The lumber has arrived, demolition has begun, and Veronique de Turenne is off on the home remodeling ride of her life. She tries at Here in Malibu to take it all in stride. "I’ve seen worse," the contractor smiled after stripping off the walls to find flimsy one-by-twos and holes where you can see the dirt underneath the 1973 Meteor. Otis Chandler lived in the mobile home at Paradise Cove during his surfing phase. (When the Times newsroom was looking for Chandler to come out of retirement and rescue them from some pre-Tribune publisher's bean-counting foibles — days that look decadent compared to the current LAT situation — former senior editor Noel Greenwood quipped somewhat famously, "Otis has gone surfing and he's not coming back."

Links: Remodel: Day One, The R word

Native Intelligence: TJ Sullivan caught some frolicking dolphins in his morning walk on Santa Monica pier.