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The Palos Verdes Peninsula Parade of Lights will bring the holiday spirit to Rolling Hills Estates for the 25th year on Saturday, Dec. 3.
And as Santa Claus makes his way along Silver Spur Road, he’ll be joined by Grammy Award-nominated jazz pianist and Peninsula resident David Benoit, the parade’s Grand Marshal.
Santa and Benoit will be joined by two other dignitaries: a Hometown Marshal and a Community Marshal. The three marshals are being honored for their community service.
The event, from 6 to 7:30 p.m., will also showcase community groups, school and youth organizations, marching bands, drill teams, equestrian units and local businesses. Award categories for parade floats include Sweepstakes (Musical), Equestrian Sweepstakes, Best Commercial Float, Mayor’s Trophy for the best local entry and the Susan Seaman’s Founders Award.
“We will get participation from many different community groups and it’s just really festive,” said Rosa Pinuelas, the city’s community services supervisor.
The parade, Pinuelas said, will go through the city’s commercial district. It will start on Silver Spur Road at Drybank Drive, go through the Promenade on the Peninsula mall and end at Norris Center Drive.
Former Rolling Hills Estates Mayor Suzy Seamans said when she was on the City Council, putting on a parade was not popular with the other four councilmembers — but she managed to convince them.
Seamans was first elected to the City Council in 1993 and retired in 2013. In her two decades on the council, she was mayor five times.
“We knew that people really don’t often come up to the Peninsula (Shopping) Center area to shop and we’ve wanted to see if we could change that,” Seamans said. “I think we kind of did.”
Eileen Hupp, president and CEO of the Palos Verdes Peninsula Chamber of Commerce, agreed.
“It’s a wonderful way to showcase the community and our businesses,” Hupp said, “and to bring everybody together and kick off the holiday season.”
Benoit is being honored for his charitable work in the South Bay, including with the Pacific Youth Symphony, which he founded 21 years ago.
The jazz pianist has also been involved with the Momentum Pediatric Therapy Network, based in Torrance.
“We’ve tried to do this for a long time and I either had a tour that came up or the one time that I actually could do it, it rained,” Benoit said via phone this week about the grand marshal role. “I still have the plaque they gave me. So I’m really happy to be able to finally do it.”
The Rancho Palos Verdes resident was born in Bakersfield, but grew up in the South Bay. His family moved to a house on The Strand in Hermosa Beach when he was about 8 years old.
Benoit went to Mira Costa High School, from which he graduated in 1971. In 2012, Benoit was in the first group to be inducted into the Mira Costa High School Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame.
Benoit, who attended El Camino College, saw “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and fell in love with the music. To this day, in recordings and live on stage, he pays tribute to the Christmas classic — including at upcoming shows at the Catalina Jazz Bar and Grill on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 25 and 26, in Hollywood, .
“I just went wow, that’s what I want to do as a pianist,” Benoit said of his reaciton to the music.
Benoit also performed at The Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach during its 70th birthday in 2019. At the time, he said he visited the iconic jazz venue as a teenager and watched legends like Cannonball Adderley perform there. Benoit’s 1982 song “Hermosa Skyline” is known as the city’s official instrumental song.
Retiring Councilmember Steve Zuckerman is being honored as the Hometown Marshal for his 25 years serving on the City Council.
Zuckerman’s last day on the council is Dec. 13 when Pam Schachter will be sworn in. There are two reason he’s leaving, he said. He is now retired from a real estate development career and, he said, he’s “accumulating grandchildren.”
“I feel really honored,” Zuckerman said about being named the hometown grand marshal. “My grandkids should be there to see grandpa in the parade.”
Derek Gable, who was named Palos Verdes Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year, will be the Parade of Light’s Community Marshal for his efforts with the Young Entrepreneurs Academy.
Gable, an inventor on his own and with Mattel, first spoke to the YEA as a guest of the chamber in 2013. He continues to mentor entrepreneurial students in the year-long program for sixth- to 12th-graders. Gable helps them with everything from writing business plans to launching their own companies.
The YEA, a national organization, has chapters in Manhattan Beach and on the Peninsula.
Students he has mentored, Gable said, have become part of his family and he has followed them through their schooling and into the real world.
“Education is important, knowing how to do the job is important,” Gable said, “but equally important are people skills, being able to be confident enough to make a presentation for instance, or how to motivate people and have people want to work for you.”
The students find his background interesting, Gable said, since he worked during Mattel’s “glory days” in El Segundo from 1968, when he and his wife moved from England, to 1984. He and his wife bought their first house in Rancho Palos Verdes in 1970.
At Mattel, he was the director of the company’s Preliminary Design Department, which was responsible for male action figures such as He-Man and the Masters of the Universe line of toys. He was also involved in Barbie and Hot Wheels, as well as other toys and games.
Masters of the Universe was created after Mattel’s president at the time turned down the “Star Wars” line of toys. While Gable said that was a big mistake at the time, He-Man and his universe became a huge success for Mattel, selling more than $4 billion in products, including a movie and animation.
Following his years at Mattel, he continued inventing and started his own company, West Coast Innovations. One of the company’s many inventions included the real estate lockbox that allows Realtors to manage showing houses.
Gable said he is concerned many people don’t appreciate what they have, and when he talks to youth, he likes to instill in them a sense of gratitude along with a positive attitude.
“Unfortunately, I think we’ve got to a stage in the country where people don’t have those attributes anymore,” Gable said. “They’re not grateful. They’re negative and they’re not achieving anything. So this is what I’m trying to do in my own small way, turn that around in a small way.”
What: Parade of Lights
When: 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3.
Route: Begins on Silver Spur Road at Drybank Drive goes through the Promenade on the Peninsula mall and ends at Norris Center Drive.
Parking: Free parking at the Town & Country Center, Promenade on the Peninsula, Peninsula Shopping Center and at Peninsula High School.
Information: ci.rolling-hills-estates.ca.us/
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