Bell AppealA gift from a friend to...

Bell Appeal

A gift from a friend to a young schoolteacher from Nebraska started the collection.

A small ceramic bell, meant as a housewarming gift.

For some reason the bell struck a chord with La Rhea Newton Young, the young schoolmarm who took joy in the delightful sound.

For the 40 years she taught in Los Angeles, Young often brought her ever-growing collection of bells to show her first-grade classes.

By the time she retired in 1969 to her home in Chatsworth, she had accumulated more than 1,000 of them, large and small.

Last year, La Rhea Newton Young died at the age of 86, leaving the bells, along with some indelible memories, to her family.

“I particularly remember the summer of the Bicentennial,” says her daughter, Nola Raymond, who recently retired from a 13-year teaching career at Granada Hills Baptist Elementary School.

“My husband, our three girls and I went with my mother to Washington, D.C., in 1976 to the American Bell Assn. meeting, where one of the highlights of the event was a service in the National Cathedral.

“The memory of 300 bells resounding through that great hall, during that Bicentennial year, was something probably none of us will ever forget.”

La Rhea Newton Young left the bells in her daughter’s care with certain instructions.

She wanted each of her three granddaughters to choose what they wanted to keep. And the same for Nola Raymond and her husband, Richard, who retired in June after teaching and coaching for 23 years, most recently at Monroe and Cleveland high schools.

The rest of the collection was to be made available to other bell lovers.

Which is why, between 1 and 4 p.m. Sunday, the remaining 1,000 bells will be offered for sale at the Discovery Shop, 9719 Reseda Blvd., Northridge. The sale will benefit the American Cancer Society, and the First Presbyterian Church of Granada Hills Bell Ringers will perform for the occasion.

“We have bells of all shapes, sizes and types. Porcelain, crystal, tin, brass. Bells that are mugs. Bells that are calendars,” says the aptly named store manager, Jill Angel.

Hi-Techer Hotel

With little fanfare, the new Chatsworth Hotel--looking like a miniature Beverly Hills Hotel in the middle of an industrial section--has opened its doors to business.

Nestled below the Santa Susana Mountains at the top of Topanga Canyon, it is a 150-room boutique inn aimed at attracting business people visiting the area’s fast-growing hi-tech and manufacturing community.

According to General Manager Ira Schueller, formerly with the Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, the new $11-million hotel was financed and is owned by Chow & Tsai Co. Inc. and an affiliate of the same Chinese conglomerate that owns the five-star Ritz Hotel in Taipei, Taiwan, and the Westbrook Hotel in Vancouver, Canada.

“(The company) wanted a presence in California and decided on Chatsworth because it could see a growing need in the area,” Schueller said.

The hotel, which opened in October, has, according to its manager, complete meeting and banquet facilities, a comprehensive business center and library with fax and other business machines.

The room rates range from $79 for a single to $130 for a VIP suite with valet service, three telephones, free satellite programs on the remote TVs and separate showers and baths. The hotel also has recreational facilities, including an outdoor pool and whirlpool and a fully equipped gym.

For those who want just a taste of the hotel’s atmosphere, its restaurant, the Santa Susana Grill, opens Monday under the direction of executive chef David Neff, formerly of Boulangerie and Universal Studios.

Be Happy

No more do you have to go without, or over the hill, for your banana boat appetizer and pollo a la naranja .

No.

Cha Cha Cha is coming to our part of town.

Ole!

That intrepid Caribbean, Toribio Prado, is bringing his scene and his mambo gumbo to Encino. He says the Valley is entitled to have a little fun.

The 25-year-old Prado, who owns Cha Cha Cha and Prado restaurants in Los Angeles, says he had never been to the Valley until recently, although he’s lived in West Los Angeles since he and his parents came to the States from Cuba when he was a child.

“So I came over here and I see all these rich people looking for a good time, and everything is so boring,” Prado says.

He decided he could do something about that.

His Valley version of Cha Cha Cha opened Wednesday at the corner of Ventura Boulevard and Encino Avenue, where Hymie’s Fish Market used to be. The menu features the chicken, fish and pasta dishes he learned at his Italian-Cuban mother’s knee.

Prado had fun on his mind when he conceived the bright yellow and blue decor, with angels soaring overhead and what looks like man-eating tropical greenery everywhere. A hand-painted Old World map of the Caribbean covers the floor.

Prado--who prepped at Le Restaurant and Ivy, and whose parents owned Belmont Pier--says the exotic atmosphere, drinks and entrees, like camereones negros (jumbo shrimp in Prado’s secret hot, spicy sauce over coconut rice), are for people who just want to have fun--and a good meal.

Stop ‘n’ Shop

Valleyites will have a new place to find Guatemalan textiles and other exotics and bargains when the Winnetka 6 Drive-In, at the corner of Winnetka Avenue and Prairie Street in Chatsworth, turns into the Valley’s newest swap meet this weekend.

“The vendors who have signed up with us are very high-end, unlike the junk and used things for sale at other Valley meets,” says Mark Warnick, managing director of Pioneer Theater Group, which operates this Pacific Theater. “When we say things are used, we are talking about collectibles.”

Warnick says he does not mean to denigrate other area swap meets. “All I’m saying is that people will have a more upscale selection at our meet.”

Warnick says the Pacific Theatre chain, when it was managing the facility, tried to open a swap meet at this location in the mid-’80s, but that because of its lack of experience with open-air markets, the venture failed.

“That is one of the reasons they brought our group in to operate this theater,” Warnick says. “We have a successful track record and experience in operating the successful Roadium (swap meet) in Torrance.”

Overheard

“They look like the second coming of Mt. Rushmore.”

--Sherman Oaks man looking at newspaper picture of Presidents Bush, Reagan, Carter, Ford and Nixon at Reagan library dedication