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Michael Aushenker

Michael Aushenker

Thursdays With Pini

The moment you enter Tempo restaurant in Encino on a Thursday night, you realize that it\’s Pini Cohen\’s town, and we just dance in it.

The Circuit

Becker General Contractors\’ Sandy Becker was happy to be at what is known in the real estate and construction business as a \”sunriser\” — an early morning get-together.

Bonded by Ghetto

Irene Gutovicz remembers the days when members of the local group of philanthropic Holocaust survivors, known as The Lodzer Organization of California, would donate a bowl of borscht or a plate of kugel.

Kosher Pig-Out

Eat-4-Israel was the brainchild of Monique Grunberger, a high school senior at the Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto, who developed the idea with two local Yeshiva University of Los Angeles students, Yitz Novak and Zvi Smith.

A Pass-SOVA Tradition

Helping the needy is what SOVA (Hebrew for \”eat and be satisfied\”) has been doing since 1983, when Santa Monica deli owner Hy Altman and wife, Zucky, created the nonprofit organization.

Clay Feat

It may have been a silent film, but Paul Wegener made an international noise with "Der Golem." The 1920 German Expressionist classic — screening April 21 at the Skirball Cultural Center — remains a popular incarnation of the Golem.

From Blaxploitation to ‘Booth’

On Nov. 15, 2002, filmmaker Larry Cohen should have been at the multiplex, gauging opening day reaction to the film he wrote, \”Phone Booth,\” about a man who must outwit a sniper while trapped in the eponymous telephonic cabin. But the Washington Sniper changed all that.\n\nNo, Cohen was not the target of a hit. But his movie was, last October, when 20th Century Fox postponed the release because of the snipers (who were ultimately apprehended after killing 10 people and critically wounding three).\n\n\”Phone Booth,\” directed by Joel Schumacher and starring current \”it boy\” Colin Farrell, opens in theaters April 4. \n\n

Made in Israel

The marketing campaign was launched earlier this month in a collaboration by the Southern California Israel Chamber of Commerce, The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, the Government of Israel Economic Mission and the Israel Export and International Cooperation Institute.

Queen of Laughter

The self-described raconteur refuses to label herself a stand-up comedian. But Rhea Kohan\’s wit has, over the last decade, made her a sought-after personality in the local Jewish community, and she refuses to charge money for her humorous hostessing.

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