La Canada Flintridge

A local restaurateur and community activist was to be installed as president of the Chamber of Commerce Community Assn. today. Jim Campbell, owner of La Canada's Barkley Restaurant & Bar, was scheduled to be sworn into office by Mayor James T. Edwards at a La Canada Country Club luncheon. In his presidential message mailed to members this month, Campbell said he will lead a new "Shop La Canada-Flintridge" campaign.

There's something inspiring about choosing a school for academic reasons, then not abandoning it when you become a star athlete and others try to lure you away with visions of grandeur. Robert Cartwright is a junior point guard at La Canada Flintridge Prep who could easily play for any big-time basketball program in Southern California. But he's sticking with the Rebels. "It's a fantastic academic school," he said. "The moment I stepped on here in seventh grade, I loved it. The teachers were wonderful, the kids were wonderful and I loved my coach.

The identity crisis is almost over for long-suffering La Canada Flintridge--just in time for its ninth birthday. With a chorus of hearty ayes, the City Council voted unanimously Monday night to correct a typographical error that appeared on the city's incorporation papers after the 1976 vote for cityhood. Much to the community's dismay, someone had added a hyphen nine years ago and mistakenly rechristened the city La Canada-Flintridge.

No more waiting on deck for former Dodgers President Dennis Mannion. He has sold his estate in La Canada Flintridge for $2.7 million. The Spanish-style compound, on 2 acres, has views of Pasadena, Glendale and Los Angeles. The 5,019-square-foot main house, built in 1960 and designed for entertaining, features walls of glass, an oversize living room, a family room, an office, four bedrooms and four bathrooms. A two-room studio of 781 square feet includes a three-quarter bathroom. Among outdoor amenities are a swimming pool, a spa and a barbecue area with a fireplace.

Actress Jane Fonda bought a home in Beverly Hills last year with a feature that might seem counterintuitive for a fitness guru: an elevator. The Holmby Hills house that pop icon Michael Jackson leased has one within its 17,200 square feet of living space. So does the nearby 56,500-square-foot mansion heiress Petra Ecclestone bought from socialite Candy Spelling two years ago for $85 million. But home elevators aren't just for the super-rich anymore. Baby boomers looking to age in place are installing them to ease the burden of bad knees and growing girth.

A surprisingly fierce rainstorm overnight and Saturday morning is prompting evacuations in the La Cañada Flintridge burn area, centered at the top of Ocean View Boulevard. Several homes in the area have been damaged by mudslides, cars have been swept down Ocean View in a torrent of debris and mud has flowed nearly a mile to Foothill Boulevard. No injuries have been reported. Fire officials were expected to go door to door warning residents, and they plan to use the reverse 911 warning system to make notifications.

Former Dodgers shortstop Rafael Furcal has sold his onetime home base in La Cañada Flintridge for $3.1 million. The Mediterranean-style villa, built in 2000, features a two-story entry, a grand staircase, a step-down living room, marble and limestone floors, a study, a media room, a wine tasting room and a billiards/game room. The grounds include a swimming pool with spa, an outdoor kitchen and a built-in barbecue. The golf-course view house has six bedrooms, 11 bathrooms and 7,402 square feet of living space.

Re "L.A. Unified Appoints 11 Leaders for Subdistricts," June 16: After concluding a nationwide search through 300 applications, nine come from L.A. Unified and the other two from Compton Unified? Excuse me for being a little slow, but out of all the school districts in the U.S., this is where Supt. Roy Romer finds his leaders? It's great to know the "good ol' boys" system is still alive and well. SCOTT WILLIAM DRUE Redondo Beach Excuse me? Deputy Supt. Liliam Castillo "will suffer a slight pay cut," receiving only $150,000 a year.

Joan Feehan, 54, is a former president of Oak Grove PTA and Women's Assistance League of Flintridge. She served on several committees in the city's incorporation fight and is active in the La Canada Trails Council, which helps maintain the city's extensive hiking and riding trails. O. Warren Hillgren, 61, is an incumbent councilman and retired advertising executive. He has served three terms as mayor and is past president of the La Canada Flintridge Chamber of Commerce and Community Assn.

Critical debris basins along the San Gabriel Mountains are near capacity or overflowing as another band of rain and thunderstorms bears down on the charred foothills this afternoon, prompting officials to order more evacuations as they brace for the possibility of more damaging mudslides. Evacuation orders are in place for about 500 homes in parts of La Cañada Flintridge, La Crescenta and Acton. At least 41 houses have been damaged or destroyed in a hillside neighborhood in La Cañada Flintridge.

Former Dodgers shortstop Rafael Furcal has sold his onetime home base in La Cañada Flintridge for $3.1 million. The Mediterranean-style villa, built in 2000, features a two-story entry, a grand staircase, a step-down living room, marble and limestone floors, a study, a media room, a wine tasting room and a billiards/game room. The grounds include a swimming pool with spa, an outdoor kitchen and a built-in barbecue. The golf-course view house has six bedrooms, 11 bathrooms and 7,402 square feet of living space.

Entered by a gated driveway that leads to a cobblestone motor court, this Cape Cod-inspired compound has a resort atmosphere with amenities such as a putting green, a 70-foot-long batting cage and a vineyard. Among the structures are a main residence with a library/music room and gym, a pool house with a kitchen, a detached theater with a projection system and bar, and a separate office suite. Location: 4385 Commonwealth Ave., La Canada Flintridge 91001 Asking price: $8.9 million Architect: Dave De Angelis Year built: 2006 Living space: Five bedrooms, 11 bathrooms, 10,644 square feet Lot size: About 1.5 acres Features: Wine cellar for more than 3,000 bottles, tasting room, heated floors, basement billiard room, roof deck, solar power, saltwater pool with spa, misting system, outdoor kitchen, lighted sports court, citrus grove, equestrian zoning About the area: Last year, 244 single-family homes sold in 91011 ZIP Code at a median price of $1,060,000, according to DataQuick.

A La Canada Flintridge resident who is facing thousands of dollars in fines for excessively trimming oaks on his property says the punishment is unfair. The city's Planning Commission on Tuesday held Franklin Wang responsible for hiring a pruning service not approved by the city, and for over-pruning six coastal live oaks, a species protected by municipal ordinance. Wang will have to pay a $3,650 fine and deposit $1,500 so that an arborist can inspect his trees three times during the next five years.

Former Dodgers President Dennis Mannion has listed his estate in La Canada Flintridge for sale at $3.3 million. Set on two acres, the Spanish-style house offers views of Pasadena, Glendale and Los Angeles. The 5,019-square-foot main house, built in 1960 and designed for entertaining, features walls of glass, an oversized living room, a family room, an office, four bedrooms and four bathrooms. A two-room studio of 781 square feet includes a three-quarter bathroom. Among outdoor amenities are a swimming pool, spa and a barbecue area with a fireplace.

The Olberz family, founders of the beleaguered Sport Chalet sporting goods chain, have sold their La Canada Flintridge mall to a Los Angeles investment firm for more than $40 million -- significantly less than what the project cost to build. La Canada Flintridge Town Center, completed in 2008, was built for about $60 million by the Olberz family's company La Canada Properties Inc. during the peak of the last real estate boom. Sport Chalet will continue to be a tenant in the mall.

A La Cañada Flintridge house once owned by Academy Award-winning actor Victor McLaglen has come on the market at $4.95 million. McLaglen and his family named the home Fairhaven and lived there from 1929 to '44. The 1.9-acre compound includes the two-story main house with basement, a two-bedroom guesthouse and a pool house for a total of 7,642 square feet of living space. McLaglen, who died in 1959 at 72, won his Oscar for "The Informer" (1935). He starred with John Wayne in "The Quiet Man" (1952)

KABC news anchor Ann Martin and weatherman Johnny Mountain will be honored by the Los Angeles Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for their segments to help pets. Martin, of La Canada Flintridge, recently co-produced a weeklong documentary about pet overpopulation. Mountain, of Pasadena, does a weekly pet adoption segment. They will be honored during the second annual Paloma Awards presentation at the Saddlerock Ranch in Malibu Sunday.

Sporting-goods chain Sport Chalet Inc. reported a narrower fiscal third-quarter loss Wednesday and said total sales increased slightly, reflecting an improvement in its online and team sales divisions. The La Canada Flintridge retailer posted a $0.9-million loss for the three months ended Dec. 26 compared with a loss of $3.8 million in the same period a year earlier. Sales rose 0.6% to $95.8 million. At stores open at least a year ? an important measure of a retailer's success because it excludes store openings and closings ?

Location: 320 Linda Vista Ave., Pasadena 91105 Asking price: $1.3 million Previously sold for: $ 1.51 million in 2007 Size: Five bedrooms and four bathrooms in more than 2,800 square feet Lot size: About 14,600 square feet Additional features: GE Monogram refrigerator, five-burner Thermador stove, two Jenn-Air convection ovens, two-car detached garage with potting shed, basement Around the...