Susan Nall Bales – The Frameworks Institute

My parents moved to MB in 1954 and I grew up here bodysurfing and chasing lizards in the pickle weed. Grandview, Center, Mira Costa — and then 40 years in the East in Middlebury VT, France, DC. I earned an MA degree in French literature at the Sorbonne, worked for progressive nonprofits in DC, then founded a think tank — The FrameWorks Institute — which won a coveted MacArthur Foundation genius award and has worked on many of the most important social issues of our time, from climate change to racial equity and early childhood development. My husband, a political historian, ran UC Berkeley’s program in Washington DC. When my husband passed in 2019, I moved back to my childhood home to tend my Strand garden and reconnect with old childhood friends who had become artists and poets and meet new friends who make chocolate and collect art. I spend part of my time in Santa Fe, NM where I maintain gardens and more friends and volunteer for the Food Depot. My son, Andy, earned his MFA at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts in game design — and lives nearby. He is an MB convert, now an excellent volleyball player. Andy and my husband located Culture Brewing and brought them to our property downtown. We hope to see the downtown flourish and welcome more diversity while keeping its small town vibe.

 

 

My dad exited WW2 and was so relieved to find himself alive — he was a B29 bomber– that he spent a year diving and selling hot dogs in Catalina to put the war behind him. Then he went through USC on the GI Bill and worked as a space engineer in all the companies across Sepulveda: Hughes, TRW, etc. My mom grew up in Santa Ana. She could remember visiting the Irvine Ranch for parties.She was a great bodysurfer, a Sandpiper and a volunteer dental hygienist for local charities. My parents became real estate brokers in the 1960s, buying residential and commercial properties. Some of these remain in our portfolio today; we try hard to bring businesses to MB that contribute to its beachiness while also welcoming newcomers.

 

 

I loved figuring out how to help people understand complex scientific or socio-political issues. Too often, we give up when people talk above our knowledge level. I have worked with climatologists and neuroscientists, economists and public health officials, to help them create better explanations such that non-experts can engage with the gist of an issue and truly weigh policy options. I’m something of a social science nerd. But I believe the price of citizenship is engaging in the struggle to understand what confronts us as a town, a nation, a planet — and to attempt to discern what would make the world a better place.

 

 

Keep reinventing yourself. There is no known age at which plasticity stops, so keep pushing your mind to engage with new ideas. Life is richer and fuller if you explore all options and, as Gide said, “make of yourself the most irreplaceable of beings.”

 

 

I’m working on two books — I’d like to see them out in the world. One is about grief, one about race in America– a manuscript my husband left behind. I hope to expand my gardens in both MB and NM, and grow new plants I’ve never heard of! I would like to read hundreds of books from Pages, and cook up a storm. I’d like to spend some time in the south of France, where I have not been for 50 years. And I’d like to see the world get a bit less rancorous, and I would hope to contribute to that.

 

 

Love the Slay family of restaus and greatly admire David Slay and his determination in the face of all obstacles! Great admiration for Sylvie Gabriele and her Love and Salt! Andy and I are partial to lunch at Little Sister in El Segunda.

 

 

I have lived in MB for almost 70 years. Sometimes it is weird to think I’ve been sitting reading on the same spot overlooking the beach for 65 years! I can remember when The Plastic Shoppe moved in downtown — and was the height of modernity. I bought my holiday presents at the five and dimes and, later, my bikinis at Petes. And then I left for 40 years or so, and came back to find things largely intact.

 

 

John and Marion Scott, the amazing artists who created 3004 The Strand, one of the first modern steel houses on the Strand. They were my mentors growing up. They collected tribal art — which I now do as well. They were vibrant thinkers and creators. Their studio was full of the metalwork with which they decorated the exterior of their house — you can still see it behind the drapes as the new owners remodel and restore this amazing house! Scotty served on my FrameWorks board for years. They were so engaged with LA as a cultural hub while living an MB life.

 

 

Fino — I have been shopping there for decades. And Dacha. I hope MB continues to have small artistic boutiques like this that bring wearable art and artifacts to the beach. There’s an awful trend to uniformity and whiteness; I hope we dare to break the dominant paradigm in attracting new businesses to MB. Otherwise, we will end up a Big Box by the Beach travesty, like so many others along the coast.

 

 

Bike riding! The fact that you can bike anywhere anytime and not have to worry about the atrocious parking situation. I hope the city keeps biking safe for kids and older folks. It’s a big part of our quality of life here.

 

 

Probably Robert Reich; he continues to offer great insight on the unfolding of the American experience. I have often taught his Four Parables of American Politics. I would take him to Rice. Perfect for an intimate conversation.

 

 

I watch Charade yearly –what could be better than Audrey Hepburn dressed by de Givenchy? I love watching Lupin and try to listen in French with English subtitles.

 

 

I collect 19th century children’s china, mostly Staffordshire transferware, and have more than 2000 pieces. Also Hudson River Valley paintings. Oh, and the work of Susan Hertel. Sigh — I’m a collector.

 

 

Nicole’s chocolates, available at the weekly farmer’s markets. And her chocolate covered persimmons and her breads and and and….And the farmer’s market more generally as well.

 

 

Ernie Pyle. I read his dustbowl dispatches and his WW2 columns and they are transcendent. His empathy and humanity amidst the Great Depression, the War — it makes you humble and helps you recommit to do better.

 

 

Books and seabirds, lunch with my son