Author: The Argonaut

Michele Gold, whose mother escaped the Holocaust, honors the 81st anniversary of the Kindertransport By Bliss Bowen When Marina del Rey resident Michele Gold lost her mother, Rita Berwald (née Rimalower-Nettler), to cancer in 2008, she found herself grieving not only for the parent she had loved but also for the determined Holocaust survivor whose personal history she had barely known. Not until the end of her life had Berwald begun to share memories of the Holocaust, and the loving family that placed her on a train to England out of Leipzig, Germany, in March 1939. That train was part of...

Emergency shelters in Westchester and Venice were a Thanksgiving blessing for people who have little more than a story to tell By Gary Walker Dressed in a rumpled brown coat and a thick wool scarf, 43-year-old Danielle Scully sat outside the Westchester Senior Citizen Center smoking a Marlboro Red and watching people mill in and out of the building on the cold and rainy Wednesday afternoon before Thanksgiving. Despite the dismal weather, she was in a thankful mood. “I usually stay over there somewhere,” said Scully, gesturing vaguely around the park. “But tonight I’m sleeping indoors.” Scully was one...

Compiled by Gary Walker Friends of Historic Fire Station 62 Launch Fundraising Campaign The committee of Mar Vista residents carrying forward the 10-year campaign to restore the former fire station at Centinela Avenue and Charnock Road as an all-purpose community center has announced a $2.6-million fundraising goal. Friends of Historic Fire Station 62 has until June 2021 to exercise an option to lease the property from the city. They hope to raise $1.6 million to pay for interior and exterior structural upgrades to the nearly 70-year-old building, and an additional $1 million for an endowment to fund future activities...