Malibu Lumber Yard mall set to open

A Cuban-style restaurant from nightclub entrepreneur Rande Gerber, as well as MILK, an ice cream shop, will be one of several food-serving venues at the mall.By Laura Tate / Associate Publisher/EditorAfter more than a year and half, and millions of dollars spent on renovation and the installation of a state-of-the-art wastewater treatment facility, as well as a half year of delayed planned openings, the Malibu Lumber Yard mall will have a ribbon cutting March 27, and a grand opening April 18.Developers and Malibu residents Richard Weintraub, CEO of Weintraub Financial Services, and Richard Sperber, CEO of landscaping firm ValleyCrest Co., under the umbrella of Malibu Lumber LLC, had contracted to lease the site of the former Malibu Lumberyard from the City of Malibu for 39 years, with the option of extending it to 54 years. They will pay $925,000 per year and the city will also receive 30 percent of the mall's annual profits when they exceed $2.2 million.
The mall will house approximately 15 retail and food establishments, including the Havana Caf�, a Cuban-style restaurant by Malibu resident and nightclub entrepreneur Rande Gerber, and MILK, a caf�, ice cream and bake shop (the original, owned by Bret Thompson, is in Beverly Hills). In addition, a family-style restaurant is planned for upstairs, in a corner with big glass windows that overlook Pacific Coast Highway with a clear view of the Malibu Lagoon and, ironically, the golf course of the man who sold the land that houses the mall to the city, Jerry Perenchio. A wine, cheese and cold cuts shop will occupy a corner by the planned restaurant. Maxfield, Tory Burch, Intermix, Kitson Men, James Perse, alice + olivia, J.Crew, Planet Blue Kids, Theory and bakeshop Crumbs are other stores that will cater to shoppers.While many Malibu residents have worried about the "Rodeo-ization" of their town, with smaller mom and pop shops being pushed out in favor of larger, chain retail stores, in a walk through of the not-yet-finished mall last week, the developers talked about their goal in providing a community-like center, where people can come with their children and "hang out." Part of their agreement with the city requires them to also provide at least 10 percent, approximately 3,000 square feet, of retail space to local businesses at a rent lower than the other businesses. Weintraub said this rent could be as low as $5 per square foot. The average tenant will be paying $18 to $20 per square foot.However, several local shops that had planned to move in have dropped out, including Bernie Safire Hairstyling, McLean Gallery and Tops Gallery, which moved to a location near Rambla Pacifico and Pacific Coast Highway and is now called Tops Secret. The cost of moving to and building a new store may have been a factor in why a few local businesses decided not to relocate to the mall. The owner of Insurrection Hair Design, one of several local stores that had been scheduled to move to the mall, has not made a decision yet. The store is currently located at the Point Dume Village Shopping Plaza.On Friday, Weintraub said two local stores that are definitely moving in are Dance Star, a children's dance studio owned by Charissa Seaman who currently teaches for the city, and Andrianna Shamaris, a furniture and home living store.The community-oriented feel of the mall will also be carried out with a central gathering area, similar to that of the Country Mart sand lot, except instead of sand and play equipment, Ipe (a sustainable Brazilian hardwood) deck walkways and three eight-foot-tall fish tanks will be utilized. In this central, first level of the mall, there now sits a small round green area encircled by a low concrete wall, with granite rocks sticking out in the middle; however, Sperber said he was not happy with the outcome of the design, and plans to replace it.The plan also includes furniture that "you can sink into" arranged on both levels of the mall's decks, Sperber said. Weintraub said the idea is to have an "open beach deck" feel. Wireless Internet connection will be available to mall visitors.No expense was spared in the design of the two-level mall. In addition to all the hardwood decking and other amenities, 70-year-old Kentia King palm trees frame the buildings and a large, 100-year-old aloe tree sits in one corner. Baby and large Elephant Ear plants fill planters along the sides of store buildings, and exotic succulents are found throughout the grounds.And, a "fish hospital" is located in a small "building" to the side of the central mall area where the fish from the mall tanks can be treated if needed.Sperber, who has three children, two twin daughters, ages seven, and a son age 4, said one of the reasons he wanted to build a place like the Lumber Yard mall is because of his children. A Malibu resident since 1978, he said he wants to provide a place where his children and community members can hang out, and he envisions his children working at the mall stores when they're teenagers.Weintraub, with wife Liane, also has two young children.The idea to build the mall came about when Sperber met Weintraub at a party and talked to him about building a garden center for Malibu. That idea did not pan out, but grew to evolve into the open-air mall.While because it was technically a remodel and did not take years to build, the process of making the mall a reality has been an arduous one for the two Richards.The permitting process was tangled up with wastewater requirements, which eventually ended up with Malibu LLC having to build a $3 million wastewater treatment facility. An underground system of pipes, pumps, holding tanks and other equipment will treat up to 12,000 gallons of wastewater per day. All this is monitored by a sophisticated computer system housed in its own small building on the mall lot.Originals plans included a "green" roof, with native plants and succulents that Sperber said were fire safe. However, Fire Department officials did not agree, and required a normal roof.There was also a great deal of criticism about the city not ensuring that Malibu would have a lumberyard to replace the one that left. However, Weintraub said there just isn't enough space and local business to sustain one.Weintraub said there has been a great deal of divisiveness within the city and among the community over the project, and said he feels all that energy spent on opposing the project could be spent to "do something amazing together.""It is not a financial home run," Weintraub said of building the mall. "It's a labor of love."

Dunnellen Hall

I first mentioned back in February that Leona Helmsley's Greenwich estate, Dunnellen Hall had hit the market for $125 million but at that time I hadn't found the listing. But it turns out that David Oglivy has the listing and some pictures giving a good look at this huge mansion. Like many other homes in Greenwich, it's a traditional brick mansion, it's just incredibly large and lavish. The entrance features iron gates and a long driveway culminating in a courtyard with a 70-foot marble reflecting pool with a three-tier fountain. Once inside there is a huge entrance hall with a cove ceiling and a cross arched center hall with a travertine marble floor, and limestone walls running the 86 foot length and a double-height plaster tracery ceiling. And then there's that stairway, a decadent marble, red-carpeted expanse crowned by a crystal chandelier. At 1,125 square feet the living room is larger than some homes. The home is approximately 23,0000 square feet with seven upstairs bedroom suites, a galss-walled music room, a wood- paneled library with a 15th century fireplace mantel, formal dining room, family room with a bar and much more. The kitchen and pantry include plenty of storage, serving and cooking areas and there is a separate staff dining and sitting area. The back wing is home to the staff area which has six bedrooms. The indoor pool has four exposures and includes areas for sitting and changing. There is also a 75-foot outdoor pool with a terrace and a cabana with a kitchen. There are also brick cottages with an additional six bedrooms total.

The Nature Mill Indoor Composter

Urbanites rejoice, because the Nature Mill company has created an odorless indoor composter specifically made to fit in the average kitchen cabinet!
A traditional composter can be impossible to fit into a small urban living space. Generally they are bulky, messy, time consuming, and some can be odiforous. A traditional composter naturally breaks down food and yard waste through aeration, the addition of beneficial bacteria, and by exposure to the warm spots created in a bin through the heat generated by decomposing matter. Here’s the hitch though, traditional composters require labor, work slowly when exposed to cold temeratures, and cannot process meat and dairy, while this indoor model can!
The indoor composter from Nature Mill is energy star rated, and utilizes electricity to keep your scrap material constantly warm, rotated, and aerated, speeding up the decomposing process. This model will provide you with a new batch of compost about every two weeks, and can process about 120 pounds of garbage per month! Another added benefit is that with this warm composter, meat and dairy products can be added and will break down with the rest of your garbage and scraps! The composting process is as simple as scraping you food scraps into the composter, and emptying the compost drawer when the “fill” sensor lights up!

Just one small bin full of this rich compost can feed and fertilize up to 10-40 square feet of garden, and it can be diluted with water to become a liquid fertilizer suitable for everything from house plants to fruit trees! Check it out either on the home website linked to above, or purchase one at Target or Costco, and turn your waste into compost gold.

April 20

Events
1303 – The University of Rome La Sapienza is instituted by Pope Boniface VIII.
1453 – The last naval battle in Byzantine history occurs, as three Genoese galleys escorting a Byzantine transport fight their way through the huge Ottoman blockade fleet and into the Golden Horn.
1534 – Jacques Cartier begins his voyage, in which he will discover Canada and Labrador.
1653 – Oliver Cromwell dissolves the Rump Parliament.
1657 – Admiral Robert Blake destroys a Spanish silver fleet under heavy fire at Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
1657 – Freedom of religion is granted to the Jews of New Amsterdam (later New York City).
1689 – The former King James II of England, now deposed, lays siege to Derry.
1775 – American Revolutionary War: the siege of Boston begins, following the battles at Lexington and Concord.
1792 – France declares war on Austria, the beginning of French Revolutionary Wars.
1810 – The Governors of Caracas declares the national sovereignty from Spain.
1828 – René Caillié is first non-Muslim to enter Timbouctou.
1836 – U.S. Congress passes an act creating the Wisconsin Territory.
1861 – American Civil War: Robert E. Lee resigns his commission in the United States Army in order to command the forces of the state of Virginia.
1862 – The first pasteurization test completed by Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard.
1871 – Civil Rights Act of 1871
1884 – Pope Leo XIII publishes the encyclical, Humanum Genus.
1902 – Pierre and Marie Curie refine radium chloride.
1908 – Opening day of competition of the New South Wales Rugby League.
1912 – Opening day for baseball stadiums Tiger Stadium in Detroit, Michigan, and Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts.
1914 – Forty-five men, women, and children die in the Ludlow Massacre during a Colorado coal-miner's strike.
1916 – Chicago Cubs played their first game at Weeghman Park (currently Wrigley Field), defeating the Cincinnati Reds 7-6 in 11 innings
1918 – Manfred von Richthofen, aka The Red Baron, shoots down his 79th and 80th victims marking his final victories before his death the following day.
1926 – Western Electric and Warner Bros. announce Vitaphone, a process to add sound to film.
1939 – Billie Holiday records the first Civil Rights song "Strange Fruit"
1945 – World War II: US troops capture Leipzig, Germany, only to later cede the city to the Soviet Union.
1945 – World War II: Fuehrerbunker: Adolf Hitler makes his last trip to the surface to award Iron Crosses to boy soldiers of the Hitler Youth.
1961 – Failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion of US troops against Cuba.
1964 – BBC Two launches with the power cut because of the fire at Battersea Power Station.
1967 – A Globe Air Bristol Britannia turboprop crashes at Nicosia, Cyprus, killing 126.
1968 – A South African Airways Boeing 707 crashes during takeoff at Windhoek, Namibia, killing 122.
1968 – English politician Enoch Powell makes his controversial Rivers of Blood speech.
1972 – Apollo 16 lands on the Moon.
1978 – Korean Air Flight 902 shot down by Soviets.
1980 – Climax of Berber Spring in Algeria as hundreds of Berber political activists are arrested.
1985 – ATF raid on The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord compound in northern Arkansas.
1986 – Pianist Vladimir Horowitz performed in his native Russia for the first time in 61 years.
1986 – Professional basketball player Michael Jordan sets all-time record for points in an NBA playoff game with 63 against the Boston Celtics.
1998 – TAME Boeing 727-200 chartered by Air France crashes into Cerro El Cable mountain after takeoff from Bogotá, Colombia, killing 53.
1998 – German terrorist group Red Army Faction announces their dissolution after 28 years.
1999 – Columbine High School massacre: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold kill 13 people and injure 24 others before committing suicide at Columbine High School located in Jefferson County, Colorado.
2001 – China removes homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses.
2004 – In Iraq, 12 mortars are fired on Abu Ghraib Prison by insurgents, killing 22 detainees and wounding 92.
2007 – Johnson Space Center Shooting: A man with a handgun barricades himself in NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas before killing a male hostage and himself.
2008 – Danica Patrick wins the Indy Japan 300 becoming the first female driver in history to win an Indy car race
Births
702 – Jafar Sadiq, Muslim scholar (d. 765)
1494 – Johannes Agricola, German Protestant reformer (d. 1566)
1586 – Saint Rose of Lima, Peruvian saint (d. 1617)
1633 – Emperor Go-Komyo of Japan (d. 1654)
1646 – Charles Plumier, French botanist (d. 1704)
1650 – William Bedloe, English informer (d. 1680)
1668 – Yuri Troubetzkoy, Governor of Belgorod (d. 1739)
1718 – David Brainerd, American missionary (d. 1747)
1723 – Cornelius Harnett, American Continental Congress delegate (d. 1781)
1727 – Comte de Mercy-Argenteau, Belgian-born Austrian diplomat (d. 1794)
1745 – Philippe Pinel, French physician (d. 1826)
1808 – Napoleon III, Emperor of the French (d. 1873)
1818 – Heinrich Göbel, German-born inventor (d. 1893)
1826 – Dinah Craik, English author (d. 1887)
1850 – Daniel Chester French, American sculptor (d. 1931)
1851 – Young Tom Morris, Scottish golfer (d. 1875)
1870 – Maulvi Abdul Haq, Pakistani scholar (d. 1961)
1879 – Paul Poiret, French couturier (d. 1944)
1882 – Holland Smith, U.S. General (d. 1967)
1884 – Princess Beatrice of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (d. 1966)
1889 – Albert Jean Amateau, Turkish-born businessman and activist (d. 1996)
1890 – Maurice Duplessis, premier of Québec (d. 1959)
1893 – Harold Lloyd, American actor (d. 1971)
1893 – Edna Parker, American supercentenarian (d. 2008)
1893 – Joan Miró, Spanish painter (d. 1983)
1895 – Emile Christian, American musician (d. 1973)
1896 – Wop May, Canadian aviator (d. 1952)
1896 – Henry de Montherlant, French writer (d. 1972)
1904 – Bruce Cabot, American actor (d. 1972)
1904 – George Stibitz, American scientist (d. 1995)
1908 – Lionel Hampton, American musician (d. 2002)
1914 – Betty Lou Gerson, American actress (d. 1999)
1915 – Joseph Wolpe, South African-born psychotherapist (d. 1997)
1918 – Edward L. Beach, Jr., American naval officer, author (d. 2002)
1918 – Kai Siegbahn, Swedish physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2007)
1919 – Richard Hillary, Australian pilot and author (d. 1943)
1920 – John Paul Stevens, American jurist
1920 – Ronald Speirs, WWII Veteran (d. 2007)
1921 – Janine Sutto, French-Canadian actress
1923 – Mother Angelica, American nun and broadcaster
1923 – Tito Puente, American musician (d. 2000)
1924 – Leslie Phillips, English actor
1925 – Ernie Stautner, German-born American football player (d. 2006)
1927 – Phil Hill, American race car driver (d. 2008)
1927 – Karl Alexander Müller, Swiss physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
1928 – Johnny Gavin, Irish footballer (d. 2007)
1928 – Gerald S. Hawkins, English astronomer (d. 2003)
1936 – Pat Roberts, American politician
1937 – George Takei, American actor
1939 – Peter S. Beagle, American author
1939 – Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway
1939 – Johnny Tillotson, American singer
1941 – Ryan O'Neal, American actor
1943 – John Eliot Gardiner, English conductor
1943 – Edie Sedgwick, American actress (d. 1971)
1945 – Michael Brandon, American actor
1945 – Steve Spurrier, American football player and coach
1946 – Julien Poulin, French Canadian actor
1946 – Gordon Smiley, American racecar driver (d. 1982)
1946 – Mel Winkler, American voice actor
1947 – Björn Skifs, Swedish singer (Blue Swede)
1947 – Andrew Tobias, American journalist and author
1947 – David Leland, British actor, director and screenwriter
1948 – Craig Frost, American musician (Grand Funk & Bob Seger)
1948 – Gregory Itzin, American actor
1948 – Rémy Trudel, French Canadian politician
1949 – Massimo D'Alema, Prime Minister of Italy
1949 – Veronica Cartwright, American actress
1949 – Toller Cranston, Canadian figure skater and artist
1949 – Jessica Lange, American actress
1950 – Steve Erickson, American novelist
1950 – Aleksandr Lebed, Russian general and politician (d. 2002)
1950 – Chandra Babu Naidu, Indian politician
1951 – Luther Vandross, American singer (d. 2005)
1952 – Božidar Maljković, Serbian basketball coach
1953 – Sebastian Faulks, British novelist
1954 – Gilles Lupien, French-Canadian ice hockey player
1956 – Beatrice Ask, Swedish politician
1957 – Geraint Wyn Davies, Welsh-born Canadian actor
1958 – Viacheslav Fetisov, Russian ice hockey player
1959 – Clint Howard, American actor
1961 – Don Mattingly, American baseball player
1961 – Konstantin Lavronenko, Russian actor
1961 – Barry Smolin, American radio host, writer, and musician
1963 – Maurício Gugelmin, Brazilian racing driver
1963 – Aubrey de Grey, British biomedical gerontologist
1964 – Crispin Glover, American actor
1964 – Andy Serkis, English actor
1964 – Rosalynn Sumners, American figure skater
1965 – Ralph Cirella, American radio personality
1965 – Kostas Hatzidakis, Greek politician
1965 – Adrian Fernández, Mexican racing driver
1965 – April March, American Musician
1966 – David Chalmers, Australian philosopher
1967 – Raymond van Barneveld, Dutch darts player
1967 – Mike Portnoy, American drummer (Dream Theater)
1967 – Lara Jill Miller, American actress
1968 – J. D. Roth, American game show host and television personality
1969 – Chris Jarvis, English TV personality
1970 – Shemar Moore, American actor
1970 – Adriano Moraes, Brazilian rodeo performer
1971 – Carla Geurts, Dutch swimmer
1971 – Allan Houston, American basketball player
1971 – Tina Cousins, English singer
1972 – Carmen Electra, American actress
1972 – Le Huynh Đuc, Vietnamese footballer
1972 – Stephen Marley, Jamaican musician
1973 – Geoff Lloyd, British radio presenter
1976 – Joey Lawrence, American actor
1976 – Chris Mason, Canadian ice hockey goaltender
1976 – Shay Given, Irish footballer
1977 – Johnny "The Bull" Stamboli, professional wrestler
1978 – Mirei Kuroda, Japanese gravure idol
1980 – Jasmin Wagner, German singer
1981 – Matus Valent, male fitness model
1983 – Terrence J, American television host
1983 – Miranda Kerr, Australian supermodel
1985 – Greg Lutzka, American Skateboarder
1984 – Tyson Griffin, American mixed martial artist
1986 – Cameron Duncan, New Zealand director (d. 2003)
1987 – John Patrick Amedori, American actor .

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