Anthony Schmitt creates a shopping cart tree every year at the Edgemar Center for the Arts. (Paul Alvarez Jr. editor@smdp.com) EDGEMAR CENTER — Just like a living tree, the Edgemar shopping cart tree is growing and spawning seedlings. At 35 feet, this year’s tree is the tallest ever, said the creator, Santa Monica artist Anthony... Read more →

The Palisades Bluffs can be a dangerous place. (File photo) IN THE HISTORY BOOKS — Next time you bottom out on Colorado Avenue, think back with sympathy to your 1913 predecessors. One hundred years ago this month, four passengers were thrown from a Hupmobile when they hit a “chuck hole” caused by rail construction on Santa Monica... Read more →

My plan was to write one article about Japanese restaurants, one about Korean, one about Chinese, and one about mixed-Asian restaurants.  So I asked my Korean golf partner, Mr. Kim, “What’s the best Korean restaurant on the Westside?” He hesitated, like he does before each putt. He continued to think for a while. Then he replied,... Read more →

Because we in America are so fixated on Mark Twain, our “premier storyteller,” we sometimes tend to conflate his personal history with that of England’s “premier storyteller,” Charles Dickens. As writers, public storytellers, and lecturers, they had much in common, especially when it came to humor, satire and impatience with social... Read more →

If you like your holiday entertainment laugh-filled, but still wondrous while serving a great purpose, make your next stop the Actors’ Gang Theatre in Culver City. The annual “Queen Family’s Very Special Holiday Special” is a romp! Check out a variety of live performers during The Actors' Gang production of 'Queen Family's Very... Read more →

Dear Life Matters, I am hosting a rather large holiday dinner with both friends and family invited. This is a tradition and it has always been very nice and a lot of fun. But this year is a little different because one of my husband’s sisters has had a very bad marital situation this past year. Her husband left her and it turned out... Read more →

What am I going to give so-and-so for the holidays? That is the universal question this time of year. Whether it’s for your assistant the java junkie, your friend the baker, or your brother-in-law the grill master, there are plenty of food-related gift ideas guaranteed not to be re-gifted. Chocolates, snack mixes, tubs of popcorn are... Read more →

MAIN LIBRARY — City Hall’s Office of Emergency Management has completed an emergency preparedness activity guide for kids as a fun way for them and their families to be prepared for emergencies like an earthquake or fire. Included in the activity guide are tips, fun games and activities, and steps to create a family emergency plan and... Read more →

PALS: Tawny with her friend Blessing.  Blessing is a golden retriever rescued wandering in the Palm Springs desert two years ago. (Photo courtesy Carole Hart) MONTANA AVE  — “Can you take six dogs?” Jean McCoy’s friend asked her in October. Animal Control officers had just busted a family of dog hoarders in Westlake and a few... Read more →

PLAYING IT UP: (L-R) Megan Rippey, Sol Mason, Paul Sand and Shay Astar, The West End Theatre cast of 'Kurt Weill at the Cuttlefish Hotel’ at the Santa Monica Pier. (Photo courtesy Agnes Magyari) Santa Monica has a storied history of artistic and intellectual refugees who settled here to escape the horrors of Nazi Germany. For a glimpse... Read more →