Ten days before the 62nd Fiesta La Ballona, doesn’t it seem to you that preparations are far more elaborate this year than any other?
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More people involved in, and enthused about, the run-up.
But is Year 62 special?
A program that looks as if it could go on for weeks instead of Friday night to Sunday evening, Aug. 24-26, at Vets Parks.
They are talking about records In numbers of booths and in turnout.
Entrepreneur Mike Cohen has been moving about town between 93 and 94 mph for weeks.
You should have heard the ribbing Mr. Cohen took last evening at the City Council meeting in front of the dais.
After reading a commendation to the Fiesta Committee – more on them in a moment –Mayor Andy Weissman proffered the microphone in Mr. Cohen’s direction.
The loquacious Mr. Culver City demurred, throwing segments of his wide chorus of friends into open-faced shock, at least artificially.
As for the three accompanying Fiesta-themed photos by crack photographer George N. Laase:
• Study the Fiesta Committee. This grim crowd looks as if they are marching to a cemetery in anticipation of the pending death of one of their number. With a GPS and a magnifying glass, Mr. Laase could not espy a smile among them. Not even the unquenchable, always peppy School Board member Laura Chardiet, 14th from the left.
• Happily, City Council members Jim Clarke, left, and Vice Mayor Jeff Cooper don’t seem fazed about going behind the kinds of bars that don’t serve libations, in anticipation of doing time in the special Pokey during Fiesta.
• As for Councilman Mehaul O’Leary, he seems to be wishing it was last month again and he still was back home visiting family in his native Ireland.
