Seal Beach

A shooting rampage that left eight people dead at a Seal Beach beauty salon last year was so emotionally wrenching to residents in the small beach town that prosecutors say they'll use that as part of their argument that the accused killer deserves the death penalty. In court papers filed this week, prosecutors said that if former tugboat crewman Scott Dekraai is convicted in the slayings, they will present victim impact evidence on behalf of the entire city to show that the midday shooting had a lasting effect on the tight-knit community.

Susan Kang Schroeder ticked off the facts of the case: A man bought a 5-year-old girl from Vietnam, used her as a sex slave for more than a decade and forced her to invite over friends whom he molested during sleepovers. "She was made to do every possible sex act," Schroeder said with a bluntness she honed as a prosecutor. But this wasn't a jury. It was the seven members of the Huntington Beach City Council. And if the aim of the Orange County district attorney's chief of staff was to grab their attention with the story of one of the county's most notorious pedophiles, it worked.

The wall of flowers and messages that grew outside the Seal Beach salon in the days after the shooting had long been taken down. Now, workers are gutting the place, clearing away the last visible reminders of the day a gunman walked in and started shooting, killing eight people whose lives intersected one afternoon in October. In many ways, life in the beachside city has regained its small-town vibe: Retired couples window-shop along Main Street, surfer dudes hang out on the sidewalk and young moms get together for lunch, going through the day at the same pace as the soft sea breeze.

After taking in the view from the Sydney Tower Eye, we took the elevator to the fifth floor and Food on Five, the food-court floor of the Westfield Sydney Shopping Centre. There were more than 20 specialty and international cuisine store-front restaurants. Dinner for two was less than $15. We ate there two more times with excellent meals. The only caution is that some weekday nights most close at 5:30. Westfield Sydney Shopping Centre, http://www.westfield.com.au/sydney/store-profiles/cafes-restaurants/level5 Alan Johnson Seal Beach

Valentine's Day shouldn't be followed by bitterness — unless, of course, you're visiting Santa Monica's Library Alehouse beginning Feb. 15. That's when the Westside's craft beer destination will launch its 11-day HopHead Heaven festival, which is specializing in hoppy beers. Things will be kept close to home on opening day, which the bar has dubbed "local bitterness" night, featuring India pale ales from nearby brewers such as Eagle Rock, Bootlegger, Smog City, Cismontane and Ladyface.

The man accused in the largest mass murder in Orange County history pleaded not guilty Wednesday to shooting and killing eight people at a Seal Beach beauty salon, including his ex-wife. Scott Evans Dekraai, wearing a mustard-yellow jumpsuit, his hands handcuffed in front of him, said nothing during his brief arraignment before a courtroom crowded with emotional family and friends of the victims of the Oct. 12 shooting spree at Salon Meritage. Dekraai was kept behind a barrier during the hearing at the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana and did not look at the crowd.

As teary-eyed friends and family of the victims looked on, the man accused in the most deadly shooting rampage in Orange County history pleaded not guilty Tuesday to killing eight Seal Beach hair salon customers and employees, including his former wife. Scott Dekraai, 42, is charged with eight counts of first-degree murder with special circumstances and a single count of attempted murder. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. Dekraai, who was arrested about half a mile from Salon Meritage after the shooting, appeared alert and responsive as Orange County Superior Court Judge Erick L. Larsh spoke with him in court.

To some, she was a bubbly hairstylist who had a knack for putting clients at ease. To others, she was a doting mother whose children were her life. Hundreds of friends and family members gathered Monday at a tearful service in Los Alamitos to remember Michelle Fournier, 48, who was among those killed Oct. 12 when a gunman opened fire at Salon Meritage in Seal Beach. A stylist at the salon, she was the former wife of Scott Dekraai, who has been charged with eight counts of murder in Orange County's deadliest shooting rampage.

When Scott Belshe stepped through the door of Salon Meritage last Wednesday afternoon, the world around him fell to pieces. He heard screaming. He heard voices. He smelled gunpowder, and he couldn't put anything together. A firefighter with Station 44 in Seal Beach, Belshe has seen the beginning and end of life. He's treated sickness, worked automobile accidents and fought house fires, but the violence and ruin that lay before him now was nothing he ever expected to see. For a few seconds, time seemed to slow as he scanned the room, pausing on the victims, each apparently shot at close range, each forming a snapshot in his mind.