Hard drinking veteran Hollywood columnist and loquacious public relations flak James Bacon died recently at age 96. He was best known for his colorful memory and recently reminisced about drinking vodka with Joan Crawford (pictured) at her Brentwood home. He recalled Joan was “the only person he knew who could drink vodka and tell you what the proof was.†That had to be a decades-ago memory. His last stand was with the Beverly Hills 213 magazine.
Many Brentwood residents invest and manage money, but one of their number has fallen from grace and has been indicted for using or misusing $866 million which he had raised. Ezri Namvar’s money came mostly from “friends†to invest in properties based on fictitious expectations of highly exaggerated profits. There are now 464 creditors who are seeking to recover their investments. Expert obse
rvers claim investors will be lucky to recover five cents on the dollar.
A 1920 Brentwood home designed by architect John W. Byers was nominated to receive “landmark†status but was turned down by a majority of the Los Angeles Heritage Commission.
The original nomination came from the Santa Monica Conservancy for the Spanish Colonial building at 201 South Rockingham, Brentwood. Councilman Bill Rosendahl wondered why the nomination came from Santa Monica.
Pat Boone (pictured), the actor-singer, organized the recent not very successful Beverly Hills Tea Party at a local park. He allowed disgraced Brentwood blogger Andrew Brietbart to speak despite Brietbart’s recent unethical attack on a presidential appointee who was fired when Brietbart’s false editing of her speech was uncovered. President Barack Obama 
apologized to his appointee for Brietbart’s indisgression and offered her her job back.
Actor Ving Rhames of Mission Impossible has had some bad luck with his Brentwood real estate investments. He recently sold a Brentwood home he had bought for $2.5 million for $1.95 million. In June, he and his wife sold a Brentwood home they had purchased for $6.5 million for $5.5 million. The county registrar notes Rhames owes over $1 million to the IRS and the state.
Congressman Henry Waxman, who has represented Brentwood for decades, published a book titled “The Waxman Report, How Congress Really Works.†Waxman has been giving lobbyists for the auto, oil and tobacco industries fits for years.
THE ULTIMATE BOOSTER
Editor’s Note: I often call Herb Chase, above left, “The Godfather of the Brentwood News.†From the very beginning, back in 1991, he has been a close friend, helping on any number of publishing matters. He has a long history in the world of journalism and for years ran a newspaper in Santa Monica, the Independent-Journal.
Herb writes “Eye on Brentwood†and came up with the idea for “The Brentwood Boosters Club,†which solicits voluntary subscriptions from readers of the Brentwood News. In today’s economy, advertising from local merchants alone doesn’t pay the entire freight, and so the Brentwood Boosters Club has proved instrumental as the Brentwood News sputters back to life. To become a Brentwood Booster, see the bottom right corner of page 4.
Pictured with Herb is Yolanda Pulakis, advertising director and graphic arts director for the Brentwood News. Yolanda can help local business professionals design an ad they will be proud of — and that will reach Brentwood News readers. For more information, call Yolanda at 310-476-6397. — Jeff Hall
