Hermosa Beach is Starting to Come Down With Centennial Fever

Hermosa Beach is 100.

That’s no secret to the city’s centennial committee, which for a year has planned the year-long celebration from the tip of its famous pier to the top of its historic windmill.

The all-volunteer committee of about two dozen people, led by Maureen Ferguson and Laura Raymond, has planned dozens of events and programs for 2007 that commemorate the city and its illustrious past.

The long-awaited ribbon-cutting for the Hermosa Beach Historical Society kicks off the celebration at 2:30 p.m. Sunday. The society building, at 710 Pier Ave., has been closed for more than a year for refurbishment. Among the museum’s collection of artifacts is an authentic lifeguard station, historic surfboards and hundreds of photographs. There will be live entertainment and refreshments until 5 p.m.

Also on Sunday afternoon, just down the street from the historical society, the 5-foot-tall, 50-foot-long Centennial Children’s Mural will be available for viewing. The mural, on the side of the Community Center at the southwest corner of Pier Avenue and Pacific Coast Highway, depicts Hermosa Beach scenes. It was designed by P.J. Pauly and Greg Leibert.

The mural panels were painted by area students under the designers’ supervision. The project is sponsored by the Hermosa Beach Arts Foundation and the Hermosa Beach Kiwanis Club.

At the end of the year-long celebration, the mural will be taken down and reinstalled, probably in a classroom or hallway inside the Community Center.

From 5 to 6:15 p.m., Hermosa Beach Mayor Sam Edgerton will give his State of the City Address at the Beach House Hotel, at 1300 The Strand.

With the conclusion of the official proclamations, the centennial vibe will enter full Hermosa Beach partying mode with a family- friendly birthday party from 6:30 to 8:45 p.m. Sunday. There will be a cake-cutting, free cookies depicting the Hermosa centennial seal and live music by Dean Torrance of Jan & Dean and the Stonebridge Band. The party will conclude at 8:30 p.m. with a fireworks display orchestrated to music.

“It is really exciting because we are the first centennial in the area. Next year is Manhattan Beach’s centennial and after that it will be Redondo Beach’s,” said co-chairwoman Ferguson.

She added that the committee, along with sponsorship from nonprofit organizations and businesses, promises an entire year of events from “100 Acts of Beautification” to a centennial time capsule fund-raising event. The capsule will be buried in the fall on the Hermosa Beach Pier Plaza.

For centennial events and programs throughout the year, check the Hermosa Beach Centennial Web site at www.Hermosa100.com.

Dad’s breakfast

In a reversal of “Bring Your Child to Work Day,” Rolling Hills Preparatory School is hosting its 10th annual Dads’ Breakfast at 7 a.m. Jan. 18 at the school’s new campus on Palos Verdes Drive North between Western Avenue and Gaffey Street, in San Pedro.

According to Peter McCormack, Rolling Hills Prep’s head of school, the annual event was started to encourage involvement with dads because so many school activities involve moms.

This year, dads are encouraged to bring in lightly used suits, sports jackets and dress pants to donate to the Saint Vincent Center, which helps unemployed or homeless men get back into the work place.

These suits are needed for the all-important interviews as well as for work once they obtain a job.

Rolling Hills Prep serves children in grades 6-12 from 21 area cities stretching from El Segundo to Long Beach. The new campus will be one of the first privately held, fully sustainable “green” campuses in the Western United States. For more information, go to www.rollinghillsprep.org.

Nature walk

Here’s an opportunity for a walk and family bonding experience all wrapped into one. And don’t forget the camera.

The Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy is sponsoring a one- hour walk through the beautiful George F Canyon Preserve at 9 a.m. Saturday. Participants can stroll past rare Catalina schist rock and beautiful coastal sage scrub.

At the Nature Center, children can observe live animals. The walk is co-sponsored by the city of Rolling Hills Estates.

Park in the lot just south of the nature center, at 27305 Palos Verdes Drive East, Rolling Hills Estates. For more information on the land conservancy and future walks, go to www.pvplc.org.

Challenges for nonprofits

The Volunteer Center South Bay-Harbor-Long Beach will hold a conference titled “Nonprofit Changes and Challenges for 2007,” from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Jan. 25 at the Hilton Torrance/South Bay, 21333 Hawthorne Blvd.

Featured speakers in the morning session will include Florence Green, president of the California Association of Nonprofits.

Topics will include ways nonprofits can obtain new sources of funding; new steps that will be required for boards and committees; specific types of insurance coverage and internal controls that will be needed in 2007, as well as how new Internal Revenue Service regulations affect nonprofit organizations.

The afternoon panel of grant givers will include representatives from Toyota Motor Corp., Kaiser Permanente and Verizon Communications Inc., who will present their companies’ guidelines for obtaining a grant. They also will address general issues for philanthropies in 2007.

Registration is $95. For more information or to sign up, call Susan Scribner at 310-212-5009.

(c) 2007 Daily Breeze. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.