By Mary O’KEEFE

The CVHS Prom Plus Holiday Home Tour is this Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. This year there are three homes, one truly holiday decked out shop and a youth house on the tour. For many the home tour has become an annual tradition. Each year the homes on the tour dazzle and never disappoint as visitors walk through to share in the holiday spirit with their neighbors and friends.

“It is always amazing to me how generous these families who donate their homes are,” said Lisa Yeghiayan, co-chairperson for the event.

This year CVHS Principal Michele Doll has volunteered her home as part of the tour. This historical home in Glendale has been in her husband’s family for over 60 years. As visitors walk through the doors they will immediately feel a sense of family and home. Many pieces of furniture have been handed down from Doll’s grandparents.  The library is full of grandfather’s books – each has hand written notes describing either where the book was purchased or read, or there are correspondences that give a glimpse into his life.

Up the street from the Dolls is James Davis Polk’s home.

Settled into the Glendale hills this home is as sophisticated as it’s owner. Polk is the owner of the Flintridge House in Montrose.  That impeccable taste with a touch of whimsy that carries throughout the store is found at his home as well. Like last year, Polk will also open his Flintridge House store for the tour.

Anyone who has spent any time in La Crescenta will know of the Richards’ home. Known for its celebration of Halloween and Christmas with an animated holiday display on the front lawn courtesy of teenage son Will, the interior of the home is as impressive as the outside with the completion of a painstaking remodel.

The Fire House is a newly formed youth center for Crescenta Valley teens. It is a partnership with the CV Drug and Alcohol Prevention Coalition and St. Luke’s of the Mountains and St. George’s Episcopal churches. The house gives kids in the area a place to go where they can play pool, foosball, cards and video games. At its foundation, it is a place where kids can hang out with each other and have fun, get help with homework or just talk to either their peers or an adult. The Fire House on the grounds of St. Luke’s was, in the 1930s, Los Angeles County Fire Station 19. The kids have been decorating the house with the era in mind.

After walking through the Fire House visitors can go on a tour of the old stone church and enjoy shopping with vendors who will be set up in the church’s courtyard.

The home tour is a fundraiser for Prom Plus, a grassroots parent driven organization that gives Crescenta Valley High School seniors and their dates a place to go after the prom.

“It’s a $25,000 after prom party,” said Molly Shelton, co-president of the Prom Plus Club at CVHS. “There is a mechanical bull, rock climbing, Dance Dance Revolution and enough stuff to keep everyone busy.”

This is not an after prom party to indulge the Crescenta Valley youth but is a safety net to keep kids off the roads and out of unsupervised post prom parties.

Prom Plus was born about 10 years ago from a tragedy. A young CVHS student, Berlyn Cosman, was murdered in 1991 at an unsupervised after prom party at a hotel. She was shot and killed by a 19-year-old boy. Berlyn lost her life; the killer was convicted and sentenced to 19 years in prison. Berlyn had many friends, among them former CVHS principal Linda Evans. Berlyn was her Evans’s assistance. As is typical in the Crescenta Valley community, parents gathered and began talking about what they could do to stop this tragedy from happening again. With that “never again” mantra, parents began to raise money and with the generous support of the community, the Glendale Unified School District and businesses like the YMCA, a CVHS after prom tradition was started.

“And last year the kids started a Prom Plus Club at the high school,” Yeghiayan said.

The club was started by Yeghiayan’s daughter Aimee and Shelton. Throughout the year the students volunteer at a variety of events, most recently as workers at the Montrose Christmas Parade.

Tickets are $25 and available at Merle Norman Cosmetics, the UPS Stores, the office of CV Weekly, CV High School, the CV Chamber office or by calling Lisa Yeghiayan at (818) 314-9810.

  CVHS Prom Plus, home tours