Family Business

SACRAMENTO - At a posh downtown sushi bar, Assemblyman Charles Calderon, one of the Capitol's most powerful politicians, tossed back his second Black Russian as a cadre of lobbyists lined up to pay respects. But the Whittier Democrat directed each well-wisher to the person he really wanted them to meet: his 26-year-old son, Ian, standing in a dark corner behind the tempura and dumplings. The former surfing champion and fledgling reality TV producer, hands shoved in his suit pockets, seemed ill at ease with the task at hand: collecting campaign checks to help him win a legislative seat and continue a long-running political dynasty.

SACRAMENTO - At a posh downtown sushi bar, Assemblyman Charles Calderon, one of the Capitol's most powerful politicians, tossed back his second Black Russian as a cadre of lobbyists lined up to pay respects. But the Whittier Democrat directed each well-wisher to the person he really wanted them to meet: his 26-year-old son, Ian, standing in a dark corner behind the tempura and dumplings. The former surfing champion and fledgling reality TV producer, hands shoved in his suit pockets, seemed ill at ease with the task at hand: collecting campaign checks to help him win a legislative seat and continue a long-running political dynasty.

Criminal gangs have been family affairs since long before the James Brothers saddled up to spread mayhem across the American West. But in today's pop culture, more and more, it appears that the "family" that slays together stays together. In the new Australian suspense-drama "Animal Kingdom," set in the bland burbs of Melbourne, a modern-day Ma Barker manipulates her brood of bank-robber sons with sweet talk and icky, smoldering kisses. In Debra Granik's American indie drama "Winter's Bone," an uncle, his niece and various drug-dealing Ozarks in-laws are sealed in a murderous pact of silence.

"Bullhead" is an intense, shattering film, a confident and accomplished, punch-in-the-gut debut by Belgian writer-director Michael R. Roskam that starts out like a thriller and turns into a disturbing tragedy in an unlikely and unexpected key. "Bullhead," one of the five contenders for this year's Oscar for foreign-language film, gets much of its ferocity, and its unlooked-for tragic implications, from the compelling performance of Matthias Schoenaerts...

Dan Kotara's 35 years of grinding meat into hamburger ended last year after a single positive test for a potentially deadly strain of E. coli . Unable to market thousands of pounds of meat, he rented a trash bin and doused the food in black ink to render it unusable. His loss: an estimated $25,000. After that August test, Kotara decided he could no longer risk another costly positive result. He laid off his eight employees and sold the grinders, massive freezers and other equipment from his low-slung building in Chicago.

Dear Karen: I have a successful small business and would like to pass it down to my children someday. What can I do now to prepare? Answer: The decision to pass down a family business involves many issues, including family psychology, sustaining profitability and market share and transferring the business in a way that will minimize gift and estate taxes. Involve your children in the company while they're young and then let them make the decision about whether they want to eventually take over.

Question: Several of my family members are teaming up to start a restaurant. What issues should we consider? Answer: The standard issues facing any start-up business include choosing and establishing the operation's legal structure, writing a business plan, selecting a location and securing funding.

There are a lot of other things Ron Muranaka could be doing, but he grows chrysanthemums for the florist trade because it's what he wants to do. Muranaka Mums, on a 12-acre ranch in Yorba Linda, is one of a dwindling number of growers in Orange County. The company grows mums for the cut-flower trade and only sells at the Los Angeles Flower Market. Flowers are priced at $5 to $7 a bundle, depending on the variety. And the prices haven't gone up in five years.

Steps to a successful business succession: 1. A willingness among the retiring generation to turn over responsibility and authority to the successors. 2. Well-groomed successors who possess most of the founders' skills for running the business. 3. Accommodative heirs who agree to work together for the common good of the business. 4. A willingness among family employees to seek objective, professional help whenever needed. 5.

In the aftermath of the recent unrest in Los Angeles, many inner-city businesses are struggling to get back on their feet. In an effort to understand the problems facing these small entrepreneurs, The Times is periodically detailing the recovery efforts of one mini-mall at Pico Boulevard and La Brea Avenue. Five months after the riots, things seem to be looking up at the corner of Pico and La Brea.

Drag racing has a new Force to be reckoned with. Courtney Force, 23, the youngest daughter of drag-racing legend John Force, will make her debut in the sport's top series this weekend at the season-opening NHRA Winternationals in Pomona that start Thursday. She's driving one of the 7,000-horsepower Ford funny cars for her dad's Yorba Linda team in the National Hot Rod Assn.'s premier Full Throttle Series, where the nitro methane-fueled dragsters reach a blistering 300 mph in 1,000-foot races.

When: 7. Where: Rogers Arena. On the air: TV: FS West; Radio: 1150. Records: Kings 22-15-9, Canucks 28-15-3. Update: Kings leading scorer Anze Kopitar did not skate Monday, according to the team. Considering the physical beating that the center has been taking of late, being given the day off made complete sense. Assistant coach John Stevens ran practice Monday in Vancouver because Coach Darryl Sutter remained behind in Alberta to take care of some family business.

The gig: Melody and Amy Tsai help run Leg Avenue, their family's costume and lingerie business in the City of Industry that had $87 million in sales last year. Amy, 42, is in charge of merchandising, while her sister Melody, 30, leads the creative team that designs hundreds of Halloween costumes, including cute bumblebee, sassy sheriff and sexy zombie. Beginnings: Originally from Taiwan, the Tsai family immigrated to Southern California in 1984 in search of financial stability.

ROBERT PRITZKER One of three brothers who built family business empire Robert Pritzker, 85, a billionaire industrialist and one of three brothers who built the Pritzker family's business empire, died of Parkinson's disease Thursday in Chicago, said his executive assistant, Becky Spooner. The Pritzker clan is among the nation's wealthiest, worth more than $19 billion combined, according to Forbes magazine. It is in the process of dividing its empire among 11 adult cousins, the result of a family rift.

Pity the poor potted palms. They started out at cotillions but wound up at cocktail lounges. For more than a century, they've endured dim light, stale air, the drone of PowerPoint presentations in forlorn conference rooms — and now they're confronting their biggest challenge yet: a rotten economy. At 71, Richard K. Wilcox knows this all too well. Over the next year, he and his sister Sarah Wilcox will close Keeline Wilcox Nurseries, a family business that has furnished potted palms to America's waiting rooms since 1919.

As the elder statesman of artisanal cheeses, Ignazio "Ig" Vella gave pointed advice to those who wanted to follow him into the handmade cheese business: "Don't be stupid. " He was a gruff straight shooter, and the salvo was his way of warning that success required a willingness to toil for uncertain financial gain. Once that caveat was spelled out, Vella invariably became an unselfish teacher and tireless advocate for small-scale producers of cheese, according to those in the industry.

The stuffed grape leaves at Jasmine Mediterranean Restaurant in Anaheim deserve your complete attention. First: These are unapologetically lemony, in a way that says, "Hello! I am not in any way trying to calm myself down for middle-of-the-road taste buds. " Keep eating. You'll see that these stuffed grape leaves are gorgeously, densely wonderful. They're full of soft rice and tomato, subtly sweet ? warm, savory, tangy and floral, like a glass of spicy Zinfandel somehow magicked into a hot appetizer.

Patty Bogle, who with her husband Chris built Bogle Vineyards from 18 acres of grapes in the Sacramento delta into a regional wine powerhouse, died Friday at her home in Clarksburg, Calif., of complications from leukemia. She was 59. After marrying in 1973, Patty and Chris Bogle tended vineyards of Petite Sirah and Chenin Blanc grapes planted by Chris and his father, Warren Bogle Sr., in Clarksburg, 14 miles south of Sacramento in Yolo County. The Bogles first sold their grapes to wineries and founded their family winery in 1979.