Anthony Toth spends $200,000 converting garage into airliner cabin His hoard of memorabilia has taken 20 years to amass

By Chris Parsons

PUBLISHED: 07:51 EST, 29 March 2012 | UPDATED: 08:06 EST, 29 March 2012

While most people who enjoy flying might draw the line at a souvenir jet or mug, Anthony Toth's obsession has really taken off.

The airline sales director has spent two decades amassing an unmatched collection of memorabilia from Pan Am, which he has converted into a replica cabin at his home in Redondo Beach, California.

Mr Toth has spent $200,000 salvaging Pan Am airliner first class cabin parts for his airline tribute, including working seatbelt signs, oxygen masks and even 18 matching cabin seats.

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Head in the clouds: Mr Toth, 44, has spent $200,000 over 20 years converting his garage into a replica Pan Am first class cabin

Cabin fever: Mr Toth says his favourite part of his replica Pan Am cabin is a staircase from an original airliner

Commitment: Mr Toth has traveled as far as Bangkok in search of the exact parts for his well-researched Pan Am cabin

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Anthony Toth converts California garage into Pan Am airliner cabin

DESTIN The two towers of the Emerald Grande have become a landmark, easily recognizable from as far away as Okaloosa Island and even Shalimar.

Destins skyline could be changing again as Legendary Inc., the developer of Emerald Grande, is working on plans for the next phase of HarborWalk Village.

Legendary CEO Peter Bos said the company is looking to build a new 100- to 150-room hotel and a second parking garage just east of the towers.

See a view of the Destin Harbor

Rumors have been swirling that new construction at HarborWalk Village was months or even weeks away from starting. While work on some smaller additions is under way now, Bos still is finalizing his timeline for the hotel and parking garage.

A lot of people just build single projects where they build a building and thats all they put on the land, and thats all there is, Bos said. For me, I spend a lot of time, and Ill spend an extra year just working on details of planning, trying to figure out where everything goes. When its all done, it all needs to fit together and not just look like a bunch of buildings jammed on one site.

We think the timing is about right, Bos said. The rumor is a little ahead of reality, but not much.

The primary construction at HarborWalk Village which includes the Emerald Grande, a parking garage, shops and restaurants began in February 2005 and continued through June 2007. The initial master plan included a second set of towers that were nearly identical to Emerald Grande.

While the proposed hotel will not be identical, Bos said it will be architecturally compatible. The next construction phase also will include several buildings, he said.

The hotel and other buildings will be constructed on what is now a parking lot and The Shed Barbeque and Blues Joint. Bos said The Shed likely will move closer to Destin Harbor.

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Major expansion eyed for HarborWalk Village (SLIDESHOW)

A white 40s-style rectangular cottage sits on the edge of the water at the northern tip of Longboat Key, just where the land ends. The dolphin-filled blue-green Gulf of Mexico water laps peacefully under the water-facing porch of the house, and it has been this way since the Mayers family bought the property in 1936. Today, they remain one of the oldest families on Longboat Key.

Its not uncommon to see Tom Mayers throwing a cast net from the large pelican-perched dock, which has been rebuilt three times over the years there is even an award-winning photo of his father, Frank, casting a net on the same dock.

According to a 1913 map of New Pass, Lands End has, arguably, the best fishing on the west coast of Florida. Its fitting, then, that the original settler of Lands End and relative of the Mayers family, Italian-born John Saverese, was in the fishing business.

The early yearsThe year 1885 was an ideal time to begin a fishing company in Tampa because the construction of the Plant Railroad in 1884 connecting Tampa to the northern region of the U.S. allowed for a more massive fish transportation operation. Within 10 years, Saverese had employed 550 men, 15 sailing vessels, 150 small boats and a large steamer, The Mistletoe.

It was the biggest fish house in the United States, says Tom Mayers, former Longboat Key Historical Society president. Theres nothing like that today.

The 75-foot-long Mistletoe was used to bring vacationers from Tampa to Longboat Key two times per week. Due to the success of Savereses business, he acquired extensive building and real-estate holdings including what would eventually become Lands End. About 1914, Saverese built a vacation home on the edge of the water.

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Lonnie Wong FOX40 News

6:17 p.m. PDT, March 26, 2012

SACRAMENTO COUNTY

Sacramento County Water Officials are preparing residents in the county's delta area for a building ban brought on by the decertification of levees by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

That's because there are so many variables that assessing the safety of the levees surrounding Hood, Courtland and Walnut Grove would be a guessing game. Construction permits will be hard to come by.

"There will be no permits issued for room additions, new homes, new commercial or industrial properties, even a grain storage bin," said George Booth, a civil engineer for Sacramento Counties Water Resources Agency.

While a garage or a barn might be possible, a warehouse or a shop is likely to be built. It's similar to the building ban in Sacramento's Natomas neighborhood where any federally backed loan will not be approved.

The exception is if you build at flood level anywhere from 10 to 20 feet above the ground. In Natomas that's proved so expensive and so impractical that no one has done it.

And while the Natomas ban will be lifted once levee repairs are complete, Sacramento County's delta area won't be getting such relief. Rural reclamation districts can't afford to make major levee repairs and can't afford the detailed engineering analysis that can prove existing levees are safe.

Other variables like levee vegetation and global warming are impossible to quantify, making FEMA unable to assess the chances of flooding.

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Building Ban Result of FEMA's Levee Decertification

REGINA Prepare to be amazed. And support a good cause, while youre at it.

Think of it as a twofer. In other words, a single event with double benefits.

The Amazing Spaces Home Renovation Tour offers an opportunity to check out a variety of transformed local living spaces. And at the same time, ticket buyers are supporting Hopes Home respite care program, which relies on community donations to operate. Hopes Home provides much-needed evening and overnight care for medically fragile children, so their caregivers can go out occasionally, de-stress, and relax.

Were hoping to raise $40,000 for Hopes Home, said event organizer Holli Appelquist, owner of Holliberries Interiors, who started the annual event in 2010.

The previous two Amazing Spaces events raised $62,000 for the SCEP Centre (Socialization Communication and Education Program), which is an intensive early intervention preschool program supporting the development of children with complex needs.

Every two years, the event will select a different childrens charity to support, Appelquist said.

We want to spread the money a little further for other children in need.

Tickets for this years self-guided home tour which is slated for Sat., May 12 go on sale this weekend at the Regina Spring Home Show, which is produced by the Regina and Region Home Builders Association, and runs from March 29 to April 1 in the Canada Centre Building at Evraz Place. Tickets will also be available at Fries Tallman Lumber, 1737 Dewdney Ave. A total of 600 tickets will be available, at $25 each.

This years tour features 11 homes, including exterior renovations, complete interior guts, additions, and reconfiguration of interior space.

If youre looking for new ideas, youll be greeted with an avalanche of inspiration on the tour! Appelquist said. Theres a real array of different styles and sizes.

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Home reno tour raises funds for Regina children’s charity

LOWELL -- The City Council has spent the past several months debating how to tweak Lowell's ordinance regulating the ubiquitous reserved-dwelling parking placards, if at all, but councilors still have not agreed on a clear path forward.

In the latest development, the council's transportation subcommittee voted last Tuesday to again direct the city's Department of Planning and Development to do more research about the reserved-dwelling signs and how to revise the ordinance regulating them.

The subcommittee's three members want city officials to make a recommendation about whether a system requiring an annual renewal of the parking placards, which dot many of the city's neighborhoods, would be useful.

Currently, residents of the city can pay $10 for a placard and never have to renew ownership of the sign.

As part of an annual renewal system, councilors also asked planning officials to come back with a potential fee for the renewal.

Councilor Joseph Mendonca said an annual renewal program could help the city figure out how many placards there are in the city and could lead to a reduction in the number of placards.

"I'm hoping by having an annual renewal with a fee, people in areas who don't need them won't spend money for something they don't need," Mendonca said.

Councilor Marty Lorrey, chairman of the subcommittee, expressed some reluctance about the proposal.

"I don't want to see another fee on people in the city," Lorrey

Lorrey has also expressed reluctance about doing too much tweaking of the parking-placard ordinance, saying, "if it isn't broke, don't fix it."

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City seeks to tweak parking-placard policy

GUELPH Local dad Rob Pyper has a deep connection to the Guelph Community Christian School.

I went to the school as a child, Pyper said Saturday as he joined other volunteers in helping extensively renovate the schools new home, the former College Avenue Public School.

The half-century-old religious school is relocating from Waterloo Avenue to larger space as it grows in size and scope.

Pyper and spouse Alison Pyper have four children, two of whom, Sarah and Samuel, currently attend while the younger Leah and Noah will join the student body once theyre old enough.

Pyper had several reasons why he enjoyed the school he went to as a child, where families play an integral role as school community volunteers. (It was) the sense of community . . . knowing the families, the values. You get a real sense the kids are cared for, he said.

On a tour of the non-denominational school under renovation Saturday, parent and businessman Daryl Holmes noted the old location, which has been sold to the Muslim Society of Guelph, has 13,000 square feet compared to the new one which will be 38,000 square feet triple the size.

The Christian school, with more than 120 families, serves 235 students kindergarten to Grade 8. The first school year at the sprawling new 10-acre site is slated for September.

Dozens of volunteers have put in 800 man-hours of work to date, though the work also receives a boost from a project management firm and other contractors.

The surplus site was bought for $3.1 million from the Upper Grand District School Board, with renovations to cost $2 million, all the money garnered through fundraising, volunteers said. Work began last October.

The redevelopment project will retain and enhance the flavour of the architecture, notably a butterfly-style angled front roof portion that will be kept and mimicked elsewhere in the structure. Attractive existing wood-finish features are also to be retained, the gymnasium ceiling, for example.

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Christian school taking shape at new site

Santa Fe is experiencing an uptick in commercial construction this spring, particularly on the south side.

The city Land Use Department has issued about half a dozen major commercial construction permits in the last 60 days.

Notable projects along city's southwestern edge include a McDonald's restaurant, State Employees Credit Union, and Murphy's Oil filling station going in at Las Soleras development east of Cerrillos Road near the Super Wal-Mart. Work has begun on a new building for a Guadalupe Credit Union on the south side of Airport Road, just east of Jemez Road, and a Dollar General store west of South Meadows in the same area was recently completed.

Downtown, the Drury Hotels chain last week started construction of a parking garage that will accompany its planned renovation of the old St. Vincent Hospital buildings into a 200-room hotel.

"What we are seeing is commercial construction that is self-financed on the corporate level," said Land Use Director Matthew O'Reilly.

Construction in the city slowed in fiscal year 2009/10, but this fiscal year shows some signs of recovery.

The total volume of building permits issued has increased about 35 percent from the 2009 trough, he said. Those numbers are somewhat deceiving, however, because many of the permits are for very small projects such as home renovations.

"I don't know if it is a sign of recovery, but for Santa Fe, it is a sign that people are spending some money on real estate, whether they are renovating a commercial building or renovating or doing additions to residential structures," O'Reilly said. "I think that is a good thing. It puts money into the economy and employs contractors and it means people are wanting to invest back into their property."

At a Little Caesars Pizza restaurant and drive-thru on the west side of Cerrillos Road between the Arby's Restaurant and the Long John Silver's, Star Construction expects to wrap up exterior work next month. Another contractor will do interior work, said foreman Isaac Cisneros. The Albuquerque-based company started in January and brought all its workers to Santa Fe from Albuquerque, Edgewood and Moriarty. It also bought most of its supplies there, he said.

For Winona Nava, president and chief executive officer of Guadalupe Credit Union, having Santa Fe workers was important, she said.

Excerpt from:
Commercial construction projects on rise

Greenville Fire/Rescue crew remains on the scene of an early morning fire that began about 2:30 a.m. Friday, officials said.

Capt. B.H. Davenport said two adults and one juvenile escaped the fire at 312 Prince Road without injury.

The fire crew continues to work to put out any remaining "hotspots" in the 9,600 square foot home, he said.

"It was a 9,600 square foot house, and that was a big challenge," Davenport said. "The owner had done extensive additions onto the structure."

Davenport said the original home was about 1,700 square feet.

Cindy Challender, a neighbor who lives adjacent to the Prince Road home, said the initial response from the fire department was inadequate for the size of the structure.

"There was a delayed response, and it's unfortunate," she said.

Challender and her husband Chris said officials with the department responded to the fire on Prince Road, where homes are smaller. The 9,600 square foot home backs up to Lori Drive, which provided the best access for officials to fight the fire, the Challenders said.

"The homes on (Prince Road) are generally small, brick ranches that are 1,500 to 1,700 square feet," said Chris Challender, who said he is also the insurance agent for homeowner Donald Stanley.

The Challenders said neighbors were on the phone pleading for the fire department to send additional trucks and crew to Lori Drive to fight the blaze. They said only one fire engine was originally sent to the Eastwood development.

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Family escapes early-morning fire

Ashley Day

Published on Mar 23, 2012

Armored Core has always been one of those series for the initiated. If you love tinkering around in the garage before taking your personally customised AC into battle then this is the series for you.

Everyone else has either looked in from the outside, wondering what all the fuss was about, or simply shrugged their shoulders and ignored it. But after the breakthrough success of From Softwares Dark Souls last year, perhaps its time to give Armored Core another look.

Perhaps From Sofware has taken some of the bold innovation found in Dark Souls and completely turned the mech combat genre on its head.That would have been nice wouldnt it?

Sadly, extensive online modes aside, Armored Core V stubbornly sticks to the same basic formula it always had. Think about that for a minute. Armored Core began life on the PlayStation. Not the PS3, or even PS2, but the original PlayStation, way back in the mid-Nineties.

Back then a third-person shooter with customisable mechs was a novelty. Now that novelty has grown old. At its heart, Armored Core is still a very basic third-person shooter a game of duck and cover, and endless circle strafing.

Sure, you can mess around with hundreds of parts to tailor the AC to both the mission and your tastes, but its still based around gameplay that dates back to the dawn of the genre.

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Armored Core V Review