Mountain Views News, Pasadena Edition [Sierra Madre] Saturday, June 30, 2018

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SOUTH PASADENA - SAN MARINO

Mountain Views-News Saturday, June 30, 2018 

The Enduring Arts Legacy 
of South Pasadena’s 
Nelbert Chouinard Shines

South Pasadena Adopts First 
Capital Improvement Plan

South Pas Joins Regional 
Vector Control District

 

 The South Pasadena City 
Council, last week, adopted 
the City’s first Capital 
Improvement Plan, outlining 
about $104 million in proposed 
investments during the next 
five years. Under the plan, most 
of the spending would go to 
improving streets, roadways, 
and water and sewer systems.

 The Capital Improvement 
Plan, or CIP, will be a critical 
guiding document as the 
City undertakes much-
needed upgrades to its aging 
infrastructure, said City 
Manager Stephanie DeWolfe. 
The plan was informed by a 
recent community survey, 
which asked residents to rank 
their top spending priorities. 

 “Creating a CIP allows us to 
think proactively and prioritize 
based on the needs of the 
community,” DeWolfe said. “It 
examines our infrastructure 
needs in a more comprehensive 
manner, and allows the City to 
plan accordingly.”

 As part of the municipal 
budget adoption on June 6, 
the Council approved the CIP 
along with a first-year budget 
allocation of about $14 million. 

 Not all of the investments 
called for in the CIP are fully 
funded, DeWolfe explained, 
and will be dependent on the 
City’s ability to maintain its 
revenues through 2023. If 
revenues decrease, many of 
the projects may not come to 
fruition, she added.

Highlights of the CIP include:

• About $67 million in street 
and roadway investments, 
including major street 
rehabilitation projects and 
a system of interconnected 
bikeways on major 
thoroughfares throughout the 
City.

• About $33 million for water 
and sewer projects, including 
critical seismic upgrades to the 
City’s two aging reservoirs.

• About $1.5 million in street 
lighting improvements.

• About $2.7 million in 
structural and technology 
upgrades to municipal 
buildings and City-owned 
facilities.

For more information visit: 
ci.south-pasadena.ca.us. 

 South Pasadena will join the 
San Gabriel Valley Mosquito 
& Vector Control District 
(SGVMVCD) beginning July 1.

 Residents can expect a higher 
level of service on mosquito-
related concerns, along with 
the benefits of aligning with 
a regional system, said City 
Manager Stephanie DeWolfe.

 “I’m very pleased to begin this 
partnership,” DeWolfe said. 
“The District performs a vital 
service to maintain the quality 
of life and public health in the 
communities it serves.”

 With the addition of South 
Pasadena, the District now 
covers 26 cities in the region. 
It provides surveillance, 
inspection, treatment and 
education for mosquitoes and 
black flies. 

 The most commonly requested 
services include: Property 
inspections for mosquito 
breeding sources, investigation 
and/or treatment of neglected 
pools, delivery of mosquito 
fish, investigation/surveillance 
of day-biting mosquitoes, and 
investigation into excessive 
activity of biting insects. 

 “We are proud to protect 
South Pasadena residents, 
businesses and visitors from 
established and emerging 
mosquito threats,” said Jared 
Dever, general manager of 
the SGVMVCD. “But we can’t 
forget that the fight against 
mosquitoes often takes place in 
our own backyards and patios. 
We all share the responsibility 
of a healthier and bite-free 
South Pasadena. Eliminating 
stagnant water weekly is an 
important public health habit.”

 Beginning July 1, South 
Pasadena residents can access 
District services by calling 626-
814-9466 or through an online 
service request form at www.
sgvmosquito.org. Information 
is also posted on the South 
Pasadena City website, 
southpasadenaca.gov. 

 Officials will deliver a 
presentation on District 
resources and services at the 
July 18 meeting of the South 
Pasadena City Council.

By Steve Fjeldsted, Library 
Director

 South Pasadena is widely 
known for its prominent 
arts-oriented culture. Not 
surprisingly, the South 
Pasadena Library collection 
offers a wealth of materials 
on groundbreaking Southern 
California artists of the 
20th and 21st Centuries. 
An impressive number of 
the artists represented in 
these attractive works were 
associated with the Chouinard 
Arts Institute. The small school 
was started by South Pasadena 
resident Nelbert Chouinard in 
Downtown LA in 1921. She was 
living in a house on Garfield 
Avenue that had been built by 
her father in 1907 when she 
almost singlehandedly founded 
the arts instruction school that 
progressed from its humble 
beginnings to one that fostered 
the talents of internationally 
renowned artists in the decades 
to follow. 

 Nelbert employed her 
groundbreaking “nurturing but 
firm” arts education techniques 
as the Chouinard Art Institute 
grew into the most important 
school of its kind on the West 
Coast. Under Nelbert’s steady 
guidance the school attracted 
many talented students who 
produced dynamic, thought-
provoking works. During the 
art college’s historic run until it 
closed its doors after more than 
50 years, the open progressive 
arts education principles 
developed by Chouinard 
empowered more than 50,000 
students to become standouts 
in their respective fields of 
artistic pursuit. Graduates from 
the school became leaders in 
every major West Coast art-
related movement of the 20th 
Century, including cinema, 
architecture, animation, 
ceramics, and watercolors. 
They also became standouts in 
the emerging colorful realms of 
pop, surf, and rock graphics.

 In the 30s and 40s, the 
Chouinard Art Institute 
trained all of Walt Disney’s 
early animators, leading to 
a longtime partnership until 
Nelbert suffered a stroke in the 
early 50s and could no longer 
run the school. In gratitude 
for the Chouinard Art Institute 
serving as the fertile breeding 
ground that spawned the 
artists for “Snow White and the 
Seven Dwarves,” Disney’s first 
full-length motion picture in 
1937, Walt agreed to support 
the school financially. When 
Chouinard Art Institute in Los 
Angeles closed in 1972 after an 
historic 50 year run, it was sold 
to Walt Disney and it became 
the world-renowned California 
Institute for the Arts (CalArts).

 Chouinard Art Institutes’s 
impressive list of famous 
accomplished instructors 
included architect Richard 
Neutra, costume designer 
Edith Head, and Merrell Gage, 
the man who created the 
sculptures, plaques, and friezes 
around the outside the South 
Pasadena Public Library. Gage 
went on to head the USC Fine 
Arts Department and became 
one of the greatest American 
sculptors of the 20th Century.

 A list of the most celebrated 
Chouinard graduates almost 
reads like a chapter of ‘Who’s 
Who of 20th Century West 
Coast Artists.” It includes 
Larry Bell, one of only two 
still-living individuals on The 
Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely 
Arts Club Band” album cover; 
Rick Griffin, designer of dozens 
of famous San Francisco rock 
album covers and concert 
posters, celebrated graphic 
artist S. Neil Fujita, pioneering 
animator Chuck Jones, iconic 
muralist Millard Sheets, and 
edgy oil and acrylic painter 
t Llyn Foulkes. Another 
famed Chouinard grad, Ed 
Ruscha, an early leading light 
of Pop Art, was named one of 
Time Magazine’s “100 Most 
Influential People in the World” 
in 2013.

 John Van Hammersveld, 
widely recognized for his iconic 
“Endless Summer” movie 
poster, as well as album cover 
artwork for the Grateful Dead 
and the Jefferson Airplane, 
is now part of a collective 
of Chouinardians known as 
the California Locos. The 
quintet includes performance 
painter Norton Wisdom, blues 
musician and artist Gary Wong, 
graffiti stylist Chaz Bojorquez, 
and Dave Tourje, the Executive 
Director of the Chouinard 
Foundation, a nonprofit group 
dedicated to preserving and 
expanding the important arts 
legacy of Nelbert Chouinard, 
who is now increasingly 
recognized for helping so 
many of her students to make 
powerful, lasting impressions 
on art in the 20th and 21st 
Centuries.


Nelbert Chouinard in 1949

Clean Power Alliance 
Community Advisory 
Committee Recruiting

Make a Blind Date with a 
Book at the South Pas Library

 Don’t judge a book by its cover! Visit the Blind Date with a Book 
display in the Library and make a date with your next great read. 
Librarians have wrapped some of their favorite titles in brown 
paper and written personal ad style clues to help readers choose 
their blind date book. There are a wide variety of titles in all genres 
to satisfy all tastes, from humorous fiction lovers seeking quirky 
offbeat plots to fast-paced mystery lovers seeking a complex and 
compelling sleuth. Participants pick a covered book using the 
clues, check it out, unwrap and enjoy! Readers can earn prizes 
for participating in Blind Date with a Book by writing a review 
on the Rate Your Date card included with each book. When cards 
are returned to the Library’s Reference Desk readers can choose 
a prize, get a coupon for the Friends of the Library Bookstore, or 
be entered into an opportunity drawing for a surprise gift basket. 
Come visit the Library and take a chance on your next great 
reading adventure! For more information contact the Reference 
Desk at rdesk@southpasadenaca.gov or (626) 403-7350.

 South Pasadena officials 
said Wednesday that the 
Clean Power Alliance is 
seeking qualified applicants 
for its inaugural volunteer 
Community Advisory 
Committee. The Committee 
will be composed of 15 
representatives from seven 
diverse geographic sub-regions 
within Clean Power Alliance 
territory and will advise the 
Clean Power Alliance Board 
of Directors on certain policy 
and planning matters. The 
Committee is a public body 
and will be subject to all 
applicable Ralph M. Brown Act 
provisions. You can locate more 
information about Clean Power 
Alliance and the Community 
Advisory Committee and 
the application form at 
cleanpoweralliance.org.

 Clean Power Alliance asks that 
anyone wishing to apply submit 
a form by July 25. A selection 
panel will review applications 
and you may be contacted 
for an interview. Committee 
Members will be appointed by 
the Board of Directors.

San Marino 
Fourth of July 
Wristbands

 
The community of San Marino 
is invited to attend the City’s 
annual Fourth of July event on 
Wednesday, July 4 at Lacy Park. 
The celebration will include food 
booths, a fun zone, a community 
parade, entertainment, and a 
fireworks display at 9 p.m. All 
guests will need a wristband to 
enter the park.

 The Virginia Road entrance 
to Lacy Park will open at 7 a.m. 
No one will be allowed to enter 
via St. Albans Road until 3 p.m. 
Guests may reserve areas using 
blankets and chairs; no stakes or 
ropes will be permitted.

 Pre-sale wristbands will be 
available to San Marino residents 
for $5 each. Proof of residency 
is required and residents must 
present an identification card 
with their address or a utility 
bill. Pre-sale wristbands will be 
available for non-residents for 
$15 each. Children ages 2 years 
and under are free.

 Wristbands can be purchased 
through Tuesday, July 3 at 
the Recreation Department, 
Monday through Thursday 
from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and at City 
Hall, Monday through Thursday 
from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Friday 
from 7 to 11 a.m. Wristband 
sales begin at Crowell Public 
Library on Monday, June 18, 
Monday through Thursday 
from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday 
and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 
5 p.m. and Sunday from 1 to 5 
p.m. Wristbands purchased on 
Wednesday, July 4 are $20 each, 
regardless of residency. Children 
2 years and under are free. For 
more information, call (626) 
943-2627.

 The Rotary Club of San Marino 
will present its Annual Fourth 
of July Parade. Children on 
decorated bikes accompanied 
by an adult are invited to 
participate. Bikes parade in a 
special section at the front and 
no registration is needed. Bands 
are also welcome. If you would 
like to drive a vehicle in the 
parade, registration is required. 
For more information, call (626) 
440-1959.

Summer Reading Program 
marches in Festival of Balloons 

 Families interested in marching as part of the Summer 
Reading Program group in the South Pasadena Festival 
of Balloons Parade on July 4th should meed at 10:30 am 
on the Diamond Avenue side of the Library. Children are 
encouraged to walk for the Library to help motivate others to 
read. Marchers may bring water bottles, sunscreen, wagons, 
and strollers. Other wheeled vehicles are not permitted. 
Each child must be accompanied by an adult.

 The Old Mill Foundation 
announced that Magical

Music at the Mill, chamber 
music under the stars, will 
return to The Old Mill in 
summer. Each evening will 
feature a different music 
ensemble performing on 
the Pomegranate Patio 
surrounded by the Mill’s 
beautiful pomegranate 
trees and lush gardens. In 
addition to enjoying the 
fine music, concertgoers are 
invited to view the building, 
learn about its history, and 
view the latest California Art 
Club exhibition in the Mill’s 
gallery.

Saturday, June 30*

Saturday, July 14*

Saturday, August 25*

*The grounds of the Old 
Mill open at 7 pm, and the 
concerts

begin at 8 pm.

Ticket Information:

Tickets $24/ea., OMF 
Members $20/ea., or $50 for 
the series.

For more information and 
to make reservations contact 
the Old Mill by phone 
(626)449-5458, Tuesdays–
Fridays, 12–4 pm or visit 
old-mill.org. The Old Mill 
is located at 1120 Old Mill 
Road, San Marino, 91108.

Magical Music 
at the Mill


Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com