Jessica Koslow

Because Antonio Manning had lived in Altadena since 1991, the Eaton Fire was personal. Like many of his neighbors, he experienced a total loss. As a business person with 30-plus years in the banking finance world, specifically working with nonprofits, he became interested in the recovery process. In late summer 2025, he started attending the Eaton Fire Collaborative meetings at the Pasadena Elks Lodge.

The Eaton Fire Collaborative has been meeting weekly since Jan. 14, 2025. The group brings together community groups, local nonprofits and city, county and state officials dedicated to supporting the rebuilding and recovery of Altadena, Pasadena and Sierra Madre. Soon, Manning assumed the role of chair of the Eaton Fire Collaborative Long-Term Recovery Group.

As Chair, the first order of business, according to Manning, was to bring a more formal structure to the group and its processes. The first steps were to get the leadership team in place and adopt bylaws. . . .

Read the entire article at Pasadena Weekly.

When Albert Zakhor rented a building 30 years ago for $350/month on the corner of Maple Avenue and East 9th Street, he was following in the entrepreneurial footsteps of his father, uncles and grandfather: buying and selling buttons.

Since the age of 1, his family was in the button business, eventually owning a button-making factory in Iran. After the Iranian Revolution ended in 1979 and the factory was confiscated, the family relocated to Los Angeles.

“Buttons are very strange merchandise,” said Zakhor. “It’s not food; it’s not building material. But dresses need a button and a zipper to close it. Nobody believes that the button is important, but it’s very important, and it’s very unique.” . . .

Read the entire article at LA Downtown News.

Although she has been working in jazz radio for 50 years, Rhonda Hamilton was still surprised to receive a call from the National Endowment for the Arts informing her that she was the recipient of the 2026 A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Master Award for Jazz Advocacy.

“That came as a big surprise,” Hamilton, who joined KJAZZ 88.1 in October 2021, shared. “I never expected that at all. When you’re working every day, you just do it. I’m not thinking about the impact that this has had. I started when I was in college in 1975. So here we are: This is 50 years, and when I think about that, my goodness, it’s a long time.”

When she first got the message to call somebody from the NEA, she thought, “That’s interesting, maybe they’re asking me to recommend somebody?” . . .

Read the entire article at The Argonaut.

Like millions of people around the world, Nicole Blaine, owner of The Crow comedy club, has an affinity for the 2006 bestseller “The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne. Before she had even heard of it, its magic was working for her in mysterious ways.

“I have had the honor and the privilege of getting to witness miracles,” she said. 

One of the first ones was a chance meeting with her now-husband, Mickey, who was her then-high school crush. When Blaine saw Mickey playing the role of Kenickie in Santa Monica High School’s production of “Grease,” she fell hard. Thinking he was out of her league, Blaine dated his best friend instead. . . .

Read the entire article at The Argonaut.

When Victoria Mehrnia and her husband moved to Playa Vista two years ago, one of the first things she noticed was that she had not seen any merchandise with the community’s name on it. Malibu and Marina del Rey had merchandise, so why not Playa Vista?

“I thought it could be a cool opportunity,” Mehrnia said, “and so I have been making hats myself just in our house. I played around with a couple of different ideas and came up with the name, Playa Vista Beach Club.”

The hat company is Mehrnia’s passion project, which she launched about four months ago. While she was browsing the Wednesday night summer market and year-round Saturday farmers market, she saw space for Playa Vista-branded merch. Most of her customers so far have been residents who discover her via Instagram. She meets them at The Resort, which is a community center, for the handoff. . . .

Read the entire article at The Argonaut.