Disney to invest $30 billion in theme parks over next decade

• March 13, 2024

Disney plans to invest $30 billion in Disneyland, Disney California Adventure and other theme parks around the globe based on popular franchises like Avatar, Frozen, Tron and Zootopia, according to a new financial report.

Disney broke down how it plans to invest $60 billion over the next 10 years in its theme parks and cruise lines division in a new filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

ALSO SEE: Disneyland tests automated turnstiles in $4.8 million entrance makeover

Disney initially revealed plans to make $60 billion in capital investments over the next decade during an investor summit in September.

The latest SEC filing details how that $60 billion investment in the Disney Experiences division will be divided up. The largest chunk — $30 billion — has been earmarked for theme parks and resorts. The next biggest piece of the pie — $18 billion — has been set aside for technology and maintenance. The remainder — $12 billion — will fund new Disney cruise ships beyond the eight that will be in service by 2026.

ALSO SEE: $9.5 million Disneyland Magic Key class action lawsuit finalized — How to get your cut

The $30 billion theme park investments will focus on creating new experiences and refreshing existing infrastructure using Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and other intellectual properties and untapped stories, according to the SEC filing.

Disney’s plan calls for $42 billion of the overall investment to be spent on capacity-expanding projects designed to draw bigger crowds to its theme parks and cruise ships.

ALSO SEE: Avatar themed land coming to Disneyland resort, Disney CEO says

The goal is to expand the footprint at Disney’s six theme park resorts around the world where the company has more than 1,000 acres of developable space.

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Disneyland has already announced plans for a new E-ticket dark ride in Avengers Campus and an Avatar themed land that Walt Disney Imagineering is working on with producer James Cameron.

Disney’s most recent major investments in the Anaheim theme park resort have included Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland in 2019 and Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure in 2021.

Disney hopes to get approval in April from the City of Anaheim for a $1.9 billion project dubbed DisneylandForward that lays out long-term plans for theme park, retail and parking expansion at the Disneyland resort. DisneylandForward has dangled themed lands based on Tangled, Frozen, Peter Pan, Zootopia, Toy Story, Black Panther, Coco and Tron as potential expansion projects in Anaheim.

​ Orange County Register 

Alexander: Ann Meyers Drysdale and the state of women’s basketball

• March 13, 2024

The best way to learn how far women’s college basketball has come is to talk to someone who was there in its early days.

The game today is at its height of popularity. More games than ever are on national TV, scalpers are making a killing – especially with games involving Iowa star Caitlin Clark – and even the mode of transportation to road games has changed. Today, the top teams take charter flights.

“We had vans,” Ann Meyers Drysdale recalled. “A van or a station wagon.”

She was there at, if not the beginning, close enough. Title IX, mandating equality for women in education, became law on June 23, 1972. Meyers had just finished her sophomore year at Sonora High in La Habra. By the spring of 1975, she was a senior and a star in not only basketball – her teams as a high school player were 80-5 – but softball, badminton, field hockey, tennis and track and field. She was good enough to make the U.S. national team for the Pan-American Games in 1975, the first high school player ever to do so.

Bill Walton hugs fellow UCLA basketball legend Ann Meyers Drysdale after she was named the 2017 Naismith Outstanding Contributor to Women’s Basketball during the 2017 Naismith Awards Brunch on April 2, 2017, in Scottsdale, Arizona. (Photo by Tim Bradbury/Getty Images)

With credentials like those today, a player would be the object of a heated recruiting battle. Then? Not so much. All UCLA had to do was ask.

Her brother, Dave, was playing for the men’s team and for John Wooden, whom Ann still affectionately refers to as “Papa.” Kenny Washington, who had been a member of Wooden’s first NCAA championship teams in 1964 and ’65, had just agreed to become UCLA’s women’s coach in 1975-76.

“I had no idea what I was going to do after my senior year in high school,” Meyers Drysdale said in a recent conversation. “I really didn’t. Billie Moore was the coach at (Cal State) Fullerton, and my sister Patty had played for Billie and they won the national (AIAW) title in 1970. So Fullerton was just around the corner. It wasn’t that expensive. And I’m from a family of 11 children, so having a college education was not always (something) that my parents could afford for all of us.

“But David and Kenny came home on a weekend for a barbecue and just basically said, ‘How’d you like to go to UCLA and play basketball on a scholarship?’ I said, ‘OK.’ So that’s how I was recruited.”

Of such moments are legends made. That might seem like hyperbole, but the award to the college women’s player of the year is named the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award.

That four-year scholarship was a first for women’s basketball, but there were many more to come. At UCLA she was a four-time All-American, an Olympic silver medalist on the 1976 team in Montréal, the first woman to sign an NBA contract with the Indiana Pacers in 1979 – we’ll get to that – and the first woman to go into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993.

Former UCLA women’s basketball star Ann Meyers holds up a jersey after signing a $50,000 contract with the Indiana Pacers on Sept. 5, 1979. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

As it turned out, she eventually played for Billie Moore anyway, on the 1976 Olympic team and her senior year at UCLA when Moore, who had come over from Fullerton, coached the Bruins to the AIAW championship. That year, Meyers Drysdale noted, the Bruins did make trips to New York and Raleigh, N.C., but while the men’s teams played in what then was the Pac-8, the women played in the Western Collegiate Athletic Association, where the furthest road trip was to San Diego State.

Thus, the vans and station wagons.

Meyers Drysdale has stayed involved with the game as a broadcaster and executive. She was first general manager and is currently vice president of the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, and she also is the color analyst on 15 Phoenix Suns telecasts a season.

In other words, this lady has serious basketball chops.

Former professional basketball player and current sportscaster Ann Meyers Drysdale speaks during a rally to support the release of Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner, who was detained in Russia, on July 6, 2022, at Footprint Center in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

And yes, she is as enamored with Caitlin Clark’s game, as most of the rest of us are.

“Caitlin Clark has captured the heart of the nation, and she has brought the history of the game out with her scoring,” Meyers Drysdale said, noting that such long ago and forgotten stars such as Lynette Woodard, Pearl Moore and Lucy Harris have received attention as Clark has moved up the all-time scoring list.

“I love that Caitlin is the player that she is, because she’s not just a shooter,” Meyers Drysdale said. “She’s a scorer. She plays defense. She leads the Big Ten now, men and women, in assists. She broke Susie McConnell’s record; (she) was the all-time leader in assists in the Big Ten for both men and women. She plays both ends of the floor, she rebounds.”

The quality of the women’s game in itself should be reason for the public’s heightened interest, but the rivalries and back stories have added spice, starting with the byplay between Clark and LSU’s Angel Reese in last year’s NCAA championship game. The brawl last weekend between LSU and South Carolina in the SEC Tournament’s title game was hardly a positive, but it likely also got the attention of the casual fan who might now be more inclined to check out the upcoming NCAA Tournament.

And there are so many stories and so many personalities, from Clark and Reese to Connecticut’s Paige Bueckers, Stanford’s Cameron Brink, USC’s JuJu Watkins, and …

“Charisma Osborne,” Meyers Drysdale said, putting in a good word for her alma mater’s star. “What she’s done at UCLA has been impressive, and nobody’s really talked about her. I’m just using her as an example, but there’s a lot of players in the country that are having great years but not getting the attention.”

You could, if you wished, draw a straight line from Meyers Drysdale’s tryout with the Pacers in 1979 to the launch of the WNBA in 1997.

She was the first overall draft choice of the Women’s Basketball League in 1978, but her inclination was to decline that opportunity to maintain her amateur status, with the idea of playing in a second Olympic Games in 1980 in Moscow – an opportunity that wouldn’t have come anyway once the U.S. decided to boycott those Olympics.

Former UCLA women’s basketball star Ann Meyers drives during practice at the NBA rookie camp for the Indiana Pacers on Sept. 10, 1979, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/File)

The Pacers’ offer of a tryout might have been a publicity stunt on the team’s part. And by signing a contract, she lost her amateur status anyway. But a lot of good came out of it.

“Even though I didn’t make it, it opened up the door for broadcasting,” she said. “And then I did go into the WBL and was the MVP of the league (in 1980, with the New Jersey Gems). And then I met Don (her late husband, Dodger pitcher and Hall of Famer Don Drysdale) through the Superstars (made for TV competition). … So many positive things happened because of my decision to try out with the Pacers, even though a lot of people in the media felt it was a failure, and ‘what are you doing,’ and this and that. I wasn’t going to let people talk me out of it.”

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The Pacers’ sibling franchise, the WNBA Fever, figures to be the center of attention itself this summer. It will have the No. 1 pick in the draft, and guess who that will be.

“I heard that the Fever had (Clark) jerseys made up, and they’re already sold out,” Meyers Drysdale said.

[email protected]

​ Orange County Register 

Get into these museums free on Saturday, March 23

• March 13, 2024

Do you like free stuff? Do you like to wander through museums? Then I’ve got a deal for you.

This coming Saturday — March 23 — dozens of Southern California museums in Southern California are opening their doors and inviting you to visit. For free. Yes, I said no charge. (Sadly, sometimes the parking is not free, but still …)

Note that some places ask you to reserve in advance, so read up on the details. And the free admission applies to the general museum, not any specially ticketed exhibitions. If I were you, I’d get there right when they open, because this will be one crowded day.

Here’s the freebie list, courtesy of the SoCalMuseums.org website. It’s a good idea to check for new additions. And note that some of these museums are free all the time!

Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, 6067 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. Exhibits on the movies, film showings and more. (Advance reservations are sold out, but you can still show up and try to get in.). www.academymuseum.org

A pair of Judy Garland’s ruby slippers on display at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles DailyNews/SCNG)

American Museum of Ceramic Art, 399 N. Garey Ave., Pomona. One of the largest collections of ceramic art in the nation. (Make mandatory advance reservations at amoca.org/events/freeforall_24/  or by email to [email protected] or call 909-865-3146). amoca.org

Armory Center for the Arts 145 North Raymond Ave., Pasadena. No reservations required. Note that this place in Old Pasadena is always free! Offers exhibitions, workshops and more. www.armoryarts.org

Autry Museum of the American West  4700 Western Heritage Way, Los Angeles. (Advance reservations required. Visit theautry.org to make a reservation). Interesting museum exploring the frontier of the American West, including Native American culture, cowboys, artwork and rotating exhibitions. Free parking. theautry.org

Teepees make up part of the American Indian Arts Marketplace at the Autry Museum of the American West Sunday afternoon. The event featured Native American arts, crafts, dance and music. (Photo by Andy Holzman/Contributing photographer).

Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College, 120 W. Bonita Ave., Claremont. This museum of contemporary and historic art is always free. www.pomona.edu/museum

Bowers Museum, 2002 North Main St., Santa Ana. Museum of arts and crafts from cultures around the world. Free admission and discounted $10 tickets to the Asian Comics exhibition. www.bowers.org

The Broad 221 S. Grand Ave., Los Angeles. Contemporary art museum across from Walt Disney Hall downtown that’s fun and highlights the extensive collection of the late Eli Broad. Always free. Paid parking. If you don’t make reservations, you’ll be standing in a long walk-up line. (Visit broad.org to make a reservation)

California Botanic Garden 1500 N. College Ave., Claremont. Features 86 acres with 22,000 California native plants. calbg.org

California Science Center 700 Exposition Park Drive, Los Angeles. Always free. Excellent museum with many fine exhibits for families. Paid parking in Exposition Park. californiasciencecenter.org

Visitors enjoy the Kelp Forest exhibit at the California Science Center. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Contributing Photographer)

Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum. Cal State Long Beach. Horn Center, 1250 Bellflower Blvd., Long Beach. Always free but paid parking on campus. csulb.edu/carolyn-campagna-kleefeld-contemporary-art-museum

Catalina Museum for Art & History 217 Metropole Ave., Avalon. Explores the history and creativity of Catalina Island. catalinamuseum.org

Cayton Children’s Museum 395 Santa Monica Place, level 3, Santa Monica. Kids’ touch and play museum. (Advanced reservations required. Visit caytonmuseum.org)

Columbia Memorial Space Center 12400 Columbia Way, Downey. Educates students about science and technology. columbiaspacescience.org

Craft Contemporary 5814 Wilshire Blvd. Los Angeles. Museum devoted to high quality crafts with exhibits and workshops. craftcontemporary.org

Forest Lawn Museum 1712 S. Glendale Ave., Glendale. Museum in a huge cemetery that includes reproductions of famous works of art. forestlawn.com/museum

Julika Lackner’s “Twilight 81 (Forest Lawn Museum Looking West),” 2021, oil and acrylic on canvas, was on exhibit at Forest Lawn in Glendale. (Photo courtesy of Julika Lackner)

Fowler Museum at UCLA 308 Charles E. Young Drive North, Los Angeles. Always free. Paid parking. Specializes in ethnic arts and culture. fowler.ucla.edu

Frederick R. Weisman of Art at Pepperdine University, Lisa Smith Wengler Center, 24255 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu Contemporary art museum. Always free. Paid and free parking. arts.pepperdine.edu/museum

The Getty Center 1200 Getty Center Drive, Los Angeles. The richest museum in the world, it cost $1 billion to build. Always free. Paid parking. Get a free timed ticket online. getty.edu/visit/center

Admission to the Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades is free but timed admission tickets must be obtained online before visiting. (Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

The Getty Villa 17985 Pacific Coast Highway, Pacific Palisades. Stunning replica of a Pompeian villa and gardens, filled with ancient art. Always free, Paid parking. Advance tickets required. getty.edu

GRAMMY Museum at LA Live 800 W. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles. Museum that covers the top echelons of the music industry. Paid parking. grammymuseum.org

The Grammy Museum’s exhibit on Shakira at the downtown Los Angeles museum,  (Photo by Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)

Hammer Museum at UCLA. 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. Always free. Paid parking. Art from around the world. hammer.ucla.edu

Holocaust Museum LA 100 The Grove Drive, Los Angeles. Founded by Holocaust survivors, it explores the horror of the concentration camp and Jewish experience during World War II. Free every Sunday and always to students. Paid parking. Reserve tickets at holocaustmuseumla.org.

An archive image at the Holocaust Museum LA shows families living in the Warsaw Jewish Ghetto in the 1940s. (Photo courtesy of Carla Schalman/Holocaust Museum LA)

Institute of Contemporary Art, LA  1717 E. 7th St., Los Angeles. Showcase of current art, as well as special events. Always free.  theicala.org/en

The International Printing Museum 315 W. Torrance Blvd., Carson. Learn about printing and book arts. printmuseum.org

Japanese American National Museum 100 N. Central Ave. in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles. Excellent look at the Japanese experience in the U.S. Reservations recommended. Paid parking. janm.org/visit

TAIKOPROJECT performs during the 2020 Oshogatsu Family Festival at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles on Sunday, Jan 05, 2020. (Photo by Ed Crisostomo, Contributing Photographer)

Laguna Art Museum 307 Cliff Drive, Laguna Beach. This museum, on a bluff overlooking the ocean, exhibits art that “embodies and preserves the California experience.” lagunaartmuseum.org

La Brea Tar Pits & Museum 5801 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. Fascinating look at the local Ice Age, complete with skeletons of extinct creatures. Advance tickets required. Book online. tarpits.org

LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes 501 N. Main St., Los Angeles, adjacent to Olvera Street, Community center and museum housed in two historic buildings next to Olvera Street.  lapca.org

Lincoln Memorial Shrine and Civil War Museum 125 W. Vine St., Redlands, Always free. Educates about the legacy of Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War. lincolnshrine.org

Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. Large and exciting museum with art of many cultures. Reserve tickets online at lacma.org. Paid parking.

The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) 50 South Grand Ave., Los Angeles. Always free. Changing exhibits of contemporary art in a landmark sandstone building. Paid parking. Advance tickets recommended. moca.org

Museum of Latin American Art (MOLAA) 628 Alamitos Ave., Long Beach. Features art from local and international artists. Always free on Sundays. Free parking. molaa.org

The Museum of Latin American American Art in Long Beach offers free admission on Sundays. (Photo by Steven Georges/Press-Telegram)

Museum of Ventura County 100 E. Main St., Ventura (main museum). History, arts and culture of Ventura County and the Channel Islands. Spread over four locations. venturamuseum.org

Orange County Museum of Art 3333 Avenue of the Arts, Costa Mesa. Always free. Contemporary art in a new building at the Segerstrom Center. Free advance tickets required; order them online. Paid parking. ocma.art

Artist Jennifer Guidi’s eye-catching art, “And so it is,” is the newest exhibit at Orange County Museum of Art in Costa Mesa on Sunday, October 8, 2023. The museum celebrates its one-year anniversary with a week of activities for the public.(Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Santa Barbara Museum of Art 1130 State St., Santa Barbara. Large collection of current and historic art covering a wide period and numerous cultures. Advance tickets recommended at tickets.sbma.net.

Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History 2559 Puesta del Sol, Santa Barbara. Animatronic dinosaurs,astronomy, planetarium and more. Free admission does not include the Sea Center. Free parking. Advance reservations recommended. sbnature.org

Santa Monica History Museum 1350 7th St., Santa Monica. Diverse history exhibits on Santa Monica Bay area. Paid and street parking. Visit santamonicahistory.org to make a reservation.

Skirball Cultural Center 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles. Changing exhibits of historical and cultural interest, especially of Jewish traditions. Workshops and events. Reservations for March 23 are full, but walk-ups might get lucky.Visit skirball.org.

Wende Museum 10808 Culver Boulevard, Culver City. Features art, culture and an archive of Cold War history. Always free. Free parking. wendemuseum.org

The Zimmerman Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo will have a free event featuring classic and custom cars on March 23. (Photo by Gil Castro-Petres, Contributing Photographer)

Zimmerman Automobile Driving Museum  610 Lairport St., El Segundo. Collection of more than 130 vintage classic cars, including owned by Howard Hughes and Eleanor Roosevelt.  automobiledrivingmuseum.org

There you go. Hope you find something to do that day! And note that many museums have one or more days each month that are free to the public. Check their websites.

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​ Orange County Register 

Retiring after a dogged career helping others

• March 13, 2024

Henry George Campuzano Booth’s golden hair rustled gently in the morning breeze. It was as soft and inviting to the touch as a newborn baby’s.

Not bad for a guy retiring.

After nine years of service answering 885 crisis calls, including earthquakes, fires, floods and mass shootings, Henry, an 11-year-old, 98-pound golden retriever, is hanging up his leash as a certified therapy dog.

On Tuesday, dozens of well-wishers surprised Henry and owner Steve Booth with a retirement party outside UCI Medical Center in Orange. The gentle dog with the breed’s trademark smile was there to roam the halls and provide positive energy for the last time.

Booth, 68, retired as a sergeant from the OC Sheriff’s Department in 2015. He knows now is Henry’s time to bow out. The dog’s hips are old and in need of resting, Booth said. Over the years he’s provided therapy support at several local hospitals, as well as with crisis response teams after big emergencies.

“He absorbs all the positive and all the negative” Booth said of Henry. “It takes a toll.”

Booth’s wife, Janet, is also dealing with Parkinson’s disease and needs the team home.

Henry’s career includes about 4,000 hours of volunteering – sometimes 10-hour days, five days a week during disasters – providing comfort for people experiencing the darkest hours of life.

Henry has interacted with more than 100,000 people, by Booth’s estimate.

Working traumatic events has also provided Booth perspective on the frailties of life, he said.

In 2018, as part of the HOPE Animal-Assisted Crisis Response team, Booth and Henry were dispatched to the deadliest fire in California history. The Camp Fire killed 85 people and devoured 153,336 acres, including more than 18,000 structures.

There, in Northern California, a man in his early 30s wearing a baseball cap sat down next to Henry and unloaded, not even acknowledging Booth. He told the dog he had managed to save his pregnant wife, but lost his house, truck and dog to the fire, Booth said.

The man finally looked at Booth when he was done and said, “Thanks, I needed that.”

Tuesday, dozens of well-wishers formed a rope line and Henry seemed to know he was the guest of honor. Politely spending time with each person before he moved on, Henry was indeed the center of attention. He would take a bow on command and give “paw-tographs,” a personalized baseball card he slapped with his paw before Booth handed it to the smiling recipient.

“Happy Retirement K-9 Henry!” read an apple-and-oat cake with peanut frosting and bacon bits.

Wally Wong observed quietly from a metal bench.

Henry and Booth had visited his wife, Sandy Chang, in the hospital last year before she died, Wong said. “Some sun shined in a fairly dreary moment. It lit her up.”

He tracked the pair down after they were featured on the Jumbotron at a Ducks game last week during UCI Health and Wellness night.

“I wanted some closure,” Wong said of his visit to the party.

Booth said Henry has been a blessing. “I’ve been lucky enough to share him with everyone.”

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​ Orange County Register 

Travel: Enjoy spa splurges in Maui’s resplendent Wailea

• March 13, 2024

“Sheer bliss”: these were the only words I could muster after a sublime 90-minute “awa” couples treatment at the Willow Stream spa in Maui’s Wailea resort region. Inside this elegant retreat in the luxurious Fairmont Kea Lani, two expert massage therapists gently kneaded our travel weary muscles using traditional native Hawaiian techniques and locally made spa scents, oils and scrubs that left us with an inner glow that lasted for days.

There are five luxurious resorts in South Maui’s Wailea region offering extensive spa and wellness centers, and this sun-kissed coast has become a prime destination for Hawaii travelers seeking exceptional spa splurges.  These seaside retreats offer a wide menu of treatments, including traditional Hawaiian lomi lomi (healing hands) massage and pohaku massage, which uses heated lava rock and Himalayan salt stones paired with healing botanical oil blends.

The men’s spa at Willow Stream Spa at the Fairmont Kea Lani features relaxation chaises. (Photo by Ben Davidson Photography)

After several days of pool and beach lounging, ocean swimming, island sight-seeing and long coastal  hikes, my wife and I were more than ready to treat ourselves to the Willow Stream spa regimens. After enjoying a sauna and steam room in separate mens’ and womens’ facilities, we donned white robes and were escorted to a subtly lit, mood music-enhanced treatment room. It was instantly peaceful and calming.

Our side-by-side, full body massage treatment began with a 30-minute exfoliation using a Maui cane sugar-citrus scrub and was followed by an hourlong massage using a special “awa” (also known as “kava”) salve.  After our session was over, we walked back into the world with a newfound sense of relaxation, wellness and, of course, smelling like a tropical bouquet.

A tray featuring Maui citrus scrub and “awa” (kava) salve is shown at Willow Stream Spa. (Photo by Ben Davidson Photography)

Ready to hit the spa? Here are our recommendations for Wailea’s most sensational spa offerings:

‘Awili Spa & Salon, Andaz Maui at Wailea

‘Awili specializes in creating customized treatments designed with personal wellness goals in mind.  All 90-minute body treatments include a 30- minute full body massage. Choices include “WRAP” —a heated hibiscus, kelp and clay mask wraps your body in a warm cocoon to detox and purify,  “QUENCH” — a hydrating and firming Vitamin C body polish and antioxidant rich vitamin C mask to moisturize and revitalize dull, dry skin, or “EXFOLIATE”, which uses locally made sugar scrub and hydrating body butter to renew dull, dry skin.

For a super spa splurge, try the all-inclusive “UNITE” five-hour treatment where couples unwind in a private ocean view spa suite. A detoxifying hibiscus clay body wrap is followed by a choice of Hawaiian aromatherapy treatments and personalised massages. Afterward, spa guests enjoy an included ppolside lunch in a private cabana and head to the nail salon for manicures and pedicures with an ocean view. Details: hyatt.com/en-US/spas/Awili-Spa-and-Salon/home

Après spa: Andaz has two excellent restaurants, Ka’ana Kitchens and Morimoto Maui, but the best post-spa dining treat is the resort’s Feast at Mokapu luau, set on the resort’s grassy lawn overlooking the shores of Mokapu Beach. While enjoying interactive storytelling and hula perfomances, guests can indulge in an ohana-style meal of 15 locally inspired dishes. Luau prices: adults: $340, children $180. Details: feastatmokapu.com

Kilolani Spa, Grand Wailea

Kilolani Spa at the sprawling Grand Wailea resort opened on Feb. 28. The $55 million, 50,000-square foot facility focuses on the kaulana mahina (Hawaiian moon) calendar’s core concepts, featuring a holistic approach to wellness with treatments steeped in traditional Hawaiian practices. Details: spa.grandwailea.com

Drawing inspiration from the kaulana mahina — the Hawaiian moon calendar — which divides each month into three helu po or moon phases, Kilolani creates space for healing, rejuvenation and restoration and encompasses forty treatment rooms, including couples’ treatment suites, a meditation lounge, reflection lounge, halotherapy-infused infrared saunas and hydrothermal gardens.

The spa features hand-selected native botanicals, holistic bodywork treatments, and mindfulness practices. Treatments range from Hawaiian beauty facials to traditional massages such as lomi pohaku (hot stone treatment and massage), lomilomi (healing hands) and ho’omalie (pohaku and lomilomi combined) massage.

Après-spa: Botero Lounge offers craft cocktails, fresh sushi and a range of inventive dishes amid nine larger-than-life sculptures by the late renowned artist Fernando Botero, the namesake of this signature lounge in the heart of the Grand Wailea’s open-air lobby.

For a fabulous fine dining experience in a lagoon-side setting, check out the resort’s Humuhumunukunukuāpuaʻa (named after a type of local fish) restaurant, known for its extensive seafood menu.

Olakino Wellness Experience & Mandara Spa, Wailea Beach Resort-Marriott

Olakino, Wailea Beach Resort’s newest pool destination, is an adults-only wellness experience. (Photo by Ben Davidson Photography)

Wailea Beach Resort’s newest pool destination, Olakino, is an adults-only wellness experience, designed to relax and rejuvenate mind, body, and soul. The exclusive experience includes culinary refreshments and 10-minute “mini-massages” in a private poolside setting. The small infinity saline pool has ocean views, in-water chaise lounges, shaded loungers, double daybeds, and luxury cabanas. Details: marriott.com

A green juice smoothie welcome drink and mineral water are served poolside at Olakino Wellness Pool, Wailea Beach Resort. (Photo by Ben Davidson Photography)

There are four themed areas of focus at Olakino: La’i (tranquil, harmony) promotes a sense of calm and peace designed to settle mind and body into a tranquil state. Ala (awaken) rejuvenates bodily senses with invigorating and intentional movement workshops. A’o (to acquire knowledge) seeks “to delve into healing arts and cultural traditions from wellness practitioners and teachers.” And Konea (restored) focuses on guided fluid movement practices to restore overall wellbeing. As part of the all-day Olakino experience, guests savor chef-curated offerings like wagyu skewers and locally sourced farm-fresh salad bowls. Poolside cabana massage treatments, including sound therapy using brass “singing” bowls from Nepal, for singles and couples are available by reservation.

Luxury cabanas are among the amenities offered at Wailea Beach Resort’s Olakino Wellness Experience. (Photo by Ben Davidson Photography)

The Balinese-inspired Mandara Spa inside the Wailea Beach Resort’s lobby level aims to embody the island’s natural beauty and sense of aloha. Overlooking the ocean, Molokini crater, and the island of Kaho`olawe, the 9,153-square feet facility features eleven treatment rooms (some ocean view single treatment rooms) and deluxe couple’s suites for body treatments and massages. A relaxation area, steam room, lockers, and showers are located in the center of the spa and are separated for men and women.

A masseuse provides a “mini massage” to a guest at Wailea Beach Resort. (Photo by Ben Davidson Photography)

Their signature facial treatment starts with a deep cleansing, exfoliation and extractions ands finishes with a hand, arm, and scalp massage and an application of a signature beauty oil. Massage treatments include a “Fire & Ice” massage using heated basalt stone complemented by ice-cool gels to gently detoxify the body, alleviate stress and ease aching muscles.

The Wailea Beach Resort’s Olakino Wellness Pool features a waterfall. (Photo by Ben Davidson Photography)

A coconut poultice massage uses coconut compresses, warmed to to release natural emollients rich in Vitamins E and K, to nourish and moisturize the skin. The poultices are then applied to pressure points to relax muscles and release tension. Other massage offerings include traditional Balinese, Hawaiian body scrub, lomi lomi and ku’uipo (couples), Thai and reiki (Japanese) treatments.

Après-spa: Satisfy post-spa hunger at Humble Market Kitchin by Roy Yamaguchi, the resort’s signature restaurant. Savor Hawaiian-inspired fare in an airy restaurant with panoramic beach and ocean views.

Maui Spa, Four Seasons Maui

Maui Spa offers a variety of massage techniques from traditional Hawaiian to Swedish to Lymph drainage and sleep well treatments. Not to miss are the two signature Hawaiian treatments: the lomi pohaku (Hawaiian stones) massage, and lomi mohala using an exclusive herbal oil blend that melts away tension with rhythmic forearm strokes, allowing a feeling of mohala or “heart opening.” The treatment concludes with a foot scrub using a locally made organic ginger-turmeric salve. Details: www.fourseasons.com/maui/spa

Après-spa: Ferraro’s Restaurant & Bar has a stunning oceanfront dining setting, perfect for enjoying coastal Italian cuisine under the Hawaiian heavens.

Willow Stream Spa, Fairmont Kea Lani

This is the men’s sauna at Willow Stream Spa at Fairmont Kea Lani on Maui. (Photo by Ben Davidson Photography)

The womens’ (wahine) side has three special showers to enjoy before your spa treament:  ua noe (morning mist), ua naulu (afternoon rain), ua hekili (evening storm). The men’s side (kane) features a wai Huihui (cool down) and ua loku (power) showers.

Après-spa: The fabulous new Pilina (meaning “connections” in native Hawaiian) features the longest oceanfront bar in Wailea. The breezy, open-air interior features custom-made furnishings, some of it made from gorgeous Hawaiian monkeypod and koa wood. It’s a great place to watch sunset and enjoy aina-driven cocktails made with Hawaii-made made spirits, such as a custom rum blend from Hawaii Island’s Kuleana Distilling, a golden ale from Maui Brewing Company, plus additions such as bee pollen from the Hawaii Island and lavender from upcounty Maui. Island-fresh seafood and sushi offerings include ahi seared on a hot river rock.

​ Orange County Register 

Rent is too damn high. It’s keeping interest rates elevated, too

• March 13, 2024

Some analysts note that inflation rates are boosted by just a couple of factors, especially shelter prices.

In short, the rent is too damn high — and it’s keeping inflation and interest rates elevated alongside it. Some analysts think that it’s going to stay that way for a while.

Rent has increased significantly over the past year. And despite the Federal Reserve’s best efforts to bring it down, it isn’t budging as quickly as expected.

Shelter costs — which make up about 30% of CPI — are one of the biggest drivers of services inflation and one of the biggest costs and most essential items for Americans.

Over the past year, about two-thirds of the increase in core CPI came from shelter alone, said Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate, in a recent note.

Bank of America analysts say “shelter inflation has been a big focal point for the market.” And they expect that to persist this year “and think that services inflation moderation is likely to be slower than the market expects.”

Optimism and pessimism

Fed Chair Jerome Powell said at a January press conference that an ease in shelter prices is imminent.

“We think that’s coming, and we know it’s coming,” he said. “It’s just a question of when and how big it’ll be.”

An eventual shift to lower rents is in “everyone’s forecasts,” said Powell.

Well, not everyone.

Some economists aren’t expecting a drop anytime soon. “We remain confident that [rent prices] will flatline in 2024, rather than fall,” Capital Economics analyst Thomas Ryan wrote in a recent note.

Rent isn’t like other consumer goods, said Ritti Singh, an organizer with Housing Justice for All. “Once it goes up, it stays up.”

Greedflation

Landlords across the country, said Singh, have been using inflation as an excuse to raise rents exorbitantly without real cause.

Many landlords were forced to raise rents to cover increases in mortgage costs or repair costs, but the majority of localities don’t have laws that regulate how much they can increase rents in a single year. Zillow economists have found that current asking rate rents are up 29.9% since the beginning of the pandemic.

Singh believes that the Fed alone won’t be able to effectively drive down rental inflation. There needs to be local legislation to regulate what landlords can raise rents by as well, she said.

Weird data

Some economists say that CPI data is skewed and can paint a false picture of how high inflation currently is.

The CPI tracks rents that renters pay, but the majority of shelter costs in the index come from something called owners’ equivalent rent. Instead of factoring in the cost of purchasing a house, the index attempts to factor in how much rent homeowners would pay if they rented rather than owned their home.

The thing is, homeowners do own their homes. Inflation on hypothetical rent prices for homes they don’t rent isn’t actually being felt. Plus, rent and home prices don’t always move in sync, and so this can create a false equivalency.

The data could also be lagging.

Research by Goldman Sachs and the Dallas Fed finds that actual rent and owners’ equivalent rent lag the rest of CPI by a full year. That means a current deceleration in rent prices won’t be fully factored into inflation data until February 2025.

So even though data shows that rents across the US cooled last month, dropping for the sixth month in a row nationwide, and providing a bit of relief to renters, that won’t show up in CPI data for a while.

2024 economic forecasts

 
Chapman: ‘Very slow growth. No recession’

CS Fullerton: ‘Cracks’ will widen to a mild recession in late 2024

US Realtors: Housing rebound from 2023’s dismal sales

California Realtors: Rising prices, sales in 2024

USC: SoCal rents to rise 2-4% a year through 2025

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​ Orange County Register 

After protests, SoCalGas scales back plans to test hydrogen energy at UC Irvine

• March 13, 2024

Nearly 15 months after protestors chalked “students aren’t lab rats” and similar messages on a UC Irvine sidewalk, Southern California Gas Co. has scaled back and revised plans for a test that would have used hydrogen to replace up to 20% of the natural gas now running through the university’s pipelines.

SoCalGas first asked state regulators in fall of 2022 for permission to use electricity from the state’s grid to make a lower-carbon fuel blend that included hydrogen and to pipe that new blend into university dorms, offices and restaurants. But that plan sparked pushback from student, faculty and environmental groups, and on March 1 the investor-owned utility changed its request, asking for permission to use solar power to make hydrogen that would be tested in a closed system and only at UC Irvine’s Anteater Recreation Center.

The utility also asked to move a portion of the testing to a new location.

Now, if the Public Utilities Commission approves the amended application from SoCalGas, the first hydrogen testing in an open system in California could be centered on homes and businesses in Orange Cove — a small, low-income and largely Latino citrus farming town near Fresno.

The tests are supposed to demonstrate how gas pipelines and the appliances (such as ovens and furnaces) they fuel will hold up once different amounts of hydrogen are introduced to the system.

Displacing any amount of natural gas in our statewide energy portfolio could help with climate change, since burning hydrogen doesn’t emit the same planet-warming carbon dioxide as burning natural gas, which is up to 90% methane. That’s why hydrogen has become a key focus in recent years for some researchers and regulators seeking cleaner substitutes for fossil fuels, with the gas included in decarbonization plans from multiple state and federal agencies.

But hydrogen also can make pipelines get brittle and potentially fail faster than systems carrying natural gas alone. And most appliances in the United States weren’t designed to run on hydrogen blends.

Studies in labs and limited projects in places such as Hawaii, Canada and Europe suggest that as much as 30% hydrogen can be blended into natural gas systems without triggering significant problems, though no such tests have happened yet in California.

Read more: Plan to test hydrogen energy at UC Irvine, other spots, stirs controversy

So if these SoCalGas tests at UC Irvine and Orange Cove — which are being pitched along with similar projects by the state’s three other investor-owned gas utilities — can help establish a safe threshold for hydrogen blending, it could pave the way for a new statewide policy on the future use of hydrogen. That, in turn, could allow utilities to start injecting some level of hydrogen into more than 100,000 miles of natural gas pipelines throughout California by the end of the decade.

“We’re going to need all the tools in the toolbox to get to greenhouse gas neutrality,” said Neil Navin, chief clean fuels officer for SoCalGas.

Many climate and public health advocates strongly oppose this concept. They argue we can already decarbonize buildings by swapping, say, gas-powered water heaters for electric heat pump versions. So, beyond limited uses for hard-to-decarbonize sectors, they call hydrogen a risky and costly distraction that simply lets fossil fuel companies extend demand for their products amid heightened pressure to clean up their acts.

The risk comes because hydrogen leaks more easily than natural gas alone, since it’s smaller and lighter. Hydrogen leaks also are harder to detect. And if hydrogen does leak, prior to being burned as an energy source, it too becomes a greenhouse gas — one that’s also roughly five times more likely than natural gas to ignite.

Costs associated with these tests and transitions can get passed on to residents and other ratepayers. And the price tag for SoCalGas’ planned hydrogen blending tests is now more than six times higher than it was before, with the prior proposal at UC Irvine projected to cost $13 million while the updated project is pegged at $26.8 million in Irvine and $53.6 million in Orange Cove.

For all of these reasons, some students, faculty members and climate advocates still aren’t sold on the scaled-back hydrogen testing plan at UC Irvine.

“Once again this appears to be a project that is completely unnecessary, is dangerous for students and is just designed to make money for the gas company at the expense of ratepayers,” said Ayn Craciun, who oversees Orange County issues for Climate Action Campaign, a coalition of environment and public health groups.

UC Irvine ended up on the front line of this debate because it is home to the National Fuel Cell Research Center, which has been testing hydrogen for years.

The center is led by Jack Brouwer, an engineering professor at UCI who has studied hydrogen for 25 years. Brouwer’s team has worked with SoCalGas on other projects. So he said previously that this next test seemed a natural fit after the CPUC asked gas companies back in 2019 to help develop standards for safely injecting hydrogen into the statewide natural gas system.

A three-person committee at UC Irvine, made up of engineering and chemistry professors, reviewed the latest proposal from SoCalGas. They called it “a necessary first step” to establishing a statewide standard for safely blending hydrogen into natural gas pipelines. So the committee recommends that UC Irvine allow the test to move forward if certain safety protocols are in place, including continuous leak monitoring, monthly surveys of the system and installation of remote methane and hydrogen monitoring systems.

Navin said SoCalGas is “committed” to looking at all of those recommendations and to working with the university to move the project forward.

After facing complaints for not notifying the community about the project as it was originally planned, UC Irvine has now launched a website with frequently asked questions and updates. University officials said they’re also forming student and administrative groups to discuss the project before it might go up for final review.

Read more: UCI leaders to SoCalGas: don’t test hydrogen blend in dining areas and freshman dorms

SoCalGas hopes to install an electrolyzer at UC Irvine, a device that would make hydrogen by shooting an electrical current through water and splitting hydrogen atoms from oxygen atoms. That hydrogen would be stored in tanks until being injected into a skid, where it would blend with natural gas. The mix then would be delivered to the recreation center.

Originally, that hydrogen would have been made using an electrical current powered by the state grid. But much of the state grid still relies on fossil fuels, so that project wouldn’t have met many climate group’s definition of “green hydrogen.”

SoCalGas’ new plans call for installing new solar panels at UC Irvine and in Orange Cove, so they could make hydrogen using entirely renewable energy.

The mix at UC Irvine would start at just 5% hydrogen. Under that level, a study out of UC Riverside said there are few concerns about how the pipeline system and appliances fueled by it would perform. But after three months, the blend would be bumped up to 10% hydrogen. And at six months, it would hit 20% and stay there for one year.

If green hydrogen displaced 20% of all natural gas used in California today, Navin said it would be equal to taking more than 1.5 million gas-powered cars off the road.

Open system tests planned in Orange Cove pipelines, which serve nearly 10,000 residents and businesses, would involve much lower amounts of hydrogen. SoCalGas wants to start by mixing in just 0.1% hydrogen, then gradually move up to 5%.

Asked how SoCalGas chose Orange Cove for this project, Navin said work around the clean energy transition often gets “concentrated in urban environments and academic environments.” So he said, “This was an opportunity to work with a smaller community that wanted to engage in the energy transition and look at developing tools like hydrogen blending as a part of the solution for getting to greenhouse gas neutrality.”

Orange Grove city officials didn’t respond to requests for comment by deadline.

More than 96% of Orange Cove’s residents are Latino and nearly half live in poverty, per the latest U.S. Census data. The region surrounding Orange Cove also regularly experiences some of the worst air quality in the nation thanks to dust and emissions from nearby dairy and agricultural farms, trucking routes between warehouses, oil and gas operations, and wildfires that plague the region’s mountains. So while Katherine Ramsey, a senior attorney with Sierra Club, called the original UC Irvine project “an expensive, poorly thought out proposal,” she said, “this new iteration is even worse.”

“It’s unconscionable that SoCalGas now wants to use the residents of a Latino farming community as guinea pigs for this pilot,” Ramsey said. “Hydrogen blending is too nascent to be tested in people’s homes.”

Sara Gersen, an attorney on Earthjustice’s Right To Zero campaign, also raised concerns about risks to Orange Cove residents, who she said “deserve a swift transition to electric appliances that won’t pollute their homes and neighborhoods.” Instead, she said, “SoCalGas’ hydrogen project threatens to increase lung-searing pollution in a community already breathing some of the most polluted air in the country.”

The CPUC will conference with the gas utilities in a meeting May 13 but extended a deadline to weigh in on the test projects until fall of 2025.

In the meantime, anyone can sign up to be notified when the utility commission considers the project. They can also send comments of support, opposition or questions to the commission, to UC Irvine and to SoCalGas.

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​ Orange County Register 

Washington lineman with numerous college offers transfers to Mater Dei

• March 13, 2024

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Offensive tackle Kodi Greene, one of the top high school football prospects in Washington, has enrolled at Mater Dei, the sophomore confirmed.

The 6-foot-6, 290-pound Greene said he started classes at Mater Dei on Tuesday.

Last season, Greene played at Eastside Catholic in Sammamish, Wash. The Crusaders opened with a 20-0 loss against Orange Lutheran and finished with a 9-3 record.

Greene holds more than a dozen scholarship offers, including Michigan, Washington, Oregon and USC.

He has been compared to former Mater Dei offensive tackle Brandon Baker, a senior who signed with Texas.

Mater Dei is seeking to replace Baker (6-5, 295) and tackle DeAndre Carter (6-5, 295), who signed with Auburn.

Greene is the second major sophomore transfer to arrive at Mater Dei in the offseason. Wide receiver Chris Henry Jr., a transfer wide receiver from Ohio, is a sophomore committed to Ohio State.

Chaparral junior quarterback Dash Beierly, a Washington commit, also recently transferred to Mater Dei.

Please send football news to Dan Albano at [email protected] or @ocvarsityguy on X and Instagram

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​ Orange County Register