An Insider's Guide: Tel Aviv

Yael Pincus for The Wall Street Journal

Nine miles of sandy, pristine shoreline borders Tel Aviv, with a pedestrian promenade and colorful power-walk to rival Venice Beach's.

People who live in Tel Aviv speak of their city as a "bubble," an urban refuge where the chaos, conflict and politics of the rest of Israel seemingly belong to another people in another place at another time. There's a good deal of truth to this metaphor. Blessed with nine blue-sky months and nearly nine miles of aquamarine coastline, Tel Aviv feels like a Middle Eastern Miami—all white-washed architecture, boogie-boarding beach bums and palm-lined boulevards stretching to the sea.

It wasn't always this way. When it was founded by 66 Jewish families back in 1909, Tel Aviv was little more than camels and sand dunes. But the world's first modern Hebrew metropolis quickly grew as Zionist pioneers and Jewish refugees arrived en masse during the following six decades. Much of what they brought with them still defines Tel Aviv one half century later: Bauhaus architecture from Germany in the city's historic core, casual Levantine coffee culture down in the Florentin and Neve Tzedek districts, spicy North African cuisine near the Carmel Market and Central and Eastern European traditions of dance, theater, literature and poetry city-wide.

Photos: Tel Aviv

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Yael Pincus for The Wall Street Journal

The White City

 

Today, Tel Aviv is the ultimate East-meets-West city, accented by ample doses of American pop culture and the one million recent immigrants from the former Soviet Union to Israel. It's also Israel's economic engine, home to a thriving high-tech industry and buoyant banking sector that helped the country escape the recent global financial crisis relatively unscathed.

Flush with cash and newfound confidence, Tel Aviv is finally ready for its close-up. New cultural endeavors such as the Design Museum in next-door Holon, the annual Fresh Paint contemporary art fair and the biannual Art TLV festival are placing Tel Aviv on the global art map. Meanwhile, a clutch of "boutique hotels" and world-class restaurants are welcoming record numbers of bon vivant tourists to a city still unsure exactly how to handle them. With its warm weather, compact size and anything-goes atmosphere, "Tel Avivis"—as natives call themselves—always knew their city was special. Many still seem shocked the rest of the world is finally beginning to agree.

For much of its first 100 years, the city stood in the shadow of nearby Jerusalem, unable to compete with the capital's holy sites and history. Now as it enters its second century, Tel Aviv is trading its low-profile past for a far higher-profile future. And why not? With its mix of beach and Bauhaus, culture and commerce, Tel Aviv may not be holy—but for locals and newcomers alike, the city has become its own kind of promised land.

—David Kaufman

The Designer

Yigal Azrouël

Israeli-born fashion designer of an eponymous womenswear label; frequent Tel Aviv visitor

B&B:Nina Cafe Suites Hotel. This tiny five-bedroom inn kicked off Tel Aviv's boutique boom when it opened in 2005. Decorated with Parisian antiques and located in the artsy Neve Tzedek district, it's posh and funky. 29 Shabazi St., ninacafehotel.com

Mod-Med Menu: Catit. Inside a restored Ottoman-era mansion, Chef Meir Adoni's elegant restaurant serves local and visiting foodies, including Paul McCartney, who had his own veggie menu. Heichal Hatalmud 4, catit.co.il  

Fab Finds: The Jaffa Flea Market. My favorite shopping spot in the city, particularly for Eastern Europe vintage clothing and accessories, this market retains its Levantine atmosphere. The prices are so low you wonder if the sellers know what they've got. I always pop by the nearby Abulafia Bakery for pitas and pastries. Abulafia: 7 Yefet St., Jaffa

Forward Fashions: Mirit Weinstock. The designer interned for Alexander McQueen before returning home to start her own line. 20 Shnizler St., miritweinstock.com

Design House: Kastiel. The Kastiel family has been designing modern and luxurious furnishings for three generations. Their Tel Aviv flagship reflects the heritage. Half the building's a restored Bauhaus warehouse, the other a renovated Ottoman-era corral. 36 Alfasi St., kastiel.com

The Auteur

Etgar Keret

Tel Aviv–based novelist and filmmaker; winner of 2007 Camera D'Or for "Jellyfish"

Urban Mix: Meir Park. Tel Aviv has many small hangout parks. This is my favorite. It's filled with a crazy mix of stroller-pushing moms and the odd drunk Russian philosopher—a part of Tel Aviv most tourists don't see. 35 King George St. at Tchernichovsky St.

Bar 'Keeper':Café Michal. This French café is a great neighborhood spot: cakes, Italian dishes and perhaps the handsomest bartender in the city. The counter's always packed with pretty girls. 230 Dizengoff St. at Jabotinsky, 011 972 3 5230236

Lookout: Manta Ray. Right on Alma Beach, with amazing views of Jaffa to the south and the skyline to the north. I don't go there for the cuisine. But the tapas platters are piled with Middle Eastern mezzes like couscous salad and tehina.
Alma Beach, mantaray.co.il

Beach Boite: LaLa Land. Most Tel Aviv beach bars are pretty lousy: great location, but bad music and food. But LaLa Land keeps it simple with small dishes like hummus served beachside. The atmosphere is relaxed. Sunset paradise. Gordon Beach, 011 972 3 5293303

Children's Hour: Flea Market (Dizengoff Circle). It's small, clean and great for kids—a contained world. I take my son to look for old records, mostly musicals and classic Hebrew albums. Dizengoff Circle

The Architect

Ron Arad

Israeli-born, London-based architect and industrial designer

Museum Row: Holon Arts Quarter. The Holon area has gone from unremarkable suburb to cultural hub. That includes the Children's Museum, the Mediatheque and the Design Museum, which I designed. Design Museum Holon, 8 Pinhas Eilon St., dmh.org.il

Inn Spot: Hotel Montefiore. This 12-room hotel is in city's historic core. A circa-1922 mansion, it's stylish and has a good-looking crowd, great balconies and a tasty pan-Asian bistro. 36 Montefiore St., hotelmontefiore.co.il

Waterfront Scene: Comme il Faut Café. You feel the city's self-love closer to the sea, at places like Old Port. Now renovated, the waterfront overflows with outdoor cafes. I love the salads at the Comme il Faut Café, owned by the fashion label of the same name. Hangar 26, comme-il-faut.com/cafe

Bauhaus-by-the-Shore: The White City. It's not exactly white, but this important quarter is home to the world's most extensive collection of Bauhaus architecture, over 4,000 buildings in all. Rothschild Blvd., Ahad Ha'am St. and Balfour St.

Modern Love: Helena Rubinstein Pavilion for Contemporary Art. The Tel Aviv Museum has a satellite gallery, The Helena Rubinstein Pavilion, which I loved visiting as a child. The small, modernist space focuses mostly on young artists. 6 Tarsat Blvd., tamuseum.com

The Maestro

Zubin Mehta

Music Director of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra for nearly 30 years

Sweet Seventeen: The Hilton Tel Aviv. For 40 years this non-chain-feeling hotel has been my second home. The Mediterranean views from the 17th floor's Executive Lounge are sensational. For those who eat Kosher, the King Solomon restaurant has great dishes. Independence Park, hilton.com

Sea-and-be-Scene: Mul-Yam. Tel Aviv's power spot, it's a slim sea-front bistro where moguls seal deals in a medley of languages. Seafood arrives daily from around the world. It's the best restaurant in Israel. Hangar 24, Tel Aviv Port, mulyam.com

Insider's Archive: Tel Aviv Museum of Art. Jerusalem's Israel Museum may be better known, but this is the cultural focal point of Tel Aviv. There's a giant Roy Lichtenstein mural in the foyer, custom-made for the space. In 2011, its $100-million expansion opens. 27 Shaul HaMelech Blvd., tamuseum.com

Mellifluous Space: The Frederic R. Mann Auditorium. It's home to the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, but it's also a vital part of architectural history. Leonard Bernstein conducted its first concert in 1957. 1 Huberman St., hatarbut.co.il

Harmonious Eats: Messa. Minimalist—with a white-on-white marble dining room—it's one of the city's first great "designer" restaurants. Chef Aviv Moshe turns out stellar charcoal-grilled eggplant and goose-liver carpaccio. It's all very grown-up.
19 HaArbaa St., messa.co.il

Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page D8

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Will deficit kill mortgage tax break?

While everybody’s all for cutting the deficit, agreement on who should pay — in one form or another — will be tricky. Opinions vary even within industries.

Commission's Erskine Bowles, left, Alan Simpson (AP)

Just-released summaries of deficit-slashing recommendations from the bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform seemingly have three critical impacts for real estate:

• Shrink or end the mortgage deduction
• A 15-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax to fund new infrastructure programs.
• Raising taxes on dividends, which could curb the appeal of some income-producing assets such as commercial real estate investments.

As you’d expect, reaction from real estate interest is mixed:

• The National Association of Home Builders isn’t happy: “For a battered housing industry, which is struggling with a 21% unemployment rate among construction workers, this is absolutely the worst time to be considering changes to the mortgage interest tax deduction. Tampering with the deduction would be a major setback for today’s slowly emerging housing recovery. It would disrupt the plans of young households who are gathering their financial resources to purchase a home. And it would impose a substantial tax burden on existing home buyers, many of whom continue to stay current with their mortgage payments even as they struggle to make ends meet. Diminishing or ending the deduction would exert further downward pressure on home prices, leaving more home owners with mortgages larger than the value of their property and fueling even more foreclosures. It is absolutely clear that the mortgage interest deduction should not be on the table.”
• The Mortgage Bankers Association wasn’t too pleased: “Given the fragile state of the nation’s housing market, now is not the time to be scaling back incentives for homeownership.  The mortgage interest deduction is one of the pillars of our national housing policy, and limiting its use will have negative repercussions for consumers and home values up and down the housing chain. We are also concerned about proposals to tax dividends and capital gains at ordinary tax rates, which would seriously impact investment in commercial real estate. We share the widespread concern over the growing national debt and want to help identify reasonable solutions, but we cannot support proposals that would chip away at the foundations of the real estate market.”
• But the Associated General Contractors of America (and others) in a public letter to the commission seemed overjoyed: “We applaud the draft proposal released today by the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform co-chairs to increase the gas tax by 15 cents to support vital transportation infrastructure improvements. This preliminary recommendation is bold, but necessary, and our organizations urge commission members to support its adoption as part of its report to Congress and the President.”

Commission’s draft proposal can be found here.

Chances the mortgage tax deduction survives?

• 100% ... untouchable!
• Trimmed a bit
• Heavily cut
• Zero! It's a goner!

  View Results

http://lansner.ocregister.com/

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World War II vet serves up a big helping of kindness

Allan Gardner takes his dog to the VA hospital every week to cheer patients. Last weekend, he did even more.

By Steve Lopez

Allan Gardner, an 84-year-old World War II veteran from West Los Angeles, wanted to do something a little extra to help celebrate Veterans Day this year. Not that he hadn't already done plenty for those who served.

Gardner has been on a 12-year tour of duty as a volunteer at the VA's West Los Angeles Medical Center, making weekly visits with his dog, G.G. (as in Good Girl). The former sailor and his standard poodle try to cheer up sick or injured vets, some of whom are in residential programs.

"It gives the vets five minutes to talk about something other than their aches and pains," said Gardner, who works as a property manager when he isn't doing good deeds.

A couple of years ago, Gardner heard about a deal offered annually by the McCormick & Schmick's restaurant chain. The restaurant serves thousands of complimentary meals to vets at its dozens of branches nationwide, usually on the Sunday before Veterans Day.

"A couple of years ago … I got a 12-passenger van from Enterprise," says Gardner, who drove a dozen vets to dinner at the McCormick & Schmick's on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. "It was a great experience."

Gardner got to thinking that if he could do 12, why not 112? That would take some help, but Gardner wasn't too shy to ask for it.

The Tumbleweed transportation company, which parks its vehicles at the VA, came through with two buses, no charge. But Gardner wanted to make sure the vets got the royal treatment, and the complimentary offer from McCormick & Schmick's covered only the entree and two sides. So he set out to raise an extra $10 per vet to cover the cost of salad, a beverage and dessert.

On Sunday, Oct. 24, Gardner took a chance that another World War II vet might answer the call. He wrote a letter to Hugh Hefner, drove to the Playboy mansion, and dropped an envelope through the front gate.

"It rained that night," said Gardner, who worried that his plea might get washed down a storm drain. If so, he was willing to shell out his own money.

But two days later, Gardner got a call from Hefner's secretary saying the Playboy founder would be happy to help out. By week's end, Gardner got a $1,120 check in the mail from Hefner.

This past Sunday, a Tumbleweed bus left the VA a little before 3 p.m. with more than 50 vets aboard. An hour later, the second bus left with another 40-plus hungry vets.

Spirits were high. Many of the vets had been homeless for long stretches, still fighting the ghosts of war and often wondering where they'd get their next meal. When the buses stopped on Rodeo Drive and the march began, there were a few limps in the battalions, along with canes, an oxygen tank and some Legionnaire caps.

"I served from 1943-1945," said a vet named Millie Taylor, 86, as she started her salad course. Taylor was in the nursing corps, treating servicemen with severe burns and other injuries. "My son was killed in Vietnam when he was 19, and I had six brothers in World War II, one of them killed in Germany."

Seated at the next table were two more World War II vets — Steve Rosmarin, 83, and John Wesley McCoy, 88. McCoy said he served in Guadalcanal and considers himself lucky to have survived. Rosmarin is a member of the L.A. County Veterans Advisory Commission and spent 20 years working to make the new Veterans Home of California a reality on the VA campus.

Paul Pierce, general manager of the restaurant, said $5 per vet — rather than $10 — would cover the cost of drinks, dessert and the rest. That meant there was more than enough to pick up the extras for a whole lot more vets who came on their own, and when Hefner's money ran out, McCormick & Schmick's picked up the tab for dozens more. By the end of the day 500 vets from across the region had dined at the restaurant.

One of them was Adrienne Mohamed, a Navy RN during the Korean War.

"We treated amputees and serious psychiatric cases," she said, telling me she's slowed down a bit since recent heart surgery, but 2005 was "the year of my life." Mohamed ran a marathon that year, at 72, won medals for swimming, cycling, discus and horseshoes at the Veterans National Golden Age Games and hit "a $16,000 jackpot" in Vegas.

The free meal was like another little jackpot for the vets, Mohamed said, doubting that many of them had spent much time on Rodeo Drive.

Gardner, who left Hamilton High School at 17 to fight in the Pacific, was happy that a handful of World War II vets showed up along with those who served in Vietnam, Korea, Iraq and Afghanistan. Of the 16.5 million who served during World War II, fewer than 2 million are still alive.

"We'll be gone soon," he said.

Next Tuesday, Gardner and G.G. will be back at the VA, making the rounds. He said he considers it "my payback" to those who served and to those who take care of them.

"I am delighted to be able to do it."

steve.lopez@latimes.com

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The Science Behind Why We Love Ice Cream

Why people prefer certain foods over others depends largely on a combination of taste and texture. While taste sensations are fairly well understood, scientists are just beginning to unravel the mystery of food texture.

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F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal

Starch is added to many foods like pudding, ice cream and chocolate to make them more palatable.

Now, researchers at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia have found that an enzyme in saliva called amylase, which breaks down starch into liquid, could play a key role in determining the appeal of various textures of food. A new genetic study shows that people produce strikingly different amounts of amylase, and that the more of the enzyme people have in their mouth the faster they can liquefy starchy foods.

Scientists think this finding could help explain why people experience foods as creamy or slimy, sticky or watery, and that this perception could affect our preference for foods. For the numerous foods that contain starch, including pudding, sauces and even maple syrup, what can feel just right to some people is experienced as too runny or not melting enough for others because they produce different amounts of the enzyme.

The ability to quickly break down starch, which is a type of carbohydrate, is only one part of the puzzle that determines what people like to eat. Taste preferences are driven by a complicated interaction between taste buds and other receptors in the mouth and nose, and the messages they send to the brain. Culture plays a role, as people tend to like foods that are familiar, says Rick Mattes, a foods and nutrition professor at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. And repetition sometimes can win out: Many people initially don't like oysters because of their slimy texture, for instance, but can come to enjoy them after several tries.

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F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal

Bitter greens, including spinach, broccoli and kale, may take some getting used to.

"We all have had the experience of liking a food that someone else complains is too tacky, or slippery, or gritty, or pulpy," says Paul Breslin, a researcher at the Monell center and a professor at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. "This is why a given line of product often comes in different textural forms," such as orange juice with and without pulp, he says.

Starch comprises or is added to about 60% of the foods people typically eat, so determining how it is digested is key to understanding food-texture preferences, Monell center scientists say. Other research has shown that people have a preference for creamy sensations as well as for foods that start off solid and melt in the mouth such as ice cream and chocolate, says Dr. Breslin, who began the current research because of his interest in creaminess. Amylase also could help explain individual preferences for different brands of ice cream or yogurt, for instance, because they contain different amounts of added starch.

In their recent work, Monell researchers had 73 adults swirl around in their mouths solutions made up of different concentrations of starch—blobs of translucent gelatinous substances with no particular taste—and rate their runniness over the course of 60 seconds. Depending on the amount of amylase individuals produced, the starch could be reduced to liquid within seconds.

The researchers also took DNA samples of the participants from a blood sample or cheek swab and studied the link between the numbers of copies of a gene that turns on the production of amylase and how quickly the participant reported the sample turned runny. The findings showed that the number of copies of the gene, called AMY1, varied widely between individuals. People with higher numbers of gene copies reported that the starch turned to liquid more quickly. The study was published last month in PLoS ONE, a journal of the Public Library of Science.

The Monell researchers are now investigating whether people with more AMY1 copies see larger spikes in blood glucose after eating. They also plan to study the link between greater amylase production and food preferences, hypothesizing that people who make more of the enzyme will prefer starchy products because they get a faster blast of glucose into their bloodstream.

The role of amylase and the rate of starch breakdown also has implications for diabetes. People who digest starch quickly could be more likely to have larger spikes in blood-sugar levels and thus a need for the body to generate more insulin. This continued demand on the body might lead these people to become insulin resistant or even diabetic if the body's ability to produce insulin breaks down, says Abigail Mandel, Dr. Breslin's colleague at Monell and first author on the study.

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Getty Images

Amylase and other enzymes in saliva could also help explain food-texture preferences that are known to vary with age, Dr. Breslin says. For instance, many young children dislike certain fruits because of a perceived sliminess—think of the inside of a tomato. But people's saliva-flow rate tends to slow with age, which might affect their ability to break down starch in the mouth and reduce sensations of sliminess.

Another factor in food preferences: People vary—probably based on genetics—in their ability to detect other textures, such as fat, and bitter and sweet tastes. Valerie Duffy, a registered dietitian and professor in the department of allied health science at the University of Connecticut, Storrs, Conn., has shown in her research that adults with a gene that makes bitter tastes more intense consume fewer vegetables containing bitter compounds, such as kale or spinach.

But that genetic preference can be changed by repeatedly exposing the individual to the taste or by masking the bitterness, even at an early age, she has found. In a preliminary study with preschoolers, Dr. Duffy's group added a sweet taste to balance out the bitterness of certain vegetables—less than half a teaspoon of sugar to a cup of broccoli or asparagus, for example, during cooking—and found that the children were more accepting of the greens. Even when the sweetness was removed, the children still liked the vegetables more than before because they had developed a positive association with them, she says. "It suggests that people should focus on what they like to eat and make it work for them," Dr. Duffy says.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703514904575602684104739618.html?mod=WSJ_hp_MIDDLETopMiniLeadStory

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A RARE SITE - cool animal mommy story

Sent from my iPad

Begin forwarded message:

From: Laird Hayes <laird@Neptune.net>
Date: November 8, 2010 7:51:09 AM PST
Subject: A RARE SITE - cool animal mommy story

A giant farm dog and a tiny piglet cuddle up as if they were family after the baby runt was dismissed by its own mother. Surrogate mum Katjinga, an eight-year-old Rhodesian Ridgeback, took on motherly duties for grunter Paulinchen - a tiny pot-bellied pig - and seems to be taking the adoption in her stride. Lonely Paulinchen was luckily discovered minutes from death and placed in the care of the dog who gladly accepted it as one of her own. Thankfully for the two-week old mini porker, Katjinga fell in love with him at first sight and saved his bacon.

Click here to download:

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And the unlikely relationship has made the wrinkly piggy a genuine sausage dog. In these adorable images Paulinchen can even be seen trying to suckle from his gigantic new mum. The two animals live together on a 20-acre farm in Hoerstel , Germany , where Katjinga's owners Roland Adam, 54, and his wife Edit, 44, a bank worker, keep a pair of breeding Vietnamese pigs.

Click here to download:

[] (63 KB)

Nose place like home: The baby piglet nuzzles up to its new mum Property developer Roland found the weak and struggling piglet after he was abandoned by the rest of his family one evening after he was born. He said: "The pigs run wild on our land and the sow had given birth to a litter of five in our forest. "I found Paulinchen all alone and when I lifted him up he was really cold.

Click here to download:

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"I felt sure some local foxes would have taken the little pig that very night so I took it into my house and gave him to Katjinga.. "She had just finished with a litter of her own, who are now 10 months, so I thought there was a chance she might take on the duties of looking after him. "Katjinga is the best mother you can imagine. She immediately fell in love with the piggy. Straight away she started to clean it like it was one of her own puppies. "Days later she started lactating again and giving milk for the piggy. She obviously regards it now as her own baby." Mum of the year? Quite possibly.

Click here to download:

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Have a Good Day! Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.

P

Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.

Laird Hayes

2507 Holly Lane

Newport Beach CA  92663

949-645-2493 h 949-244-4545 c

laird@neptune.net

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Corona del Mar: O.C.’s hardest homes to sell

as of October 28 …




Hottest Supply Deals Mon. Yr. ago Price

Buena Park 161 68 2.4 1.7 $386k

Santa Ana 571 238 2.4 1.7 $339k

Foothill Ranch 52 19 2.7 1.0 $499k

Garden Grove 344 122 2.8 1.4 $382k

Ladera Ranch 172 60 2.9 1.5 $724k

County Supply Deals Mon. Yr. ago Price

All of O.C. 11,425 2,672 4.3 2.4 $909k

Coolest Supply Deals Mon. Yr. ago Price

Corona Del Mar 176 15 11.7 11.7 $3.0m

Laguna Beach 343 32 10.7 8.5 $3.5m

Newport Beach 541 62 8.7 8.1 $2.3m

Dana Point 282 37 7.6 5.0 $1.5m

Coto De Caza 128 18 7.1 7.4 $2.0m

“Hardest” market to sell a home in — in terms of “market time” (supply of homes for sale vs. new purchase deals inked in past month) — is Corona Del Mar with market time at 11.7 months to theoretically sells all for-sale homes at the current buying pace. A year ago, this town was at 11.7 months.

The 5 “hardest to sell” markets have a combined market time of 9.0 months and were 13% of the supply of homes for sale and 6% of homes in escrow.

The “hardest” O.C. town to find a home to buy in terms of “market time” (supply of homes for sale vs. new purchase deals inked in past month) is Buena Park at 2.4 months to theoretically sell all for-sale homes at the current buying pace. A year ago, this town was at 1.7 months.

The 5 “hardest to buy” markets combined have a market time of 2.6 months and comprised 11% of the supply of homes for sale and 19% of homes in escrow.

All told, countywide market time was 4.3 months last week.

All told, 0% of the communities tracked by Thomas had “market times” less than 2 months, a clear sellers’ market. Four weeks ago? 0% – and it was 50% a year ago.

Chart at right looks at the 5 hottest and 5 coldest markets in O.C. as of last Thursday (supply for sale; new deals made; market time in months vs. a year ago and average listing price) by Thomas’ market time math.

http://lansner.ocregister.com/2010/11/07/corona-del-mar-o-c-s-hardest-homes-to-sell/87494/

How I Made It: Real estate agent Brooke Knapp

The gig: Brooke Knapp has been a real estate agent with Sotheby's International Realty, Beverly Hills, for 14 years. Half of an agent team with Drew Mandile, Knapp, 69, has been involved in noteworthy multimillion-dollar deals including the 2002 sale of Owlwood, a former Sony and Cher residence in Holmby Hills, for $35 million. Before joining Sotheby's, Knapp made a name for herself setting aviation speed records.

Her flight path: Although surrounded by flying enthusiasts, Knapp was afraid of flying when she started playing a game with herself. "At the first of the year, I would make list of my fears and prioritize them so the most terrifying one was on top, and I would set out to conquer it," she said. In 1978, it was the fear of flying. She signed up for lessons but told herself she could cancel. Then she decided to at least drive to the airport. Once there, she figured she could do the ground school. Gradually she got to the courage to get in a plane and look at the instruments. "Never having to make the next step but choosing to make it," she said, was the key.

Once she had the bug, she founded a charter company called Jet Airways with her husband at the time, financier Charles W. Knapp. (He later served prison time for defrauding an Arizona savings and loan.) She ran Jet Airways for eight years. "As a way to advertise our company, I decided to set a speed record," Knapp said. She broke the record for the fastest around-the-world flight by a civilian jet aircraft in a Gulfstream III and set more than 100 other speed records, according to "Round-the-World Flights" by Carroll V. Glines.

Landing on the Westside: Knapp started working in real estate sales in the 1980s because she wanted to be self employed and set her own standards and hours. She pursued other business options too — Knapp was vice president of Golden State Newsprint Inc., a recycled-newsprint manufacturer. But she kept a hand in real estate, buying houses in Simi Valley, fixing them up and leasing them out with options to buy.

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Then a friend told her Mandile was looking for someone to team up with. "In the beginning we thought it wouldn't work out because I really wanted an assistant," Mandile said. But after Knapp made it clear she would be nobody's second, the duo discovered they had strengths that complemented each other.

Route to success: "Drew is technical," Knapp said. "I'm much more relationship-oriented. I do listing interviews, meeting clients, a lot of the social aspects — the fun part of the job, not the details." Knapp's social skills and connections help the team attract clients and keep them. They landed an 8.5-acre listing that sold for $30 million after 21/2 years.

Many agents cannot keep a seller for that period of time, Mandile said. "They lose the interest of the owner." He credits Knapp's ability to develop relationships. "She really has a level of sophistication that few people possess," he said.

High-profile clients have included talk-show host Leeza Gibbons and inventor and pitchman Ron Popeil.

Words to live by: "The best advice I've ever received: Better to be the master of your silence than the prisoner of your words," said Knapp, who carries the saying in her wallet. "That's a nice literary way to say 'Never miss a good opportunity to shut up.' It applies to real estate and business."

Civic-minded: Active in local and international charities, Knapp is the incoming president of the Rotary Club of Beverly Hills. She finds such work fulfilling, but it also gives her a chance to rub elbows with successful individuals. "It's like the who's who of Beverly Hills," she said of Rotary, "past mayors, council members." Named president of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce in 1991, she helped preserve the rights to the Hollywood sign and the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Personal life: Knapp golfs regularly and has an 18 handicap. She enjoys aerobatic flying on the weekends but no longer competes. (She once took Mandile up to view a ranch they had listed and did barrel rolls over it.) A Francophile who majored in French at UCLA, she remains interested in French culture, food and language. Knapp lives in Bel-Air with her husband, Grant Tinker, a former NBC chairman.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-himi-knapp-20101107,0,5276075.story

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