Elaine Hanson, REALTOR® ~ Topanga, CA Real Estate Specialist

Have you ever lived on the same street long enough to watch it cycle through its own seasons?

To watch the new people move in and the Topanga long-timers meet and greet?

To see the young couple have babies, and the old couple pass on?

To watch the babies grow up to babysit the new young ones?

This month, I am celebrating my 20^th anniversary of living in my beautiful Topanga, with the best Topanga neighbors on the best Topanga street.

I got a chance to think about the changing nature of neighborhoods while relaxing with my most awesome neighbors at our first ever, streetwide yard sale. It was a mild and sunny spring Saturday, perfect for browsing through others' past treasures.

Parking my camp chair behind our table of treasures old stuff, I leaned back and lost myself in the reggae playing from my neighbors' driveway. Reggae is perfect for a yard sale. It makes people relax, unwind, and think "Hey, that's not such a bad price for a chipped ceramic puppy" and "I could play in the waves on that boogie board - the dog only chewed off one corner."

Of course, I had to stroll around to find out if my neighbors had any good stuff I just had to have. I learned that my next door neighbors used to weave and had an interesting wooden loom up for sale. My ballroom dance teacher neighbor at the top of the street had some great sparkly accessories. I could picture her wearing them as she waltzed around the room, the light playing between the mirror ball and her earrings. My other neighbor had some cute clothes, but she's way shorter than I am, darn it. No treasure haul for me! (Thank goodness!)

After the reggae morning, my garage was host to our neighbor's Topanga surf band for the afternoon. It's really easy to wind up the event and bag the leftovers for charity when you are dancing to "Wipeout." It was good to think that each neighbor was also donating up to 50% of the profits to two great Topanga causes. T-CEP - Topanga's nationally recognized emergency preparedness organization, and the new Topanga Native Garden to go in at our Topanga Community House.

Our neighbors are the best - we like each other! We still do those phone calls asking to borrow a cup of this or a tool to fix that. We get together at least a couple of times a year to barbeque and just chat. We are also great cooks and the tables at these events are loaded with all kinds of yummy things. We couldn't have this event without a post sale barbeque. Over dessert, I got to tell them the great news that the home on the corner of our street had closed escrow and we could look forward to some new faces on our street. Time to meet and greet!

Real Estate Bonus: I also got to tell them that the house closed at full list price. Full. A cheer went up for our property values! We might be a warm & fuzzy street, but hey, you've got to love that news for our Topanga real estate market!

Throughout this really relaxing and beautiful spring day, I was thinking about how fortunate my family is to be surrounded by caring neighbors. We look out for each other. We know that they are there for our family, and they know we would drop everything to help one of theirs. A few of the faces may change, but the nature of our neighborhood has remained good. Really good.

You know, I might be just a little bit partial. There are a lot of great neighbors all over Topanga Canyon, and a lot of good streets. I can help you find your Topanga Treasure Home.

Copyright 2008 Elaine Hanson

Topanga summer nights are a mix of cooling breezes, singing frogs, and wandering coyotes. This Sunday, July 20, you can throw a movie and picnic into that scene for Topanga Nights.

Dianne Porchia has once again put together two nights to gather up on the Topanga Community House Ballfield to hear music, eat and share a good movie. This fundraiser will benefit the Topanga Community Club.

This week's entertainment lineup features slide guitar blues by Jimmy Lee as well as the rock-blues groove of Jim Crawford and The Hot Toddies. Brother to the Night will be the DJ before the movie.

This week's Movie -- Men In Black

Bring a picnic, a blanket, and the entire family to dance and laugh the evening away.

Gates open at 5:30 p.m. for a your brought-from-home picnic and entertainment.

The movie starts at approximately 8:15 p.m. with the event ending at 10 p.m.

Topanga Community House Ballfield,
1440 North Topanga Canyon Boulevard

Bring a jacket, a flashlight for walking to your car. No pets, glass bottles, large coolers, or tall chairs with straight legs (which poke into the soccer lawn) are permitted.

The suggested donation is $10 for adults, and $7 for teens and seniors; children 12 and under are free. Limited parking is available on the premises for $5 per car.

Would you like to be an angel and help? Contact Dianne Porchia.

More information about the events can be found online at the Topanga Nights website

SAVE THE DATE -- August 17th -- Topanga Nights movie will be Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events.

Copyright 2008 Elaine Hanson. All rights reserved.

We never do anything commonplace or run-of-the-mill here in Topanga. Like our mountain roads, there is always a twist or two. Such is the case with our fair.

Welcome to the 35^th Annual Topanga Days Country Fair

This Memorial Day Weekend, May 24 - 26, our celebrated festival will take place at the Topanga Community House. Bring family and friends to explore the flavors of our beautiful canyon. The kids will find plenty of play with games, facepainting, and more. Adults will find lots of good food, art, and music (and quite a bit of playtime, too!).

Come enjoy a day away from city life. Topanga Days pays respect to the many faces of this town:

Pioneering - Rustic - Independent - Relaxing - Hippie-haven
Slightly-off-center - Nurturing - Artful

You will find it all those flavors and more blended into this recipe for a most extraordinary fair.

Visit with a holistic healer, browse among eclectic artisans or just stake a place on the lawn with a cold beer and listen to some great music. If you are a people-watcher, this crowd will be a treat.

Come on Saturday for the best selection of treasures. Sunday will continue the fair with more music and food, food, FOOD!

The music is always fantastic on both the Indoor Stage and Outdoor Main Stage. The Indoor Stage also will host Melanie Kareem's fabulous belly dancing troupe. From the tiny little beginners on up to the masterful experts, these dancers are a whirl of color and grace, transporting you away like a fresh breeze through an exotic oasis.

My favorite day is Memorial Day Monday. Beginning with the strangest homegrown parade you'll ever see, it's our local tradition to gather, see your neighbors, and just revel in the spirit of Topanga. The Bowl Bar does a brisk business of keeping those dancing in the dust well hydrated with cold beer or icy soda. I've got to say - I will be one of those dancers!

Venice is back! I love this band! Nobody can make a cover its own like Venice can. I think their secret is that they just kick back and play whatever they want, with the sole goal in mind of NO WORRIES! I dare you to sit still!!

Chevy Metal will headline Monday as a brilliant climax to the festival. Taylor Hawkins of the Foo Fighters fronts this band of incredible musicians who will rock the crowd until they make us leave!

It's a good natured, family friendly, eco-conscious, diverse and uniquely Topanga experience. You deserve a break - come up and see us!

Visit the Topanga Days website for the info you need - PAY ATTENTION TO THE PARKING RULES and try the shuttle.

Topanga Days graphic - Photobucket - Robin Welch

Copyright 2008 Elaine Hanson

Where the heck is Topanga? I remember following the directions - take Pacific Coast Highway North, turn right on Topanga Canyon Blvd. and go up the hill.......

I'm winding up this canyon road, in the very dark, quiet night. I roll down the window and inhale the sweet smell of sage. That smell of the brush, the dirt, and the ocean breeze are a fine relief from the usual, stuffy suburban aroma.

I pull up at the house, and climb the stairs that gradually take me up to the front door. It's not so quiet anymore, with the sounds of the crickets in the creek singing backup to the chorus of frogs. It's June, my best friend, Lisa, has just graduated, and I'm here for her celebration in this place that she constantly talked about, but that I, an L.A. native, had never heard of before I met her.

Topanga

This canyon, located between Santa Monica and Malibu on the south and the entire San Fernando Valley, is an L.A. treasure. This wonderful spot that seems miles away from the metropolitan area, is just minutes away from city life.

I had a great time at my friend's party. It was all Lisa's family friends who went way back with each other. These people knew how to have a great time! As Lisa's former roommate, I had spoken to the party hostess, Thekla, on the phone a few times. Thekla was the grandmother of the other person I knew there, a younger girl, Karen, who had visited Lisa at college. Karen introduced me to her mother, Gretchen, and she and I talked for a while.

I didn't know it at that time, but I had just had my first conversation my mother-in-law.

Karen and Lisa had gotten the idea in their heads that I would be great for Karen's big brother. I met her brother the next day and I can now blame those two matchmakers for twenty years of marriage (and counting!) to my amazing guy.

I also didn't know on that night that I had just climbed the stairs to what would be my own front door. I didn't know that it was the start of the next phase of my life, and that phase would be here in this beautiful canyon, full of beautiful, dark nights and bright, mountain mornings.

My children are the fourth generation to live in this house, the one in which my husband and his mother both spent their childhoods. My children look through photos of our home as it was then and see their great-grandparents as a young couple, with a group of laughing friends around our table. They see their grandma as a young girl, in her prom dress in front of our windows. They see their dad and their Aunt Karen as little kids, on our front steps. They see themselves in our home, with our family.

I married into Topanga. This is my home. I found a place to truly live, a community I truly love.

I consider myself blessed to be a Topangan. I'll have to tell you all about it.

Copyright 2008 Elaine Hanson, All rights reserved