Drum Roll, Please

The waiting is over. After months of hard work and dedication by the members of the Crescenta Valley Weekly team, in today’s issue you will find the results of the CVW Finest 2012.

This 40-page tome reflects the choices made by CVW readers as to who they feel are finest, whether in business, as a service provider or just as a person. Over 7,000 choices were painstakingly categorized, then tallied in order to arrive at the names of the winners as voted upon by our readers.

This was a huge undertaking and if it weren’t for the dynamic team that works here there is no way we could have attempted it. But it is a fantastic group of folks I work with and when it became clear that our businesses and readers wanted the chance to highlight the finest in the area, I was confident that we could do it.

You’ll find some familiar names and faces and some new ones, too. You might be surprised by some of the results but then again – maybe not. I was certainly caught off-guard by some of the results.

One of the criteria we established was that anyone who received more than three votes for a category that we didn’t already have – one that was written in – we’d include in the results. Another rule was that no one at CV Weekly would qualify for a category. But as they say, some rules are made to be broken.

Not long after the ballots started pouring in it became apparent that Mary O’Keefe was a favorite among our readers. Her name kept popping up by readers who added the category of Favorite Reporter. I felt that, in the name of honesty, Mary had to be added as a Finest recipient. Congratulations, Mary – and I agree with our readers.

Not every selection made by our readers, however, is the choice I would have made, but The Finest is a reflection of what our community feels is the finest, not what CV Weekly thinks. Our staff was not even allowed to cast a ballot.

I hope you enjoy going through The Finest 2012 and keep it as a tool when you’re looking for a doctor, a hiking trail or a place to buy tires among other things. What better way of knowing the finest places than by reading the recommendations of your friends and neighbors?

Congratulations to all the winners! Good job.

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History was made on Friday when the space shuttle Endeavor took to the skies on the back of a 747 carrier for its final flight. I didn’t realize how excited I was until Friday morning arrived and I decided to head up to the La Cañada Country Club to view it as it passed over JPL.

I knew how important the event was – I had photographers stationed at JPL, LAX and Flintridge Sacred Heart – but my personal interest didn’t peak until the shuttle’s arrival was just a few hours away. My office manager Lisa and I closed up the office and headed up Angeles Crest Hwy.

My first indication of the excitement that had gripped our community, if not all of Los Angeles, was the cars lined up along the guardrail. With binoculars and cameras in hand, people were out of their cars waiting eagerly for the first view.

The parking lots of the country club were packed and we were lucky to find a parking space. Despite the heat, people were waiting outside their cars same as those on the highway, wanting to make sure not to miss even the remotest glimpse.

All too fast the mammoth plane and shuttle buzzed the area and disappeared.

It was a moment in history that I’m so glad to have taken time to witness. And if I had any doubt that the magnitude of the event was lost on my boys, it was swept away when I received the text, “Wow. That was so cool.”

We’ve got a gallery of photos on our website of different views of the shuttle as it made its way across the Southland. I hope you take a minute to check them out.

  robin goldsworthy