A humidor destined to become as collectible as the smokes you store in it…

Located on Kauai’s North Shore, Hale ‘Ae Kai was listed this month for $70 million, making it the most expensive home currently on the market in Hawaii. Overlooking the Pacific Ocean and surrounded by palm trees, the 15-acre estate is a serene and secluded oasis. An elongated porte cochère guarded by statues and fringed by […]

Parsons honors her for her work.

NASHVILLE — So what’s worse?

Falling off the tightrope three steps from the end? Or never climbing the ladder at all?

The Ducks limped their way out of Bridgestone Arena, the loudest and happiest roadhouse in Nashville on Monday night.

Their 17-game run toward the Stanley Cup had been adjourned by the Predators, 6-3, although it was tied 3-3 until Colton Sissons scored his third goal of the game with six minutes left. Nashville won in six games and plays either Ottawa or Pittsburgh in Game 1 of the Final on May 29.

When you don’t make the playoffs whatsoever, you normally see the end coming long before it arrives. When you get eliminated in the playoffs, particularly when the series was 2-2 just 96 hours ago, it’s an emergency brake.

Terry Francona, the manager of the Indians, used to relate those endings to running into a brick wall. There’s a concussive effect to the spirit.

“That’s how it goes, you capitalize on your opportunities, and when you don’t, the game is over and the season is over,” Andrew Cogliano said. “To go out like that, it’s a joke.”

The Ducks went out in the most enervating way possible. They were by far the better team in Game 6 from create to crease. If they gave out awards on style points, they would be heading back to Honda Center for Game 7 on Wednesday. But the league goes by goals, and Nashville got four pucks past Jonathan Bernier and needed only 16 shots to do it (the fifth and sixth goals went into an empty net).

Meanwhile, the Ducks ranked 41 shots on goal, had 22 others blocked and missed the net 10 times. They launched 73 pucks toward Pekka Rinne. Nashville shot only 35 more times. So much for Corsi and Fenwick, the metrics that measure such things. Of course, the Kings led the league in Corsi this year. Monday night was Christmas in May for their fans, since it marked the Ducks’ demise, but the Kings themselves never got to Game 1.

It’s difficult to justify copping a plea. Nashville didn’t have Ryan Johansen, who left the arena in an ambulance after Game 4. Johansen did show up Monday night with his crutches, and that brought the loudest boom for the fans, who had also celebrated Trisha Yearwood’s rendition of the National Anthem.

But the Ducks borrowed a Yearwood lyric: “Don’t come cryin’ to me.” In the end they were missing wingers Rickard Rakell and Patrick Eaves. Only 12 players in the NHL regular season scored more goals than Rakell (34), who had 13 points in the 15 playoff games he played. Only 16 players in the NHL regular season scored more goals than Eaves (32).

Then John Gibson (hamstring) couldn’t get through the morning skate and gave way to Jonathan Bernier, who had never started a playoff game even though he’s played 255 times in the regular season. The first Nashville goal went off Brandon Montour’s skate and past him. The other three weren’t easy, but at least a couple could have been stopped, at least by a Western Conference championship-caliber goalie.

“We scored three goals and that’s usually enough in playoff hockey,” Coach Randy Carlyle said. “They scored too many goals on us.”

As Ryan Getzlaf would say, the Predators “played hard on the net, they bore down.” That decides games. The Ducks found various way to score during these playoffs, but they were not an effective finishing team until they got Eaves, who now takes his career season to the free-agent market.

Corey Perry had a playoff season of renewal, as he found his way to the front of the net again, but Nashville was consistently better at jumping on rebounds and making those slick passes down low that hung both Gibson and Bernier out to dry at times.

Ryan Kesler sat at his locker when the room opened, still in full uniform, a towel covering his head. He played with his usual glowering passion, but he scored one point in six games, and Nashville’s top line had its way, at times, in every game.

Getzlaf was also prominent, and he was playing with different linemates nearly every night, but he also couldn’t find the net in the series,  and his three assists came in the same game.

Irresistible youth sprouted on both sides. On this night, it sprouted in Nashville’s field. Sissons is 23, a center who made his way into Nashville’s lineup only this season but got bumped up to the first line when Johansen was hurt. He has eight goals in his regular-season career and now has eight goals in the playoffs. The game had barely ended when someone had updated his Wikipedia page, describing him as a “Canadian professional duck hunter.”

The Ducks could have used Nick Ritchie, especially with two other wingers hurt. Instead Ritchie tried to inflict injury, boarding Victor Arvidsson and bloodying his face. That got Ritchie a five-minute major and an ejection.

He played two minutes and 52 seconds. Ironically the Ducks killed off the major penalty with a flourish and actually dominated play the rest of the night. But it was an example of the distemper that has plagued the Ducks, off and on, for years now.

“You’re proud of the guys who are playing through a lot of stuff,” Cogliano said. “They’re getting shot up to play and they’re putting it on the line. Injuries happen, and Nashville is missing its best player as well.

“They won the series, they’re a good team. I don’t think they’re much better. Sometimes in these games, it’s not meant to be. There’s no reason it shouldn’t have gone our way tonight. We had a lot of good looks. We scored three goals and probably should have five. Three goals on the road, you should be able to win.

“When you lose a game like that, it kicks you a little harder.”

The teams that feel the most pain in the hockey playoffs also have less time to overcome it. The pursuit ended with a long, painful fall. In time the Ducks will realize it wasn’t trivial.

Kaitlyn Lim’s one out RBI single in the bottom of the eighth propelled the Woodbridge softball team to a 7-6 victory over El Dorado in a CIF-SS Division 3 first round playoff game Thursday, May 18, at Bill Barber Park.

The Warriors (16-13) advance to round two and will play Cerritos Tuesday, May 23, at 3:15 p.m. at Bill Barber Park.

With the score tied, 6-6, in the bottom of the eighth, Ashlee Laver led off with a walk and was sacrificed to second by Dana Demo. Sofie Adams bunted for a base hit as Laver advanced to third and then was pinched run for by Taylor Wojciechowski.  Lim drilled a shot to left center – her third hit of the game – for the game winner.

“I wanted to hit the ball to the outfield, even if it was an out, to drive the run home,” said Lim, who smashed her eighth homer of the season in the first inning.

The Warriors got brilliant relief pitching from freshman Taylor Caudill who held the Golden Hawks (15-8-1) to one run over the final 5 and 1/3 innings.

El Dorado scored five times in the third to take a 5-2 lead.

“It definitely is nerve racking but once I got a few outs I settled down and get my confidence,” said Caudill, who added an RBI single in the first inning giving Woodbridge a 2-0 lead. “This is the first time I’ve been in this situation, so I focused on throwing strikes.”

Warriors coach Jerry Rose said his team didn’t panic.

“We’ve had comebacks like this all season and we didn’t panic,” said Rose. “The best part of this team is that they are all underclassmen. They took it pitch-by-pitch and executed.”

Woodbridge retook the lead, 6-5, after Sabrina Dallas was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the fourth. Amanda Vos’ RBI single tied the game at, 6-6, in the fifth inning.

Hannah Sasaki and Jo Michaels each had two hits apiece for the Warriors. Lim, who also had two assists from right field and nearly two others, scored two runs, as did Sasaki.

ORANGE — The Orange County Transportation Authority reallocated resources from lower- to higher-performing bus routes in two major service changes last year in an effort to reverse ridership declines – and it seems to be working for those bolstered lines.

While total average weekday ridership dropped 2.9 percent from March 2016 to March 2017, ridership on routes improved in June and October overhauls increased by 4.2 percent and 10.4 percent, respectively, according to an OCTA staff report presented to the board on Monday, May 22.

“Continued investment in productive routes appears to be helping stem the ridership declines,” the staff report states.

The OCTA board in 2015 endorsed the OC Bus 360 program aimed at drawing existing and new customers by reducing travel time and improving speeds for frequently used routes, particularly those in the county’s central core. Resources were taken from routes with fewer passengers, and some areas including parts of South County lost bus service.

“I think we’re beginning to make some good strides forward,” OCTA board member Al Murray said of the OC Bus 360 update.

OCTA’s fixed-route bus service in fiscal year 2014-15 had 47 million boardings – the lowest level since fiscal year 1996-97.

Regionally, ridership is also down on bus systems run by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Long Beach Transit, Riverside Transit, Omnitrans and the North County Transit District, among others.

Major factors contributing to ridership decline include falling gas prices, a rise in housing prices leading to households moving to the “exurbs,” declining immigration and post-recession employment changes, according to a recent UCLA presentation to OCTA.

Staff plan to continue the OC Bus 360 initiative through strategies such as instituting fixed-route changes and testing new technologies.

Separately, on Monday, the board received a staff proposal for bus service reductions during the regularly scheduled October service changes. While the majority of bus lines will see no change, 17 are slated for reduced service, 14 are scheduled to see improved service and six would see a fare increase.

The six lines identified for a fare increase are bus routes 212, 213, 216, 701, 721 and 794.

Staff will return in July with the final October service change proposal, for board approval.

NASHVILLE — In this latest episode of the long war between Head and Brick Wall, the outcome stayed the same.

The Anaheim Ducks threw all of their guns at once at Pekka Rinne and the Nashville Predators, but it all exploded into space. They used up all their sweat equity in tying the score, 3-3, in the third period and even had a power play after that. But Nashville killed that off, and Colton Sissons got his third goal of the night, three seconds later, to key what became a 6-3 win in Game 6, ending the Western Conference Finals.

It was the third time in seven seasons that Nashville has eliminated the Ducks, but this was by far the most poignant.

It sent the Predators into their first Stanley Cup Final, to begin Monday against either Pittsburgh or Ottawa, and it frustrated a Ducks squad that had repeatedly proven they cared little about the depth of the holes they found themselves in.

In this game they had 41 shots on goal to Nashville’s 18 and finally found a way to subvert Rinne, who was brilliant when Nashville ousted the Ducks last year, and again in this first period.

But Nashville’s quickness and opportunism flared up again when Sissons captured a puck, gave it up, watched Calle Jarnkrok get to it an instant before Corey Perry could, and went to the left side of the net.

Jarnkrok swung it in Sissons’ directions, and Sissons beat Jonathan Bernier, who was a  shaky  replacement for John Gibson (hamstring).

That happened with six minutes left, and Nashville picked up two empty-netters after that.

“They got more dirty goals in this series than we did,” Coach Randy Carlyle said.

He also lamented the fact that the Western finals began only two days after the Ducks had eliminated Edmonton in a seven-game second round.

“There has to be some consideration given to that,” Carlyle said. “It was a tough hand that was dealt to us. Had we started on that Saturday instead of that Friday, it might have made a difference.”

The Ducks fell behind 2-0 early but killed off a 5-minute major that Nick Ritchie earned by boarding, and bloodying, Victor Arvidsson. Ritchie also was ejected, which meant the Ducks were missing three significant wingers, counting Rickard Rakell and Patrick Eaves.

But that kill seemed to energize the Ducks, and their long comeback crested when Cam Fowler beat Rinne from near the Nashville blue line, as Corey Perry belabored Rinne in front of the net.

Then Roman Josi was given a delay penalty for flipping the puck over the boards. But the power play produced one shot, one offside, and nothing else.

“They did a good job boxing us out,” Carlyle said. “We couldn’t get bodies in front of Rinne like we wanted, and we let him see too many shots.”

Both teams had significant injuries, but the Predators’ replacements had more impact. Sissons was promoted to the first line when center Ryan Johansen was injured. The 23-year-old has had eight regular-season goals in the NHL. Now he has eight postseason goals, and his Wikipedia page had already been updated to characterize him as a “Canadian professional duck hunter” by game’s end.

“We were missing two 30-goal scorers,” Andrew Cogliano said, referring to Rakell and Eaves. “At the end of the day, they’re a good team but I don’t think they’re much better than us.

“You go from having a power play and maybe having a 5-on-3 to giving up a goal. Sometimes, in these games, it’s not meant to be. There’s no reason why it shouldn’t have gone our way tonight, really. We scored three goals and probably should have had five. You have that many shots and lose, it kicks you a little hard.”

With reflection, the onus will again fall on those who are best-equipped to bear it.

Ryan Kesler had no goals and one point in the series, although he had numerous looks in Game 6. When the locker room opened, he was still in full uniform, his head slumped and covered by a towel.

Getzlaf was active and visible but still got on the scoresheet only once in the six games, and that was a three-assist game.

Bernier, who was starting his first playoff game after 255 regular-season starts, was challenged to maintain a rhythm, because the puck was on the other end for so long. Nevertheless, he had chances to bail out the Ducks in outnumbered, open-ice situations and did not.

When it ended, Getzlaf called it the worst feeling in hockey, although most of his mates felt nothing by then, numbed by the undefeated Brick Wall.

Twenty-five years ago, Sean Astin was no longer a Goonie but not yet a Hobbit, Pauly Shore had a burgeoning movie career on the heels of his popular MTV gig and Brendan Fraser was a few years off from fighting mummies.

They were also the stars of “Encino Man,” a cult classic teen comedy about uncool high school friends (Astin and Shore) who became cool after digging up a frozen caveman (Fraser).

As improbable as that all seems (not to mention Michael DeLuise as the film’s villainous jock), the movie, which was released 25 years ago May 22, wasn’t actually filmed in Encino.

However, the San Fernando Valley had plenty of representation in the film, which opened on Memorial Day weekend and ultimately grossed more than $40 million in the U.S., according to Box Office Mojo, despite being panned by critics.

Despite the movie being titled “Encino Man,” here’s where one of the most ‘90s films of them all was actually filmed.

1. Dave’s house – West Hills

Astin starred as the nerdy nice guy Dave Morgan, who was determined to get the cool kids to like him and win the heart of childhood crush Robyn Sweeney. How is he going to do this? By digging a pool for the prom after-party. That’s where he digs up a frozen caveman (Fraser), who he and his best friend Stoney (Shore) name Link and pass off as an exchange student from Estonia.

All of this supposedly happens at Dave’s home in Encino, but the house itself is actually in West Hills.

2. “Mega Mountain” – Six Flags Magic Mountain in Santa Clarita

One of the more memorable moments of the film that didn’t involve a choreographed prom dance scene (because that’s a requirement for ALL teen comedies), was when Stoney took Link to “Mega Mountain” to ride the “Vapor” in reverse. In real life, it was Six Flags Magic Mountain and the ride was the Viper, which still exists at the amusement park today.

3. “Encino High School” – Los Angeles Mission College in Sylmar

Even though the movie wasn’t filmed in Encino proper, another San Fernardino Valley neighborhood, Sylmar, was the home of the interior shots for the movie on a soundstage. And since this is a high school comedy, there had to be a high school. Nearby Los Angeles Mission College stood in as Encino High, where Link quickly became the cool kid on campus, despite being more than 40,000 years old.

4. “California Museum of Anthropology” – La Brea Tar Pits and Museum in Los Angeles

Remember the part where Link goes on the field trip, sees the evolution of man and freaks out? Yeah, that happened at one of Los Angeles’ favorite landmarks, the George C. Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits.

“Encino Man” is available on Amazon Video, iTunes and Google Play, so you can wheez the juice and get to watching, bu-ddy.

Pierpaolo Piccioli takes a carpe diem approach to travel. On a short trip to New York City in March, he hit the Boom Boom Room, Katz’s Deli, The Red Rooster, Minton’s (its facade anyway; it was closed) and Il Buco. And that was just the first day, between afternoon touchdown at John F. Kennedy airport and lights out at the Crosby Street Hotel.
The primary purpose of his two-and-a-half-day visit was scouting; Piccioli was seeking a location for today’s Valentino cruise show. Despite his packed official schedule, Piccioli worked in plenty of extracurricular stops. “I love being everywhere,” he says. It didn’t hurt that his traveling companion, Valentino’s worldwide communications director, Francesca Leoni, lived and worked in New York for several years, keeps an apartment here and is a full-on Gotham-o-phile — a highly knowledgeable one, at that. They checked out the Boom Boom Room as a venue for tonight’s postshow party, and everywhere else, just for fun: Minton’s and The Red Rooster (for its music and a drink) because Leoni loves Harlem and Katz’s Deli, for its “When Harry Met Sally” “I’ll have what she’s having” kitsch. As for Il Buco — well, you have to eat. And when you see Mick Jagger post-pasta,

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