Towering Over Valmonte

At 4420 Via Valmonte stands the Gate Lodge Tower, distinct in its rustic stone setting conjuring images of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. The stalwart sentry guarding the eastern entrance to Palos Verdes Estates was originally intended to be the guard house for a gated community that was then called the “New Palos Verdes Project”.

Built in 1926 the tower is a two story, 15 feet wide, round construction with 18 inch thick walls of PV Stone. Upstairs is a room with a view, though trees have grown high and obscure its vista. Downstairs, there is a kitchen and living room area complete with fireplace, and over the years this romantic scene has belonged to a few renters.

Overlooking PV’s eastern border with Torrance, the property commanded a majestic panorama over Los Angeles and a part of what was once Frank Vanderlip’s 16,000 acres. As the New Palos Verdes Project progressed, the section of Hawthorne that snaked up the hill was renamed Via Mirlo, reestablishing the guard tower as the “Mirlo Gate Lodge”. Shortly after the tower was finished, the street was renamed Hawthorne and continued on to the golf course. Although the tower has had many names since, ‘Hawthorne’ has never been one of them.

The Great Depression and World War II changed everything; this and many other projects poised to be built in PV were brought to an end and the New Palos Verdes Project became nothing more than drawings on paper.

Over the next decade the Great Lakes Carbon Corporation leased about 300 acres from Vanderlip. Dicalite (diatomaceous earth) was mined from the quarry at the bottom of the Valmonte bluff (now Hawthorne and Via Valmonte) and extended into what is now the Hillside Plaza, a part of Torrance. The mining company wanted to own the land and in 1953 the purchase of 6,800 acres from Vanderlip’s holdings caused the company investors to reassess their plans and the land was developed into a business and residential area. In 1965 Hawthorne was extended up and over the top of the hill to join Palos Verdes Drive South and what was once Via Mirlo became Via Valmonte.

In 1939 the City of Palos Verdes Estates took possession of the tower when the city was incorporated. No longer a sellable piece of real estate, it yet remains a symbol of our piece of the hill - Valmonte. Quaint on its pepper tree lined property, the tower is a quiet reminder of strength, safety and grandeur – exactly what we love about Palos Verdes and for the select few who have lived there, a man’s home actually can be his castle!

Source for this article: Palos Verdes Library’s Local History

BuzzNet Tags: Valmonte Living Magazine ~ March 2010 issue,PV tower,Palos Verdes Gatehouse, Palos Verdes Library, Niki Chanel

Zen and the Art of Aquarium Maintenance

by Zen Kent

(I assisted Zen in the writing of this article. ~ Niki )

My name is Zen Kent and I live on Via Valmonte. I am a senior at PV High School. One of my AP marine biology class projects is putting together a salt water tank for another biology class. My dad has had lots of saltwater aquariums over the years and I wanted to try it for myself.

I have a 40 gallon tank at school with a Bio-Ball, Wet/Dry system and when I am finished it will be a ”Touch Tank”. That’s an aquarium that has an open top and is accessible to student’s hands and easy observation.

Salt water for this kind of tank should basically be between 7.6 and 8.4 PH so I buy the water. That way I know it starts out OK for the fish. A gallon of salt water costs about $0.69/gallon. (40 gallon tank of water is about $30.00 to start but I have to keep putting more in because it evaporates.)

To get the microbes to grow so the tank can become sustainable, I need “Live Rock”. The rock is not really alive but lots of micro and macroscopic marine life live on and inside it. The rocks cost about $6.00/lb. A one pound live rock is about the size of a piece of fruit and I have 2 of them = $12.00. I put 40 pounds of live sand in there, too. It helps with the PH and the creatures need an “ocean bed”. 40 pounds of live sand cost me about $50.00.

Tropical tanks are warmer than freshwater ones, about 72º-80º degrees F. The fish that are used to this temperature, I think are more beautiful; fish like the Dragon Rass. My plan is to introduce a Dragon Rass into the environment that I make in the tank. This fish has a lot of energy and an egotistical personality; kind of an Alpha male thing. The other cool thing about this fish is that it sleeps under the gravel on the bottom of the tank. It will spend an hour piling up small gravel to sleep under it. It’s like he can turn out the lights when he wants. I think that’s smart - he avoids predation while he sleeps. I’ve never seen anything else like it. I like how the Dragon Rass changes color throughout its life, and I also like its name. They cost about $20.00 each.

Eventually I want to add an anemones and a Clown fish. Normally anemones sting, paralyze and eat fish but some of them pair up with Clown fish. The Clown is immune to the sting of the anemone so it’s protected from fish eaters while it stays close to the anenome. The anemone is protected from polyp-eating fish because the Clown fish chases them away. They have a symbiotic relationship. We humans have a lot to learn from that. A Clown fish can be from $6.00 to $12.00 and the cheapest anemones are about $25.00 each. The anemone can also eat blood worms which I can buy frozen and mix them in salt water before I add a teaspoon to the tank. The frozen blood worms are about $7.00 a package.

I will need snails, crabs and cleaning shrimp to keep the tank clean and habitable for the other fish and a snail can cost from $1.00 to $5.00 and the cleaner shrimp are $30.00 each. Hermit crabs are also good cleaners. They are about $1.50 each.

People have learned a lot about the ocean lately because over the last 30 yrs that they have been able to enjoy salt-tanks in their homes and observe ocean life closely.

I have a school budget of $160 and I’m almost there. If anyone is interested in helping me learn and teach others about sustainability of an ocean ecosphere, I would be grateful. Donations can be left in the school office for my teacher, Mrs. Kuhn, or for me, Zen Kent or at my favorite aquarium store: Neptune’s Reef at 2851 Pacific Coast Highway (near Crenshaw) in Torrance, 90505. Their phone number is 310.534.2323. Ask for John; he’s the owner and is extremely knowledgeable and experienced in the field. He always has some cool thing to tell me about fish or the ocean when I go there. Go have a look for yourself – it costs nothing to look!

Thank you for your support!

BuzzNet Tags: Valmonte Living Magazine ~ March 2010 issue,Palos Verdes High School,salt water aquariums,Dragon Rass,Clown fish,living rock,wet-dry system,Neptune's Reef,Torrance,Palos Verdes Peninsula,Zen Kent, Niki Chanel

Comfort with a Cause

Two friends… two angels… June Grossberg, owner of “Concepts in Yarn and Needlepoint” and her very good friend Leslye Borden together champion a program to help turn around the lives of abused women and children through a highly successful volunteer effort called “Handmade Especially for You”. The self esteem of battered souls is often so low they honestly believe an abusive lifestyle is what they deserve.

Enter the “Comfort Scarf”. In 2008 Leslye Borden started knitting sox and hats for underprivileged and abused kids across the country. Her love of knitting evolved into the “Handmade Especially for You”. Later that year she approached June, looking for a sponsor. June offered her shop for the “Knitting Club” and asked her suppliers to donate to the cause. Yarn manufacturers get their name out to potential customers, June’s store gets more business, knitters have a quiet place to create, Leslye’s project gets the support it needs and escapees from abuse are assisted - everybody wins.

Day after day heaps of soft yarn in every conceivable color and design appear on Leslye’s doorstep. Some donors are known, some anonymous; some private while others are in the business. The main contributions come from distributors like Trendsetter Yarns, Crystal Palace Yarns and Knitting Fever Yarns though at least another twenty manufacturers participate. Leslye winds the yarn into skeins and artistically combines several colors into individual ‘kits’ each containing a total of 100 yards (300 feet) to make one 4-5” wide, 60” long scarf. Volunteers use an open-weave stitch to knit numerous pieces and drop them into the donation box at the store. Leslye then sends them to shelters throughout California, helping create chapters around the country. It sounds fun but there is a serious side and a lot of work is involved, not unlike allies in the underground. It is important to have dependable, dedicated knitting members and the need for steady yarn supply is paramount.

The program is built on the healing psychology of gifting and has been proven to start victims on a road to a better life. Some of the women who receive one of the ‘gifts’ have never before been given anything that was just for them; the impact of a stranger donating time, effort, creativity and compassion has a deep and positive effect on their psyches. Many embark on a quest to seek a more nurturing environment for themselves and their children.

Crochet Magazine (crochetmagazine.com) published an article about “Handmade Especially for You” in their October 2009 “Talking Crochet Newsletter” and the response was overwhelming! People all over the States wanted to participate in this volunteer movement. Case in point: Peggy Bomba of Craig, Colorado read about Leslye’s efforts and was inspired to include “Comfort Scarves” in her classes at the Craig-Moffat County Jail where she has taught crocheting for over two years. These incarcerated women, often themselves victims of violence, frequently react to life in an aggressive manner, yet they now crochet scarves for other women in need. The work is calming and the fighting has stopped. Peggy has broadened her endeavors to include other causes and more volunteers – even men enjoy the handiwork! To date, she has sent two shipments of scarves to Leslye. It seems the term ‘corrections’ has taken on a renewed meaning: transformation. It’s a huge step towards healing ones self image. Examples like this prove that the work is worth the effort and the reward, immeasurable.

Crisis centers everywhere need continued assistance from the outside world to demonstrate to victims escaping abuse that life can be different - better. This last Christmas the ‘Scarf Project’ answered that need; the goal was 2,000 scarves yet the two partners were pleased to receive over 2,500 in time for the holiday delivery, a total of 6,500 for the year! They deliver the finished scarves to home offices of the shelters, keeping the safe-house’s actual locations hidden.

Leslye’s success with “Handmade” has been helped by June Grossberg through her store “Concepts in Yarn and Needlepoint”. June supports the “Comfort Scarf” drive by donating her shop and time so volunteers can come in and knit for the project, free of charge. Every Wednesday evening from 5:00 to 8:00pm about eight to twelve volunteers from Palos Verdes, Torrance and Redondo arrive with knitting needles in hand, pick up a free, pre-measured kit and enjoy the evening’s ‘girl time’ while they create a link of love to their less fortunate sisters. Other knitters who choose to craft theirs at home can pick up kits at the shop. June supplies two bins: one for Leslye’s kits and one for finished scarves. Leslye picks up the finished work and tags each one, signed by its maker. Finally, a non-knitting volunteer wraps each scarf with a brightly colored ribbon, ready for the next delivery batch.

The store “Concepts in Yarn and Needlepoint” is located at the end of Via Valmonte on Hawthorne Blvd. in the Hillside Plaza and normal business hours are 10:00am to 5:00pm, though open until 8:00pm on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. June carries many scrumptious yarn varieties in her shop imported from foreign manufacturers primarily Italy, Japan and Turkey. American manufacturers are not producing designer yarns at this time, but it is a growing industry. Hand dyed silks, Alpaca, Cashmere, Merino sheep’s wool, fibers made from soy milk, Kapok, corn and organics for soft baby items; colors, textures and designs are enough to make you drool! Patterns, buttons, notions and needlepoint supplies all vie for space in this cozy wonderland and if you still can’t get enough there are classes in crocheting, needlepoint and knitting, custom work and Ghost Knitters are available.

Abuse is not exclusive and can appear at any stage in life. It crosses all lines of society; age, race, education, creed and monetary circumstances. Addressing domestic violence involves us all - those in need and those that can fill the need; sometimes the boundaries are blurred. Volunteers are taking up the cause and knitting circles are spreading with new chapters in San Diego, one in Naples, Florida, one in the making in Seattle and approximately fifteen others throughout the country. To learn more about the scarf project, read Leslye’s monthly newsletter on her website at:http://www.handmadeespecially.org

By the way, if you don’t know what a Ghost Knitter is, I can only tell you that it is so secret you’ll have to visit the shop to ask… and bring your knitting needles!

BuzzNet Tags: Valmonte Living Magazine ~ March 2010 issue,Palos Verdes Peninsula,Concepts in Yarn and Needlepoint,Handmade Especially for You, Niki Chanel