April 20
Western Avenue Corridor Vision Plan
Community is invited so that they can review ideas, provide input and learn more about the efforts to improve Western Avenue. Two short presentations are scheduled at 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. April 20, at Peck Park Community Center in San Pedro.
Venue: Peck Park Community Center
Location: 560 N. Western Ave., San Pedro
April 20
CMA Earth Day Fair and Coastal Bird Fest
An exciting day of activities to celebrate caring for Earth awaits you, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. April 20, at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium in San Pedro.
The day begins with a cleanup of Cabrillo Beach. Then head over to the aquarium to interact with local agencies and environmental groups, make projects you take home and hatch grunion. Learn about our coastal environment and take part in our Salt Marsh open house, habitat walks, coastal bird walks and bird lectures from experts in the field.
Venue: Cabrillo Marine Aquarium
Location: 3720 Stephan M. White Drive, San Pedro
April 21
Gathering for the Grand
The Gathering for the Grand provides the means for Grand Vision to continue important preservation work at the Warner Grand and high quality music production at the Annex for families and for youth, starting at 5:30 p.m. April 21, at the Palos Verdes Golf Club in Palos Verdes.
Details:GrandVision.org
Venue:Palos Verdes Golf Club
Location:3301 Via Campesina, Palos Verdes Estates
Harbor Currents: ANNOUNCEMENTS April 19, 2013
Bankrupting Nature: Denying Our Planetary Boundaries
By Paul Rosenberg, Senior Editor
Johan Rockström, briefly referred to in Random Lengths’ 2010 Earth Day feature on the environment and the economy, was the lead author of Nature magazine’s 2009-featured study: “A Safe Operating Space for Humanity.”
Although the range of impacts studied was quite sweeping, the key concept was remarkably simple: global warming is but one of nine or 10 different ways in which human civilization is threatening to cross boundaries of over-consumption and overuse. These, will undermine the natural foundations on which our civilization is built.
Thus, we need to attend to a much broader range of environmental concerns in order to ensure the long-term well being of humanity, as well as the planet we share with so many other forms of life.
San Pedro Still On the Verge
Discovering the secret assets
By James Preston Allen, Publisher
I have lived in this seaport community for 40 years now and I’m still discovering secrets in this close-knit town. Secrets that even some of the long-time residents don’t know or understand.
Situated as we are on the edge of Los Angeles, home to the largest seaport in North America, you can see the giant cargo cranes perched like huge praying mantes lifting cans from the giant cargo ships that haul 42 percent of all the imports into this country.
Looking southward toward the silhouette of Catalina Island, the Pacific Ocean is not directly west of the mainland. And the town of San Pedro acts as the political anchor to the 15 District, with some hardly recognizing that this and Wilmington were annexed at a key point in the expansion of Los Angeles, just one year before Hollywood was annexed and six years before a vast expanse of the San Fernando Valley was added.
Harbor Currents: NEWS April 18, 2013
Fatal Traffic Collision 
LONG BEACH — A 67-year-old man died April 17, after colliding with another vehicle near Carson Street and Los Coyotes Diagonal in Long Beach.
The collision took place at about 4:17 p.m. when the Stanton resident, Michael Morell was travelling east on Carson Street, turned left and went over the center median colliding his 1991 Isuzu Truck with a Toyota Sequoia.
The driver of the Sequoia, a 41-year-old Long Beach resident, was taken to a local hospital in stable condition. Morell died in the hospital.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call (562) 570-7355.
A Flea in her Ear Will Keep You Laughing
By John Farrell, Curtain Call Writer
If you can only see one play in the next few months, Feydeau’s brilliant turn-of-the century farce A Flea in her Ear, at the Long Beach Playhouse Mainstage Theater, is the one to see.
It isn’t elegantly presented. In fact, the setting is simple; even a bit sever. But the acting is funny, hilariously funny, from the first few seconds through nearly three hours of antics that take place in a private house where love has become a problem, with every moment filled with amusement, laughter and hilarity.
The cast climbs the furniture, dodges through locked and unlocked doors and even jumps out of a conveniently placed window.
Experience Tamales de Puerco
By John Farrell, Curtain Call Writer
You know you’re in for a very different experience when the first thing you see in play is a young man talking to his girlfriend on his cell phone before a performance.
There is nothing unusual about that. Everyone sends text messages before, during and after performances.
Yes, but this young man was using a live video feed and talking with his friend in American Sign Language.
Tamales de Puercois not just a bilingual play, as many are at Casa 0101, but a trilingual play, in Spanish, English and ASL, with supertitles to translate everything.
Harbor Currents: ANNOUNCEMENTS April 12, 2013
April 13
Beyond This Moment
The Long Beach Jordan High School, WRAP Program is please to announce the Youth Empowerment Conference “Beyond This Moment”, starting at 9 a.m. April 13, at Jordan High School.
This high school-led event will be transported to students from all over the greater Long Beach area to discuss the problems that plague our teens. From bullying to managing anger, this conference was created to tackle the issues that teens are faced with every day so that they can move beyond the moment to one of self-empowerment.
Following the event, there will be a student Peace Rally on Atlantic Avenue to support ending violence in Long Beach.
Harbor Currents: NEWS April 11, 2013
Traffic Fatality 
LONG BEACH – An elderly man was killed while crossing the street at an uncontrolled intersection, April 9, near Redondo Avenue and 11th Street in Long Beach, officials said.
A vehicle driving southbound at about 10 a.m. struck the Long Beach pedestrian, who has yet to be identified. The driver, an 89-year-old Huntington Beach resident, stopped and rendered aid while a witness called for help.
The pedestrian died at a local hospital at about 3 p.m. The driver was released with no charges pending.
Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call (562) 570-7355.
Art Listings April 10, 2013
April 12
Homes Tour Extraordinaire 2013
Enjoy touring three magnificent homes in Palos Verdes Estates, and then receive a special tour of the newly redesigned Palos Verdes Art Center/Beverly G. Alpay Center for Arts Education in this year’s Homes Tour Extraordinaire from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 12 and 13.
This annual fundraiser for the Palos Verdes Art Center/Beverly G. Alpay Center for Arts Education features three Palos Verdes Estate homes: a charming Old Spanish style home; a private cliff-side Lunada Bay Estate; a charming Tuscan view home; and, as a fourth stop on this tour, visit the newly renovated Palos Verdes Art Center– all created by the vision and creativity of Edward Carson Beall. Each ticket includes a tour of the three homes, a delicious luncheon, and the opportunity to shop at a variety of boutiques, including The Circle’s own Classy Collectibles booth, with its trove of fabulous gently used treasures.
This year’s homes tour will pre-sale tickets are $40 for Art Center members and $45 for non-members. The days of the event tickets will be $50 for all.
Details: (310) 541-2479;www.pvartcenter.org
Chef Dustin Trani Named in Top 5 Rising Chefs in the U.S.
This past month, Chef Dustin Trani of San Pedro’s J. Trani’s and currently DOMA Beverly Hills restaurant was named as one of the top rising chefs in Gayot (guy-oh) Magazine’s Restaurant Issue for 2013.
Trani became the executive chef at DOMA in 2012, bringing Italian heritage and his travels around the world to his cuisine. Trani, who was trained at an early age by his father and grandfather, went to Belbo, Italy after college where he studied pasta making at Guido da Costigliole. He then became a chef at the People’s Café in Zagreb in Croatia. At at 23, he went further east to Thailand to cook at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel.
In 2007, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger chose Trani to represent California in the Great American Seafood Cook-Off in New Orleans, where he met celebrity Chef Ming Tsai and became a fan of his. Tsai recruited him as a team member for the James Beard Awards. Trani later became a sous chef under Tsai at the Blue Ginger in Boston and worked under Charles Phan of the Slanted Door in San Francisco and Todd English at Olives in New York.