Mountain Views News, Pasadena Edition [Sierra Madre] Saturday, August 18, 2018

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SOUTH PASADENA - SAN MARINO

Mountain Views-News Saturday, August 18, 2018 

South Pasadena Welcomes 
New Finance Director

An Evening with Larry Grobel 
the ‘Mozart of Interviewers’

‘Three Days in January,’ 
Donated to the Library

 
An Author Night with 
celebrated writer Lawrence 
Grobel, who has penned 
28 books on many of the 
most world’s most famous 
celebrities, will be presented 
in the South Pasadena Public 
Library Community Room on 
Thursday, August 23 at 7 pm. 
Larry also writes for national 
magazines and newspapers, 
including the “New York 
Times,” “Newsday,” “Rolling 
Stone,” “Entertainment 
Weekly,” “Cosmopolitan,” and 
“Writer’s Digest”. “Playboy” 
called him “the interviewer’s 
interviewer” after his interview 
with Marlon Brando for their 
25th anniversary issue. Grobel 
subsequently made national 
news resulting from his 
interviews with controversial 
Governor Jesse Ventura and 
fiery basketball coach Bob 
Knight.

 Joyce Carol Oates has called 
Larry Grobel “the Mozart of 
interviewers” and J.P. Donleavy 
has called him “the most 
intelligent interviewer in the 
United States.” From 2001 to 
2011 he taught seminars on 
The Art of the Interview, The 
Literature of Journalism,, and 
Autobiography & the Memoir 
at UCLA, and returned there 
to teach again in 2017. In 2013 
Grobel appeared as himself 
in Al Pacino’s film “Wilde 
Salome” and in Shane Salerno’s 
film about J.D. Salinger. Larry 
is married to artist and textile 
designer Hiromi Oda and they 
have two daughters..

 Grobel’s numerous bestselling 
and award-winning books 
include “Conversations with 
Capote,” “The Hustons,” 
Conversations with Brando,” 
Talking with Michener,” “Above 
the Line: Conversations About 
the Movies,” “The Art of the 
Interview,” “Al Pacino: In 
Conversation with Lawrence 
Grobel,” “Barbra Streisand,” 
and Meryl Streep. Video clips 
of Larry’s interviews with such 
icons as Robin Williams, Allen 
Ginsberg, Miles Davis, and 
John Huston will be screened 
during the library event.

 A Q & A with Larry will be 
conducted by Dean Ghaffari, an 
actor, playwright, and teacher 
who lives in South Pasadena. A 
few years ago, Dean performed 
his living history portrayal 
of Sal Mineo, “Rebel With a 
Cause” to a standing ovation at 
the Library. Audience members 
will also be able to pose 
questions.

The Community Room is 
located at 1115 El Centro Street. 
Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. and 
refreshments will be served. 
No tickets or reservations are 
necessary. Autographed copies 
of Lawrence Grobel’s books 
will be available for purchase. 
Special thanks to 210eastsound. 
For more information please 
call (626) 403-7350.

Free parking is available in the 
South Pasadena Unified School 
District lot at 1020 El Centro 
Street and at the Mission 
Meridian Parking Garage 
located at 805 Meridian Avenue 
adjacent to the Metro Gold 
Line Station, only one block 
from the Library.

Upon request made no later 
than four (4) business days 
before the event, the City 
will provide a reasonable 
accommodation for a qualified 
person with a disability to have 
equal access to the event. Please 
contact ADA Coordinator and 
Human Resources Manager, 
Mariam Lee Ko, at (626) 
403-7312 or fill out the City’s 
request form available at www.
southpasadenaca.gov and email 
the form to Human Resources 
at HR@southpasadenaca.gov.

 Craig Koehler, a 
financial operations and 
management professional 
with extensive experience 
in the government sector, 
has joined the City of South 
Pasadena as its new Director 
of Finance. Koehler began 
Monday, August 6.

 “Craig’s impressive skills 
and experience are a perfect 
fit for South Pasadena,” said 
City Manager Stephanie 
DeWolfe. “He has managed 
many complex budget 
projects throughout his 
career, and has demonstrated 
a strong commitment to 
financial transparency and 
open government. We are 
very pleased to have him on 
board.”

 In his new role, Koehler 
will oversee an annual 
municipal budget of $55 
million and a staff of eight 
in South Pasadena’s Finance 
Department. He will be 
responsible for developing 
and implementing a long-
range financial plan as 
identified in the City’s 
recently adopted strategic 
plan.

 Koehler most recently 
served as the interim 
Director of Finance for the 
City of Montebello and 
the Director of Financial 
Services for the City of 
Redondo Beach. He has 
held similar positions with 
the City of El Monte, the 
Jurupa Community Services 
District, and the Southern 
California Public Power 
Authority, among others.

 Koehler holds a Bachelor of 
Science degree in business 
administration from Cal 
State University, Long Beach 
and has completed post-
graduate studies in finance 
at UC Irvine. He holds 
certificates in budgeting 
and forecasting, financial 
modeling, bond credit 
analysis, civic engagement 
and communications.

 A copy of “Three Days in 
January: Dwight Eisenhower’s 
Final Mission,” by Bret Baier 
has been donated to the South 
Pasadena Public Library by 
the Literacy Committee of 
the East Pasadena Republican 
Women’s Club Federation. The 
2017 national bestseller has not 
only been called a masterwork 
on Eisenhower’s presidency, 
but also one of the classics of 
presidential history. The book 
reexamines the presidency 
of Dwight David Eisenhower 
(1890-1961) whose lifetime of 
service took him all the way 
from rural Kansas to West Point. 
From there he rose to become 
a five-star Army General and 
supreme commander of Allied 
Forces in Western Europe.

 General Eisenhower 
masterfully led the fight on 
the battlefields of World War 
II where he supervised the 
Invasion of Normandy and the 
defeat of Nazi Germany. Ike 
was then elected to be the 34th 
President of the United States 
and served two terms in the 
Oval Office from 1953-1961. 
During his time in the White 
House, Eisenhower managed 
Cold War-era tensions under 
the threatening cloud of 
nuclear weapons and launched 
the space race.

 President Eisenhower is also 
credited with skillfully guiding 
the U.S. out of a dangerous war 
with Korea and into a period 
of great economic prosperity, 
in the process strengthening 
Social Security while creating 
the federal interstate highway 
system. Although Eisenhower 
remained popular while he 
was in office, he is considered 
by Baier to be an oft-forgotten 
giant of U.S. history whose 
leadership traits offer lasting 
examples of honorable 
and effective political 
maneuverings. When he left 
the White House, Eisenhower 
had set the nation, in his words, 
“on our charted course toward 
permanent peace and human 
betterment.”

 The title of the book refers to the 
three days starting on January 
17, 1963 when departing 
President Eisenhower gave his 
Farewell Address and began 
passionately advising 43 year-
old President John F. Kennedy 
on important national issues 
before he was sworn into office 
on January 20.

 Bret Baier is the Chief 
Political Anchor for Fox News 
Channel and the Anchor and 
Executive Editor of “Special 
Report with Bret Baier. He 
has previously served as Chief 
White House Correspondent 
for Fox News and as National 
Security Correspondent based 
at the Pentagon, reporting 
from 74 countries, including 
numerous times from Iraq and 
Afghanistan.

 The East Pasadena Republican 
Women’s Club operates under 
the sponsorship of the National 
Federation of Republican 
Women. The motto of their 
Literacy Committee is “Only 
the educated are free,” a quote 
attributed to Epicletus.


Huntington Names New 
Director of Art Collections

 

 The Huntington Library, 
Art Collections, and 
Botanical Gardens has 
appointed Christina Nielsen 
as the Hannah and Russel 
Kully Director of the Art 
Collections, Karen R. 
Lawrence, The Huntington’s 
incoming president 
announced today. Nielsen, 
currently William and 
Lia Poorvu Curator of the 
Collection and Exhibition 
Program at the Isabella 
Stewart Gardner Museum 
in Boston, assumes her new 
position on Oct. 15. Nielsen 
has worked for 20 years in 
curatorial and leadership 
roles in museums across the 
United States, including the 
Art Institute of Chicago, the 
J. Paul Getty Museum, and 
the Metropolitan Museum 
of Art. She received her 
Ph.D. in art history from 
the University of Chicago, 
and recently completed a 
fellowship at the Center for 
Curatorial Leadership in 
New York.

 At The Huntington, 
Nielsen will be responsible 
for the development, care, 
and interpretation of some 
36,000 museum objects in 
the European and American 
art collections, as well as 
their display in two buildings 
–the Huntington Art Gallery 
and the Virginia Steele Scott 
Galleries of American Art. 
She also will lead the art 
collections’ professional 
staff and provide vision for 
the institution’s temporary 
exhibitions program, which 
includes large-scale shows 
presented in the MaryLou 
and George Boone Gallery. 
She replaces Catherine 
Hess, The Huntington’s chief 
curator of European art, 
who has served as interim 
director since March of 
2017.

 “The Huntington’s 
European and American 
art collections have inspired 
artists as well as the visiting 
public over the past century,” 
said Lawrence, “and as we 
look toward our next 100 
years, the collections are 
poised to become even 
more relevant within 
the dynamic and richly 
diverse arts environment 
of Southern California and 
the nation more broadly. I 
am convinced that Christina 
is precisely the leader who 
will help us accomplish 
key goals—growing the 
resources, impact, and 
prominence of the art 
collections and fostering 
inventive interaction with 
our great collections in 
the library and botanical 
gardens.”

 In her role at the Isabella 
Stewart Gardner Museum, 
Nielsen oversees a cross-
departmental team working 
in the archives, conservation, 
curatorial, and registration 
departments, on projects 
that have given expanding 
audiences greater access to 
the museum’s collection of 
art and archival materials. 
She has also worked closely 
with colleagues in museum 
education to revamp the 
interpretive framework for 
exhibitions, connecting 
historic works of art with 
contemporary experience, 
issues, and ideas.

 In her 2016 exhibition 
“Off the Wall: Gardner and 
her Masterpieces,” Nielsen 
reconsidered what the 
collection meant to the public 
in Gardner’s own lifetime, 
and what it means today. 
Her most recent exhibition, 
“Henry James and American 
Painting,” a collaboration 
with the Morgan Library 
in New York, examined the 
symbiosis between literature 
and the visual arts, a line 
of inquiry she intends to 
explore further with The 
Huntington’s extraordinary 
multidisciplinary holdings.

 “I’ve always believed that 
The Huntington, with its 
enviable art collections, 
research library, and 
gardens, occupied a unique 
role in the cultural landscape 
of the Los Angeles area,” said 
Nielsen. “And, in the 15 years 
since I last lived in LA, that 
landscape has evolved so far 
so fast! It’s now truly one of 
the most vibrant and diverse 
artistic centers in the world, 
and I can’t wait to get back 
there and start working with 
The Huntington’s fabulous 
collections and staff to see 
how we can continue to 
advance scholarship and 
also fuel contemporary 
creativity.”

Crowell 
Public Library 
gets new 
RFID system

 
San Marino’s Crowell Public 
Library recently completed 
the equipment installation 
for a new RFID (Radio 
Frequency Identification) 
stock management system.

 Staff will spend the summer 
placing RFID tags in the 
books, starting with the 
children’s books.

 The tags are inert until 
they are put in range of a 
transponder pad. Then, they 
transmit their bibliographic 
information. Patrons will be 
able to check out their own 
books by placing them on a 
transponder pad.

Staff will also be able to 
locate books on the shelves 
with a scanner. The library 
holds approximately 90,000 
items, but staff is anticipating 
being able to go live with the 
new system at the end of 
September.

 The system, which costs 
nearly $60,000, is being 
paid for entirely through 
the generosity of the Library 
Foundation and the Friends 
of the Library.

Conversational 
English Class

 

 Join fellow English 
language learners for an 
hour of conversation and 
instruction. South Pasadena 
Library’s Conversational 
English Class meets 
Wednesdays from 11:00 
a.m. to 12:00 p.m. in the Ray 
Bradbury Conference Room 
on the Library’s second 
floor. There is no charge 
for English As a Second 
Language (E.S.L.) adult 
learners to attend this class 
and no advance registration 
is required. Drop-ins are 
welcome.


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