Enter H.B. Independent’s first-ever Oscar guessing contest!

Everyone has at least one skill that doesn’t have a practical use.

Mine is the ability to name every movie ever to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.

I absorbed that knowledge from years of reading critical studies of the Oscars, to the point where, if someone blurts out any year from 1928 to the present, I can pinpoint that year’s winner within three seconds. Go ahead, try me — my number is at the bottom of this column.

I guess having that photographic memory has one practical use: It gives me a leg up in making Oscar predictions. The last time I can remember wrongly handicapping the winner was in 1998, when I picked “Saving Private Ryan” over “Shakespeare in Love,” but I don’t think even Shakespeare’s descendants predicted that upset.

In many ways, the Best Picture race is similar to a presidential primary. Both are contests ostensibly about choosing the “best” candidate, but more often award the most politically prudent and least divisive choice. Sometimes, a movie will top the list because it’s a popular smash (“Titanic”); sometimes, voters will favor it over a volatile contender (“Crash” over “Brokeback Mountain”); other times, the Oscar serves as a consolation prize (would “The Departed” have taken the gold without Martin Scorsese‘s name on it?).

This year, the field seems more open than usual, without one film that seems a sure bet to win it all — you know, like “Saving Private Ryan” or “Brokeback Mountain.” And so, with the Oscar nominations having come out Tuesday, I propose the Independent’s first annual Outguess the City Editor Contest.

…Continue reading Enter H.B. Independent’s first-ever Oscar guessing contest!

Vote for replacement Woman’s Club headquarters postponed

The Planning Commission postponed a vote Tuesday on the Woman’s Club of Huntington Beach’s application to build a replacement headquarters near downtown.

The postponement allows the club to draft a list of conditions to address neighbors’ concerns.

The commission was scheduled to vote on whether to approve a conditional-use permit and several variances for the proposed new clubhouse at 420 10th St. The club’s previous facility there burned down April 30 in a fire presumably caused by an electrical malfunction, and members are seeking permission to build a nearly identical structure in its place.

However, after more than a dozen people spoke during the public hearing and commissioners asked additional questions, the club’s representatives agreed to return at the commission’s Feb. 28 meeting with a list of conditions for reopening.

Michael Adams, a planning consultant representing the Woman’s Club, said the conditions would likely include limits on hours of operation and rules about live music and other noise. He expressed confidence that, regardless of conditions, a new clubhouse would eventually be built.

“There doesn’t seem to be any objection by the Planning Commission to rebuilding the facility,” Adams said.

…Continue reading Vote for replacement Woman’s Club headquarters postponed

Vote for replacement Woman’s Club headquarters postponed

The Planning Commission postponed a vote Tuesday on the Woman’s Club of Huntington Beach’s application to build a replacement headquarters near downtown.

The postponement allows the club to draft a list of conditions to address neighbors’ concerns.

The commission was scheduled to vote on whether to approve a conditional-use permit and several variances for the proposed new clubhouse at 420 10th St. The club’s previous facility there burned down April 30 in a fire presumably caused by an electrical malfunction, and members are seeking permission to build a nearly identical structure in its place.

However, after more than a dozen people spoke during the public hearing and commissioners asked additional questions, the club’s representatives agreed to return at the commission’s Feb. 28 meeting with a list of conditions for reopening.

…Continue reading Vote for replacement Woman’s Club headquarters postponed

For Huntington Beach family, the chips are down at Super Bowl

When the Super Bowl begins Feb. 5, it will be a tense time for the Willson family.

Huntington Beach residents Connie and Tom will watch the telecast at a local restaurant, while their son Kevin will experience the game live in Indianapolis. The suspense will start with the pregame show, grow more intense during the coin toss and may induce peals of sweat by halftime.

It’s not that the Willsons have a family member in the game — or frankly, that they care which side wins at all. But when the TV cuts to a commercial break, they’ll be fixated on the screen.

Kevin, a longtime documentary and commercial director, has a 30-second Doritos spot entered in Crash the Super Bowl, an annual contest in which filmmakers across the country compete for Super Bowl air time. Kevin’s ad, titled “Sling Baby,” is one of five finalists in the online voting contest, and he and his family will find out during the game if it made the cut.

“The game we care about is the commercials,” said Kevin, who spent most of his childhood in Huntington Beach. “It’s the exact opposite of what most football fans are doing.”

Crash the Super Bowl, which got 6,100 submissions this year, will accept online votes for its five finalists through Jan. 29. The top vote-getter will play during the Super Bowl, while Doritos will choose a runner-up that will also show during the game.

…Continue reading For Huntington Beach family, the chips are down at Super Bowl

Neighbors want H.B. Woman’s Club to comply with codes

A group of neighbors has launched a petition drive asking the Planning Commission not to grant exceptions to city codes known as variances to the Woman’s Club of Huntington Beach, which has applied to build a new headquarters to replace the one destroyed in a fire last year.

Nesip Tarcan, who has lived across the street from the Woman’s Club site since 1999, said he has already gathered nearly 30 signatures from fellow residents and plans to solicit more at a meeting at his home this evening.

The meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday at 411 10th St., and those who live in the neighborhood near downtown are invited to attend.

The Woman’s Club applied last fall for a permit to construct a new headquarters at 420 10th St. The application seeks several variances from city code, including four parking spaces instead of a minimum of 73, 55% lot coverage instead of the maximum 50% and a 20-foot turnaround radius instead of 25.

The Planning Commission is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the matter Jan. 24, and Tarcan’s group plans to attend and make a presentation about neighbors’ concerns.

…Continue reading Neighbors want H.B. Woman’s Club to comply with codes

Man who videotaped rapes of four women sentenced to 129 years

A registered sex offender from Huntington Beach was sentenced Friday to 129 years to life in state prison for sexually assaulting four women in 2007 and videotaping his crimes.

James Ernest Bledsoe, 30, was convicted Oct. 20 of felony forcible rape, forcible oral copulation, sexual penetration by a foreign object by force, failure to register as a sex offender and other counts, as well as four misdemeanor counts. He previously was convicted of child molestation.

The first attack took place June 30, 2007, when Bledsoe offered a ride home to a woman who had passed out after drinking at a Costa Mesa nightclub, then drove her to his apartment, where he raped and digitally penetrated her. Similar attacks occurred July 15 and Oct. 8 in Huntington Beach.

…Continue reading Man who videotaped rapes of four women sentenced to 129 years

Santa Ana man pleads not guilty to sexually soliciting girl online

A Santa Ana man pleaded not guilty Friday to attempting to start a sexual relationship with a 13-year-old girl on Craigslist.

Oscar Zamora Pinedo, 35, is charged with one felony count each of contacting a minor with intent to commit a lewd act and arranging to meet a minor to commit a lewd act. He faces a maximum sentence of six years in state prison if convicted.

Pinedo is in custody on $100,000 bail and scheduled for pretrial Feb. 24 at West Justice Center in Westminster.

…Continue reading Santa Ana man pleads not guilty to sexually soliciting girl online

Residents sound off about Woman’s Club of Huntington Beach permit

The Woman’s Club of Huntington Beach got mixed reviews from residents Tuesday at a Planning Commission study session, as some hailed the club for its community work while others called its longtime clubhouse a sore spot in the neighborhood.

Nearly a dozen speakers addressed the commission as it considered the club’s application to rebuild its headquarters at 420 10th St. that burned down in April. The structure stood for more than 100 years before a fire, apparently caused by an electrical malfunction, destroyed most of it.

Mike Orr, who lived next door to the clubhouse and had his own home severely damaged in the fire, acknowledged that the club’s inhabitants sometimes caused noise and parking difficulties, but said he mostly considered the club a good neighbor.

“I’m probably in the minority here, but I’d like to see the Woman’s Club [headquarters] rebuilt,” he said.

Jeannette Seemann, the clubhouse’s neighbor on the opposite side, said she and other residents had often called police to complain about noise and wild parties at the site. The Woman’s Club held meetings, bridge games and other events there, but also rented the facility out for other groups — who frequently got rowdy, according to some who spoke Tuesday.

…Continue reading Residents sound off about Woman’s Club of Huntington Beach permit

Police arrest Santa Ana man in Craigslist sting

Huntington Beach police arrested a Santa Ana man Wednesday after he allegedly tried to initiate a sexual relationship with a minor on Craigslist.

Detectives, posing on the website as a 13-year-old girl, received lewd messages from 35-year-old Oscar Pinedo, according to a news release. Pinedo, who was told repeatedly of the girl’s age, made arrangements to meet her with the intent of paying her to have sex with him, the release said.

At about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Pinedo drove to Huntington Beach to meet the girl, only to be arrested by detectives.

He was booked at the Huntington city jail on suspicion of communicating with a minor with intent to commit a lewd act, arranging to meet a minor to conduct a lewd act and attempting to conduct a lewd act with a minor. An I.C.E. immigration hold was also placed on Pinedo.

Police declined to state the location of Pinedo’s arrest, as the investigation is ongoing.

Sisters rock around Kit-Cat Clocks’ parade float

When Lauren Anne Clement heard that one of her local retailers was hosting a talent show, she felt like a longshot.

The Pensacola, Fla., dance instructor hadn’t competed in years, and she had less than a day to throw together a costume, find a partner, pick a song and choreograph a routine.

Racing against deadline, Clement and her sister, Tori Siddall, chose the Bill Haley classic “Rock Around the Clock,” assembled 1950s-style outfits out of dresses and pearls and worked out a swing-dance duet.

And all they got out of it was a part in the Rose Parade.

The sisters won a nationwide competition sponsored by Kit-Cat Clocks, a Fountain Valley-based company that has produced iconic cat-shaped wall clocks since 1932.

The company celebrated its 80th birthday Monday at the parade, and it sought devoted customers to ride on the float — whose theme song just happened to be “Rock Around the Clock” as well.

The song runs slightly over two minutes, but as the Kit-Cat float rolled through Pasadena, the sisters ended up dancing to it for more than five hours straight, according to Siddall.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had so many blisters on the bottom of my feet,” said the 21-year-old event coordinator. “You should have seen me walking through the airport. But it was all worth it.”

…Continue reading Sisters rock around Kit-Cat Clocks’ parade float