Melissa Heckscher

4 weeks ago | dailybreeze.com | Melissa Heckscher

“Today was terrible!” my 10-year-old self wrote in her diary on January 7, 1985. “First, I got a C+ in my binder in math and science. Then I found out Martha is giving Nibbles away! I can’t believe her!”Nibbles, by the way, was my gerbil. The one I had (hypocritically, apparently) given away to my best friend, Martha. “Then I found out (at school) we are going to have to do diaries for the week,” I continued, scribbling marker on purple paper, “so I’ll have to do two.

4 weeks ago | dailybreeze.com | Melissa Heckscher

He came to Los Angeles chasing dreams of a music career — but he ended up helping hundreds of others with theirs. Torrance music teacher Matt Wilczynski-Collette — who founded the Hollywood Rock Academy 20 years ago and also spent more than a decade teaching music to kids with physical and mental health challenges across LA — will finally take the stage to headline his own concert.

1 month ago | dailybreeze.com | Melissa Heckscher

Robert Frost once wrote that the first thing he does when he goes to any town is “to ask if it has a bookstore.”Linda McLoughlin Figel does the same thing, which is why, in March 2010, she, fellow book club member Patty Gibson and Manhattan Beach resident Margot Farris (who later stepped away from the business) opened Pages bookstore in Manhattan Beach. “Long before I even had a bookstore,  whenever I go to a new town, I would want to find its bookstore,” Figel said.

1 month ago | dailybreeze.com | Melissa Heckscher

It was the fall of 1949 when a group of amateur South Bay musicians decided to start a symphony. The goal, from the start, was for it to be free. For it to be a volunteer effort. And for it to last for decades. And so it remains. This Friday, March 21, the Beach Cities Symphony Orchestra will present its 75th annual classical music concert at El Camino College’s Marsee Auditorium.

1 month ago | dailybreeze.com | Melissa Heckscher

Brush up on your Greek mythology — it’s time to head to the underworld. Redondo Union High School will soon become the first youth theater in the South Bay to perform the Tony Award-winning Broadway show “Hadestown,” a musical that reimagines the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. “Hadestown,” which is best known for its bluesy score and richly choreographed storytelling, premiered on Broadway in 2019 and spawned two national tours, including one that stopped in Los Angeles last year.