangiagli have pointed out that the Billabong negotiations dated back five years and began in earnest in early 2008, well before the two became aware of Jack’s Hermosa store plans.

Becker and Hollander retained ownership of their surfboard manufacturing business and the right to use the Becker name for their boards.

Also coincidental to Jack’s arrival in Hermosa is ET Surf’s plan to increase its square footage by 50 percent. Next month Talbot plans to knock a hole in the wall between his Aviation Boulevard shop and the neighboring auto repair shop.

“I’ve been trying to buy the auto repair building for 33 years. Finally, last year, Mr. Drasen, the 98-year-old owner called me and said, ‘Eddie, do you want the goddamn thing?’ I said, ‘Yes, but not now.’ He said, ‘Take it, or I’m selling it to someone else.’ I said, ‘Okay.’”

ET Surf’s Shannon Dieringer on the store floor, which is largely unchanged since ET opened in 1972.

More or less

During last Friday’s interview at Jack’s, while workers were busy building displays and stocking shelves, Abdel said his new store will bring new customers to the area and not simply cannibalize existing surf shops.

His Huntington Beach store is surrounded by a similar concentration of surf shops, helping the area to attract shoppers from around the world.

Abdel diplomatically declined to comment on Hollander’s email, and denied suggestions that animosity toward Becker influenced his decision to open in Hermosa. He also said he is not concerned about Billabong’s acquisition of Becker.

He pointed to his Billabong display, noting it is the largest brand display in his new store. He said he began looking for a Hermosa Beach location two years ago, but was unable to find one large enough until the former PetCare building became available. Jack’s most recently opened store, in Irvine, is 9,000 square feet. He said that despite the economy the year-old store is doing well and he plans to open another store in San Clemente next year.

“When the sun is out, the economy is good. When the sun is not out, the economy is bad,” he said.

Abdel was born in Palestine and emigrated to the U.S. from Brazil with his family when he was 17. They settled in Huntington Beach because an uncle lived there, he said.

The family became close friends with the owner of Jack’s Surf Shop and acquired it in 1972.

“At that time, there were just four or five surf brands – OP, O’Neill, Hang 10… We grew with the business,” Abdel said. “Every time something new came up, we added it – Boogie boards, skateboards, women’s clothing… We wanted to make shopping easy for the customer.”

In 1989, during redevelopment of Huntington Beach’s downtown, the Abdels undertook a three-year long remodel of their flagship store, which is across from the pier where the U.S Surfing Championship is held each year. The 16,000 square foot store became one of the first surf superstores. It carries more than 100 different styles of Vans shoes, alone, as well as most other major surf and skate shoes.

At 6,600 square feet the Hermosa Beach store is small by comparison to Jack’s other stores, but still large by Hermosa standards.

“We don’t carry just one or two items from the different brands. We carry their whole line, from A to Z so people don’t need to drive around,” Abdel said.

The store’s hardwood floors, flagstone counters, themed departments and creative lighting are more suggestive of a Nordstrom than a traditional surf shop. The store also has an unusual amenity for Hermosa – ample, easily accessible parking.

Abdel described his new store as high end without high end prices.

“We don’t try to recoup the building improvement through higher prices,” he said.

Jack’s sponsors over two dozen surfers, including top pros such as John John Florence of Hawaii, and promising local surfers such as Peninsula High’s Ford Timberlake.

“If we don’t support young surfers we’ll never have another Kelly Slater,” Abdel said.

Spyder co-owner Dickie O'Reilly manages the upscale Pier Plaza store.

Counter punch

Spyder’s remodel is designed to allow the shop to expand its core surf customer base to a broader market. Jarvis is adding a “seasonal” department that will feature back to school merchandise in the fall and snowboarding in the winter. Like Jack’s, he will have a junior’s department.

To strengthen his claim on core surfers Jarvis has added a 550-square-foot board display room. In the room is a CAD work station where he’ll collaborate with surfers on their custom board designs.

“If you want another board just like the last one, we can call up the old board’s template. If you liked the old board, but it was pushing too much water, we can reduce the nose rocker,” he said.

A 52-inch-wide, wall-mounted monitor will allow customers to watch the designs develop.

Hollander, who continues to oversee the Becker shops, said he plans a “down to the studs” remodel beginning in late fall.

“We’re going to surprise some people, but we’ll keep the Becker flavor. Our Hermosa store is soulful, but a little tired. We’ve wanted to remodel for years,” he said.

ET Surf has remained unchanged since Jarvis was a shop rat there in the mid ‘70s. Merchandise hangs from the rafters and aisles require a guide to navigate. A sign on the side of the building says, “If you see it cheaper, holler.”

Talbot said that’s all going to change with the expansion.

“We’ve taken photos of Jack’s and are going to copy it, only give it more soul. Like Spyder’s new addition. We’re trying to have as much neon and make it as clean as possible,” Talbot said during a phone interview this week, while he was driving home from a surf trip “up north” with his 14-year-old son. It was his son’s birthday.

He was joking.

“We’re changing absolutely nothing. As far as the dust on the floor, there may be more in the new store. It has those old, green, triangular skylights, like you see in old warehouses.  We’re keeping all that stuff just the way it is.”

Talbot said he’ll use the additional space to display his collections of old surfboards and skateboards. The new space will give ET exposure to traffic on Pacific Coast Highway.

He said he’s not concerned about Jack’s opening.

“I’d tell them, ‘Welcome to the neighborhood. Let’s have some fun,’” he said. ER

Above, decorated firefighter Paul Hawkins (holding envelope) is flanked by firefighter Steve Ramirez, retired engineer Vince Bruccolieri, engineers Brian Grebbien and Mike Smotrys, firefighter Jimmy Bruccolieri and Capt. James Crawford, during Hawkins’ final shift. Photo by Kevin Cody

by Robb Fulcher

Paul Hawkins, a decorated city firefighter who won the admiration of his peers, the thanks of countless victims of fires and other emergencies, and the gratitude of a Mexican sister city whose emergency services he helped to revamp, has retired with a quiet cheerfulness that marked three decades of service.

“He was a consummate professional firefighter-paramedic,” Capt. James Crawford said, after Hawkins worked his final shift last Tuesday without fanfare. “That was his life. He wanted to run calls all the time. He loved his job.”

Hawkins “never wanted to promote” from the rank of firefighter, Crawford said, adding that Hawkins loved treating medical-aid patients as much as he loved putting out fires.

Hawkins served for more than 20 years as the coordinator of the department’s paramedic program, providing training and overseeing logistics.

“We’re taking a big hit to lose him at the department,” Crawford said.

The cash-strapped city is offering early retirement incentives to employees, and Hawkins departs along with longtime Public Works Superintendent Mike Flaherty, who is soon to follow. Officials expect about 10 employees to retire early, and with a hiring freeze on 14 vacant employee positions, it is not yet clear whether new workers will be hired to offset positions lost to retirement.

Hawkins cut a recognizable figure with his compact, wiry frame, his calm, smiling demeanor, and a Tom Selleck moustache he adopted decades ago and never abandoned.

In May he received a Sustained Superiority Award at the 36th annual South Bay Medal of Valor ceremony, at which he was cited for outstanding service as a firefighter, a mentor, and a tireless leader in a program to train paramedics in Hermosa’s Mexican sister city, Loreto.

The award was presented to Hawkins by Hermosa Beach Fire Chief David Lantzer.

For 30 years Hawkins has “consistently exceeded the expectations of his supervisors. Always willing to train new paramedics and firefighters, Hawkins is constantly striving to improve paramedic and fire services for the citizens and visitors of Hermosa Beach,” read a statement from the Medal of Valor committee.

“Hawkins has excellent paramedic skills and serves as a prime example for young firefighters and paramedics of quality leadership under the stress of treating critically ill and injured patients in the field,” the committee wrote.

“Along with his regular assignments, Hawkins is quick to create and participate in programs to promote emergency medical services,” the statement read.

“Some of these accomplishments have included assisting in physician CPR re-certification as well as coordinating ‘Super CPR Days’ that include training hundreds of local residents in life-saving techniques,” the committee wrote.

“In addition, Hawkins is one of the founders of the Sister City Paramedic Program in Loreto, Baja Mexico. For the last 11 years, Hawkins and two other members of the Hermosa Beach Fire Department have traveled to Loreto twice a year to provide a week-long training for new paramedics and to help improve their program. This is the only Advanced Life Support Program of its type in Baja California.

As the local paramedic coordinator, Hawkins was “a leader in researching and implementing new technology and equipment to serve the needs of the citizens of Hermosa Beach and the entire South Bay.”

In December 2006 Hawkins took an ax blow to his hand as he helped fight a five-alarm blaze that leveled five Manhattan Beach businesses. Although the injury would require surgery followed by eight weeks off duty, firefighters said Hawkins barely flinched when it was inflicted, and continued working the fire for more than two hours before allowing himself to be taken to a hospital.

“Paul’s a stud,” a fellow firefighter said.

The injury occurred when Hawkins was holding a tool that another firefighter struck with the flat of an ax head, and Hawkins’ hand got in the way. ER

Erin Discipulo, 15, of Redondo Beach and Steven Ingraham, 15, of Torrance sit on the open section of the Hermosa Beach Pier. Photo by Robb Fulcher

by Robb Fulcher

The city pier is closed this week as divers repair a piling and shoot underwater video to inspect the condition of the pier’s understructure.

The pier’s gates near the waterline have been closed 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. beginning Monday. That schedule was expected to continue through Friday, with the pier fully reopening Friday evening in time for the weekend.

Inspections late last year revealed that a chunk of concrete perhaps four feet long and two inches thick had fallen from one of the pilings, said Associate Public Works Engineer Ken Reamey. A structural assessment determined that the pier was safe for public use, but left questions that could be answered only with further inspection.

The divers, from the contract firm Ballard Diving and Salvage near Seattle, have been working this week to place a fiberglass “jacket” around the damaged piling using grout to seal it tight, and shooting underwater video of the pilings.

Three divers have been going underwater in shifts, shooting video with a helmet-mounted camera. While one dives, another remains on the pier surface, keeping track of the diver’s air hose, and lowering down equipment as needed. The third person remains inside a trailer, monitoring the video that is being shot. The diver in the water remains in constant voice contact as well. ER

Scott Brownlie of Torrance strolls the Pier Plaza en route to a coffee house.

  by Robb Fulcher

They wore guns at their sides, and they came to clean up this town. Of litter, that is.
About a dozen gun-rights advocates with holstered side arms – and two with long arms strapped across their backs – held a brief rally and then picked up litter along The Strand on Saturday, stopping to talk and hand out fliers to anyone who asked about the weapons.
The mid-day “open carry” event was designed to remind the public that it has long been legal to carry unloaded weapons in plain sight in most public areas of California.
As the open carriers, all but two of them men, walked the busy Strand, most passersby seemed not to notice the guns at their sides. Some people asked about the weapons and eagerly accepted informational fliers, and some others quietly moved a step or two to distance themselves from the carriers.
Three young men in front of a Strand house stopped Jeff Cude of San Pedro, who was picking up cigarette butts and the like with a 45-caliber Glock on his hip.
“I was like, is that a real gun?” said one of the young men, smiling broadly.
“Is that a Glock?” he asked. “I love Glocks.”

Harley Green of South Bay Open Carry addresses a gun advocates rally.

The young men listened eagerly as Cude and another armed man cited a state law allowing people to carry unloaded guns, along with ammunition, in plain sight.
“You can walk into the store like that?” the young man asked.
Cude said yes, but quickly added that school zones, government buildings and parks are out of bounds.
“Can you shoot?” the young man asked.
“In self defense, in self defense,” Cude answered, stressing that strict legal parameters apply to the firing of a weapon.
“I don’t want to shoot anybody anyway,” he said.
During the conversation a young woman who was with the young men looked on, her eyebrows drawn together and her mouth agape.
The trash pickup ended at the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf on Hermosa Avenue, where nobody seemed to bat an eye at the armed customers.
Some of the advocates said they carry openly only in groups, and others said they carry unconcealed weapons often.
“I open carry constantly – Home Depot, Starbuck’s, wherever I go,” said Eric Barton of Compton, who was wearing jean shorts, a T-shirt and a Taurus 9 millimeter under his arm, in perhaps the only shoulder holster worn to the event.
“I didn’t want to tuck my shirt in,” he explained.
Most wore belt holsters, many of them with a gun on one hip and ammo clips on the other.
Richard Jack of Torrance needed no holster, wearing a Colt M4 semiautomatic long arm strapped across his back.
Barton said when he is asked about the gun, “I just tell them it is my right,” and a typical response is “Oh, right on.”
He said the gun is for self defense, to be drawn only if needed.
“I would feel better that I tried to protect my stuff rather than be victimized,” he said. “But I don’t wish for a reason or hope for a reason to take it out.”
Harley Green, 24, of Hermosa, the event’s organizer and the founder of southbayopencarry.com, said he can load his Springfield Armory 9 millimeter semiautomatic side arm in two and-a-half seconds.
“Over the last 50 years Californians have continually lost the ability to defend themselves,” Green said before the cleanup, speaking from a podium at Eighth Street and Valley Drive.
“Californians have also been bombarded by inaccurate negative imagery of firearms. South Bay Open Carry seeks to reverse these counterproductive trends by showing the public that Second Amendment supporters, like most Californians, represent safety and community values,” he said.
Green said gun control measures exacerbate crime.
“One does not have to be a, quote, gun person to see the need for actively supporting Second Amendment rights… If citizens sit idly by and allow politicians to strip away their Second Amendment rights, their other rights could soon be taken away,” he said.
Two Libertarian Party candidates offered their support as well.

Jeff Cude of San Pedro picks up trash with a Glock at his side.

“I strongly support what South Bay Open Carry is doing, I strongly support the Second Amendment, and I strongly support the entire Bill of Rights,” said Dale Ogden, the Libertarian candidate for governor.
“The Libertarian Party is the only party that came out here today to support open carry,” said Ethan Musulin, a candidate for a South Bay seat in the state Assembly.
Hermosa Beach Police Lt. Garth Gaines watched over the event, and police reported no incidents in connection with it. ER

Nutritional advice from another era. Photo by Olivia Kestin

by Lisa Duckers

Peter Sachs and Steve Sobel opened Buzz Pop Candy Shop in downtown Hermosa Beach in late May.

“We have only been open for a short time, but we already have many regulars, even if a lot of them are only 10 years old,” said Sachs. “They say something along the lines of ‘I want to live here.’”

Sachs and Sobel grew up together on the East Coast and moved to California after college to go into the food retail business.

“Steve and I both have a big sweet tooth, especially for candy and taffy,” Sachs said. “We decided that opening a candy store wouldn’t distract us from our other jobs and would be really fun. So far people have been really supportive of the shop.”

The Hermosa Avenue store draws people in with its psychedelic yellow and green exterior, where they’re greeted by bright, yellow, polka-dot walls and seductive candy displays.

New varies of candy arrive almost daily. Photo by Olivia Kestin

“Steve and I really tried to create that ‘60s and ‘70s theme in the shop. It’s supposed to take people back to a time when they were younger,” Sachs said.

“I really like the old sort of style that the store has,” customer Christina Harris said. “It’s bright, colorful, and makes me feel like I traveled back in time to the 1960s. There’s candy that I haven’t seen since I was a little kid.”

Buzz Pop sells everything from familiar favorites, such as Mallo Cups and Zots to classics like Pop Rocks and giant gummy bears.

They also have a large number of truly bizarre candies, such as bacon-flavored and cupcake-flavored mints and tequila lollipops with worms inside.

“The sodas and candies we order are based on what customers ask for. We also research what candies were popular back in the ‘60s and early ‘70s,” Sachs said.

The sodas include well-known products such as Dr. Pepper and root beer, in addition to odd varieties such as Bubble Up and Squamscot. All sodas are sold in glass bottles.

Buzz Pop’s sodas range from the familiar to the obscure. Photo by Olivia Kestin

Buzz Pop is also known for its Salt Lake City taffy.

“We have 30 flavors, including chocolate, raspberry lemonade, banana, grape and buttered popcorn,” Sachs said.

Each day the shop brings in new treats. Recent additions have included “Super Mario” candy, and stick-on, candy mustaches.

“We get busier and busier every day. It’s amazing how much publicity we have gotten through word-of mouth.” Sachs said.

Although the thought of a candy store may evoke mixed reactions from those who are trying to take off a few pounds, Buzz Pop offers options that keep those who are health-conscious from feeling left out.

“Several candies here are sugar-free. Each and every one of our 50 soda flavors is made with cane sugar, which is much healthier than corn syrup,” Sachs said.

The store owners plan to market “turn-down taffy” to hotels and sell “Old School Candy Boxes” to local stores.

Buzz Pop Candy Shop is located at 1312 Hermosa Ave. in Hermosa Beach. ER

by Robb Fulcher

The city school board avoided laying off teachers, but halved the hours of one physical education teacher and cut hours for non-teaching personnel, as board members approved a $9 million budget for the coming school year.

The balanced budget also calls for five furlough days for all district personnel, draws upon 10 percent of the district’s $1.3 million reserve fund, and makes use of $800,000 raised by volunteers, parents and other community members.

The state’s financial crisis has sent school boards scurrying to balance budgets, and further cuts from Sacramento are possible.

The Hermosa budget forestalls layoffs for three fulltime and five part-time teachers, while it cuts some clerical hours, reduces a fulltime maintenance worker to half-time status, and cuts in half the hours of the P.E. teacher.

Board member Cathy McCurdy praised “our wonderful parent community” for once again covering about 10 percent of the district’s budget. The Parent Teacher Organization raised $170,000, the Hermosa Beach Education Foundation raised $160,000, and $470,000 came in contributions from parents and other community members to the annual Excellence in Education drive.

McCurdy also praised the Hermosa Beach Education Association for foregoing any requests for salary raises, and for agreeing to the furlough days, which will save the district $182,000.

In addition, a deferred maintenance fund will be tapped for $15,000 to cover supply costs, each school board member relinquished an $8,000 annual stipend, and the district cut its $15,000 conference budget in half.

The Hermosa Beach Kiwanis service club gave the board $4,500 to forestall cuts to library hours at the two school campuses, and pledged the proceeds of the summer’s Taste at the Beach event to the libraries as well.

Board members hope that money can be found to restore the physical education teacher’s cut hours. As it stands, his salary will be entirely subsidized by the Beach Cities Health District. ER