These dramatic photos from the Arcadia Fire Dept. show a vacant house fire 6:25 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 2, on First Avenue.

Courtesy of Arcadia Fire Dept.

Courtesy of Arcadia Fire Dept,

The blaze was dangerously close to the new Dana Middle School gym just a few feet away.
Luckily, there was no one inside the house and there was no damage to the gym or other properties.
Five fire trucks, two paramedic trucks, and two helicopters rushed to the scene. Tons of smoke was seen and smelled very strongly all the way up to Duarte Road.

Courtesy of Arcadia Fire Dept,

The house had been vacant and up for sale for a couple months and had been sold recently and was in escrow at the time of the blaze. Officials said the buyer was planning to demolish the structure anyway.
There was  lots of storm debris and piles of leaves and foliage and clutter in the house.
Officials do not suspect any foul play. Possible causes: a vagrant or prankster.

– By Scott Hettrick

Mayor Gary Kovacic was on hand Wednesday morning (Feb. 1) to help officially introduce a giant 35-foot banner across Huntington Drive near First Street promoting the upcoming Arcadia High School Theatre production of the classic musical Oklahoma.

L-r Mayor Gary Kovacic, Bruce Lazenby of sponsor Rose Hills Memorial Park & Mortuary AHS principal David Vannasdal.

Joining the Mayor was AHS principal David Vannasdall and Bruce Lazenby, Executive Director of corporate sponsor Rose Hills Memorial Park & Mortuary, which made the banner possible. The company is also printing promotional posters, providing water for the cast and audience, and purchasing group tickets for their employees to enjoy the show.

“Rose Hills Memorial Park & Mortuary is pleased to support Arcadia High School and the Performing Arts Department,” said Lazenby. “We think Oklahoma is more than OK. The arts are an essential component of human development, theater arts allow students to forge a craft and develop a vehicle of self expression. Our First Lady said it this way, ‘It’s through this constant exchange—this process of taking and giving , this process of borrowing and creating—that we learn from each other and inspire each other.’ Rose Hills is proud to support this year’s spring performance of Oklahoma.”

“The AHS Drama Department, directed by Steven Volpe, brings a very sophisticated theater experience to a high school stage,” said Vannasdall. “The students are dedicated young actors with a passion for performing.”

After the unveiling, the men made their way down the block to Denny’s, another corporate sponsor that is offering a $5 discount with every ticket purchase.

Mayor Kovacic reflected on the school’s theater department when he attended Arcadia High.
“Arcadia has a rich tradition of excellent student musical productions,” he said. “Back in 1968, when I attended Arcadia High School, it was The Music Man, and I’m looking forward to this year’s production of Oklahoma.”
“My emphasis this year as Mayor has been volunteerism, and I am glad that Rose Hills, Denny’s, and the volunteers at our own Community Center have partnered with the high school’s theatre department for this production. It demonstrates an expanding community involvement with our talented students.”

“Thanks to Measure I, the new performing arts center now under construction at the high school will create opportunities for many more community partnerships to help the theatre department provide Arcadia with top quality entertainment.”

Oklahoma will be presented in the high school Litle Theatre t 7 p.m. Thursday – Saturday March 22, 23 & 24 as well as the following weekend, March 29, 30 & 31st. The doors open at 6:30 p.m.

Organizers expect every performance to be sold out well in advance.

Bruce Lazenby of Rose Hills purchases a ticket with a discount at Denny's.

Tickets can be purchased at Denny’s, at the northeast corner of Huntington Drive and Santa Anita Avenue. No matter where you purchase your tickets, Denny’s will offer a $5 discount on any order of $15 or more each time customers show their ticket stub. Tickets for seniors and students are only $10, meaning they will get 50% of the ticket price back when they take advantage of the Denny’s offer.
Denny’s is also putting up posters and handing out postcards to promote the play to their customers.

In addition, tickets can be purchased online at www.arcadiastage.com. Other options when purchasing online are a Fast Pass which allows you bypass the line at the door on the night of the performance. Also online you can purchase a VIP reserved seat for $25. This not only provides you your choice of seat and a comfortable pillow you also do not have to stand in line and your seat will be reserved even if you show up at 7 pm.

Seniors can purchase special opening night discount tickets at the Arcadia Senior Center and the Monrovia Community center.

Another sponsor, Dalvina Cookies, has made it possible for fliers to be passed out at all the senior centers and all senior living facilities in Arcadia, Pasadena, Monrovia, Duarte and Bradbury. In addition, Dalvina has made it possible for posters to be posted at many local business establishments as was done for the last production. However, this spring the list of participating businesses is more than double the number from last fall. Some of the businesses participating are Ralph’s, Albertson’s, Fresh and Easy, Fasching’s Car Wash, and Pacos.

– By Scott Hettrick

A 27″ model of the planned nine-foot statue of Arcadia founder Elias J. “Lucky” Baldwin was unveiled to City Council members tonight, Tuesday, Jan. 17.

Artist Alfred Paredes said the statue, which he has dubbed, “A Dawn of the West,” depicts Baldwin in his very last years — he died less than a month short of his 80th birthday.
In the one-quarter scale model, Baldwin is standing tall, holding his Western hat in his left hand down to his side.

The bronze statue will stand on a pedestal in the rose garden west of the Community Center parking lot in the area separating Campus Drive and eastbound Huntington Drive at Holly Avenue. Eastbound drivers will get the best front view of the statue which is planned to face west towards Baldwin’s beloved ranch and buildings still standing in what is now the L.A. County Arboretum.

Paredes anticipates the statue will take no more than five months to complete and have ready for installation as soon as he gets final apporoval from the City.

See more photos at Arcadias BestNews Facebook page here (and don’t forget to “like” the page while you’re there).

– By Scott Hettrick

“Santa Anita is fantastic,” says Michael Mann of the iconic horse race track. “It’s beautiful, a great-looking race track; why would you choose any other place?”
That’s high praise from the filmmaker responsible for the TV and movie versions of “Miami Vice,”  the seven-time Oscar nominee “The Insider,” and the cult favorite “Heat.”
“Santa Anita is such a beautiful atmosphere; it would be crazy not to honor it,” adds David Milch, Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude graduate of Yale. Milch went on to be an Emmy-winning writer of “Hill Street Blues” and then co-created “NYPD Blue,” for which he won a Humanitas Prize and a record 26 Emmy nominations in the first season, and created the HBO series “Deadwood,” winner of Emmys, a Golden Globe, and a Peabody Award.

Mann and Milch, unlikely partners as two of three executive producers of the new HBO series about the underbelly of horse racing called “Luck” (9 p.m. ET/PT on Sunday nights beginning January 29) joined the show’s two highest-profile stars Dustin Hoffman and Nick Nolte in meeting with hundreds of TV critics Friday in Pasadena.
<Story continues along with review of all nine episodes of “Luck” below the following 85-second video interview with Hoffman and Mann…>

My father took our family to a movie in 1969 starring Steve McQueen called “The Reivers,” an adaptation of the William Faulkner novel, featuring slow-motion scenes of horses racing that Dad thought represented some of the most impressive cinematography he had ever seen.
I think he would have thought the same about the powerful scenes of horse racing at Santa Anita in “Luck.”

But even some of those who follow horse racing and are familiar with Santa Anita expressed disappointment with the one-hour pilot that HBO showed as a sneak preview last month. Too many characters and too much insider jargon that combined to make it a little hard to follow, and nothing much of significance happening which made it feel a little slow and not very engaging. Providing even more challenge in the pilot, most of the characters are degenerates and criminals who don’t initially exude much charisma or humor, though they do each have personalities that will eventually emerge.

For those viewers who were not bowled over by the pilot, I recommend sticking with it with a few more episodes; the second hour ramps up considerably, even if it is still not “The Sopranos.” In fact, mob-like violence eventually creeps in later episodes, particularly as Hoffman’s character, who is being released from prison in the first scene of the pilot, becomes entangled by episodes four and five with a yacht-residing heavy rival for Hoffman’s Ace character played by Michael Gambon (the polar opposite of his avuncular Professor Dumbledore in the “Harry Potter” movies).
It is that juxtaposition of the seedy underbelly of horse racing set against the idyllic ambiance of Santa Anita that offers the primary intrigue and focus of the show. Milch described it as the “double-ness” of Santa Anita, the real world and the “Santa Anita of the mind.”

The momentum of the mid-series episodes, including a mild earthquake tremor that literally shakes up the motley crew while dining at the local “Rod’s Grill,” tends to stall a bit before regaining energy in the final installment.

Along the way, despite the multitude of characters already in place, new high-profile actors like Gambon continue to be added, such as Joan Allen. Her role as a persistent horse welfare activist (a la Bo Derek?) and her motivation is as vague as many of the other characters, but she appears to become a potential romantic interest for Ace.

Another actor gaining screen time after the pilot is Hall of Fame former jockey Gary Stevens (“Seabiscuit”), whose story arc carries him through a recurrence of his battle with alcoholism that threatens his career. Stevens displays an impressive and extensive range of acting skills that his prior acting roles had not allowed.

For Hoffman, the series presents a new opportunity to work unencumbered by studio executives.
“I’ve not had this experience before,” he said. “You can’t get a shot at doing your best work in the studio system.”
HBO does not have committees analyzing and making recommendations, he said. He also enjoys having three cameras filming at the same time to catch different angles so that actors don’t have to repeat the same shot multiple times.

Also somewhat unique to this HBO series is the wide variance in running times of each “one-hour” episode by as much as 20-minutes.” Each episode has a different director and some run about 45-minutes while others run 50-plus minutes and 60-plus minutes, including the 66-minute finale.

Hoffman and the producers all expressed interest in seeing the expensive series be picked up by HBO for several more seasons.
Maybe that would give Milch time to write in a visit to Santa Anita from Tony Soprano or even Carrie and friends from that other former HBO series “Sex and the City.”

– By Scott Hettrick

Westfield Santa Anita is filling the month of December with holiday cheer.
Click here to go to Westfield Santa Anita web site and find discount offers and complete activity schedule and daily updates.

Among the highlights:

* Daily Snow Shows through Dec. 23 at 5 p.m., 6 p.m. & 7 p.m. on the Promenade.
* 45′ live Christmas tree on the Promenade.
* Life-sized storyboard of The Polar Express on the Promenade.
* Promenade Express train rides Monday – Sunday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Thursday, Dec. 15: 

– Coldwater Creek Girls Night Out Last Gift Dash 6 p.m. – 9 p.m. – 20% off during the day; 30% off during the event when you bring a friend.

– Family Fun Days 11 am. in the Promenade by the Christmas tree. Snow show and free hot chocolate.

Friday, Dec. 16: Film Screening of “The Polar Express” at 6:30 p.m. Free hot chocolate for those in pajamas.