LA JOLLA NEWS NUGGETS

New owners for Pantai Inn

The Pantai Inn, 1003 Coast Blvd., has been sold by its longtime owners, siblings Laurnie Durisoe and Larry Jackman, for an undisclosed amount. The hotel’s new owners, J Street Hospitality, have already taken control.

“The Pantai Inn purchase was a rare opportunity to be entrusted with a special property that has been family-owned for generations,” said J Street executive vice president Jeff Schwartz. “It has been and is a successful and thriving hotel, with outstanding guest satisfaction and lots of repeat visitors — due, of course, to the spectacular location and also to the personalized and attentive guest services. We see that continuing with the fantastic team that is taking great care of our visitors.”

This is the first La Jolla property for the small San Diego-based hotelier, which owns only 13 others. (In San Diego, it owns a Courtyard by Marriott, a Tapestry & Homewood Suites by Hilton, a Hotel Z and a Motto by Hilton in the Gaslamp Quarter; a Moxy Hotel by Marriott downtown; a Hampton Inn by Hilton in East Village; and a Villa Capri in Coronado Village.)

The Pantai was opened in 1946 as the Shell Beach Apartment-Motel by Durisoe and Jackman’s grandfather, Max Heimburge, the German immigrant who also brought La Jolla the Universal Boot Shop and La Jolla Cove Hotel & Suites.

The sale was announced at the June 12 La Jolla Village Merchants meeting, during which the board voted to fill the seat vacated by Durisoe because she no longer runs a business in the business improvement district. (Durisoe told the Light she could not comment on the sale due to signing a non-disclosure agreement.)

Bird Rock merchants decide to associate

He didn’t mean it to be an official community group, just “an informal meeting of the minds,” but Steve Hart, owner of Bird Rock’s Riffs Yoga Studios, has fostered a Merchants Association of sorts. “I offered to sit down with the merchants to figure out something that the Bird Rock Community Council (BRCC) could do to help us out,” explained Hart, a former BRCC board member. “But it gained momentum when people expressed a lot of interest, and now, it’s a monthly meeting.”

The first meeting, in April at Sage Capital Advisors, was attended by 17 Bird Rock merchant reps. The second, in May at Wayfarer Bread & Pastry, drew 12.

Although the meetings are not open to the public, Hart said that any Bird Rock merchants interested in attending the next one, Tuesday, June 25 at Wayfarer, 5525 La Jolla Blvd., should e-mail him first at steve@riffsstudios.com

Future not all bright: Madeleine says at UCSD

UC San Diego’s commencement ceremony took on a political tone as former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright derided the forces of nationalism in a keynote address on June 15, targeting the Trump administration.

“We are all proud of the distinctions that give us our separate identities, and loyal to the groups to which we belong,” Albright, 82, told 9,000 graduating seniors and their guests at UCSD’s RIMAC Field. “This kind of solidarity is a means of honoring ancestors and a way to inspire the young … but there is also a danger, because when pride in ‘us’ hurdles into hatred of ‘them,’ the American tapestry unravels and the social fabric is torn. The result may be a shooting at a synagogue in Poway, only 20 miles from here, or attacks against members of the LGBTQ community at a nightclub in Orlando. It may be the surge in racism, Islamophobia and xenophobia, or the near constant terror of shootings in American classrooms.”

Albright, the first woman appointed Secretary of State (she served 1997 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton), emigrated to the U.S. from Czechoslovakia with her family when she was 11 years old.

Nothing develops at developers meeting

Two preliminary reviews given at the La Jolla Development Permit Review Committee (DPR) on June 11 resulted in applicant reps being asked to return with modifications.

Robert Batemen, presenter for the Bird Rock Condos project, sought a Coastal Development Permit (CDP) and Tentative Map to create four residential condominium units 5656 La Jolla Blvd. He was instructed to return to explain how the owner will enforce designated parking.

Architect James Alcorn, seeking a CDP to construct a new, 11,100-square-foot residential dwelling and attached garage on a vacant lot at 2677 Brookmead Lane, was asked to return with an aerial photo and site photos showing the lot’s east side.

Historical Society wins first fed grant

The La Jolla Historical Society (LJHS) has been awarded a two-year, $50,000 grant for collections stewardship and public access from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. LJHS’s first federal grant, it was one of only 30 awards made to 202 applicants nationwide in the inaugural cycle of IMLS’s new “Inspire! Grants for Small Museums” program.

“This transformative grant will support our collection cataloging, management, stewardship and access,” said LJHS Director Heath Fox.

Grant funds will support greater accessibility to the LJHS collections for members of the public and professional researchers through the development of extensive database records, integrated search tools, and network access through the Online Archive of California. It will also enable a limited number of paid internships for graduate and undergraduate university students in history and humanities disciplines.

It’s a culinary Shores thing

The Shores Restaurant in La Jolla was awarded the Gold Medallion for Best Hotel Casual Restaurant by the San Diego Chapter of the California Restaurant Association at its 35th annual awards dinner.

“I am so proud of this award as it valid all the hard work, time and dedication that everyone puts in every day,” said Chef de Cuisine Percy Oani.

The dinner was held May 30 at the San Diego Convention Center.

— Compiled by Corey Levitan from local reports.