War Party Set to Battle Chatsworth High’s Tacky, Spotty Look

A two-weekend painting party at Chatsworth High has been organized because parents and others have become concerned with how tacky the school has been looking.

“We held a town hall forum there in May and everyone was talking about how run down buildings had become,” said Mary Gemuendt, a Chatsworth Chamber of Commerce executive.

“What had happened is that taggers paint all over the walls and then the school tried to cover that . . . and the result has not been good,” Gemuendt said.

After talking to Chatsworth Principal Donna Smith and other Los Angeles Unified School District officials, Gemuendt learned that Chatsworth High is not scheduled to be painted again until the year 2014.

The district seems to think it has more pressing problems than the tackiness of its buildings.

Gemuendt told Smith she would be happy to organize a neighborhood painting party, and the offer was happily accepted.

So on Oct. 9-10 and 16-17, Smith and Gemuendt hope to see a great number of people taking to the school building with paintbrushes. But before that can happen, Gemuendt said they have to obtain the supplies to carry out the plan.

“Well, before we can worry about getting the people, there are still a lot of supplies we need to acquire,” said Gemuendt. The list includes paint, brushes, pans, putty knives.

It has to be LAUSD-approved paint and colors.

The colors, said Gemuendt, are a sort of beige and something called Brazil, which she describes as orangish-reddish.

Gemuendt said she is having a hard time getting the supplies and wants people who might be able to help to call the chamber office or the high school. After that, she’s worried about rounding up the man and woman power.

“People don’t have to know how to paint. They just have to show up at the high school willing to work,” she said.

Teams of four people each are being recruited from the school student body, parents, relatives, the alumni association and local social and service clubs. She hopes local residents will also volunteer.

And while the labor is one of love for the community, painting volunteers will be rewarded with more than a satisfied feeling.

On Oct. 16, volunteers have been invited to Northridge Park to be treated to a barbecue in conjunction with the Los Angeles Police Department’s Operation Sparkle Clean Up Program.

Two-Day Taste of Encino Gets Crowds, Money for Schools

The Taste of Encino folks were concerned about how the community would respond to having the sixth annual event, which raises money for local schools, spread out over two days instead of jamming all the food and rides and other activities into one.

The answer, according to event organizer Jan Soble, was double the crowd and triple the take.

Last year, she said, they had 15,000 people and, after expenses were paid, netted about $6,000. This year, she said, the event attracted about 18,000 people and netted in the area of $20,000.

Again held at the Courtyard in Encino, the event featured 20 of the area’s highest profile restaurants offering generous portions of their tasty goodies, with all money from the food sales going to help area schools.

The strange thing is that some schools that were invited to submit wish lists of supplies and equipment they needed decided to opt out this year.

Defections were caused by air-conditioning.

According to Soble, of the Encino Chamber, “That’s where many of the schools want to concentrate their fund-raising, but it’s just too big a ticket item for us.

“We concentrate on classroom equipment, office supplies and machines, video equipment, things we can pay for in full,” Soble says.

So, instead of having about 13 schools sharing the $20,000, only seven will be ordering from this year’s pot.

Beneficiaries are Taft High School in Woodland Hills, Birmingham High School in Van Nuys, Mulholland Intermediate School in Van Nuys, Emilita Elementary School in Van Nuys, Nestle Elementary School in Tarzana, Encino Elementary School and Zane Grey Continuation School.

Look Out, We’re Going to Be Tush-Pushin’, Dancin’ Fools

You’ve seen those Rhinestone Cowboys and Girls on television doing line dances that would put your ‘60s efforts at “Louie, Louie” to shame.

Women decked out to look like Dolly Parton and guys who look as if they were born in their Stetsons and probably have their most meaningful relationship with their pickup truck.

How do they know all these tricky little dance steps? Is there some book to study like a football playbook or something?

Can just anyone learn to do this or is the ability something you have to come by genetically?

Linda Goldstein says she can teach people to do this stuff, without a playbook, and for just $42. She’s holding a class from 8 to 9 p.m. Tuesdays, beginning Oct. 5, at Pierce College in Woodland Hills.

Should you care to start the madness, she’s going to teach you the Honky-Tonk Attitude, Walkin’ Wahzie, Slapping Leather and the Tush Push.

She says her class is a great place for singles, and the homework assignments are fun.

Overheard:

“My wife figured out the perfect way to get me to go shopping with her. She lets me go sit in Victoria’s Secret for awhile.”

Man to friend he ran into at Topanga Plaza.