Annemarie Donkin

Annemarie Donkin is a journalist who wrote for The Signal in Valencia, CA and was the Managing Editor for the Topanga Messenger from 2013 to 2016. She is thrilled to write for the Messenger Mountain News to continue the tradition of excellent community newspapers. When she’s not writing, she loves to travel throughout California, read, watch movies and keep bees.

Dream Weaves its Magic

As we all know, when the sun sinks behind the canyon hills, there is magic in the night. And when the players took their places for the opening night (really a matinee)…

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Topanga Seed & Feed Goes Out in Style

The last feed store in Topanga held a parking lot party to bid the community farewell. After anchoring the boulevard at Pine Tree Circle for 14 years, Lindsay (Zook) Pedroza her husband,…

Focus on 2020—Changing the Way We Vote in L.A.

Get ready for a big change to the way we vote. All registered voters in Los Angeles County can vote early because, in 2020, Los Angeles County will transition from polling places…

From Snowpack to Tap— Water’s Epic Journey

While California experienced record rain and Sierra snow this past winter, the community of Topanga has not always had a steady supply of fresh water. As always, because of the threat of…

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MOMentum Place Dazzles the Eye and Captures the Heart

It must have been the soft spring air that made the afternoon so magical as the warm sun streamed through the ancient oak trees at the Theatricum Botanicum on Sunday, May 12.…

Honoring Our Own

Topangans know how to honor their own. They may have been weed whacking or building the new Compost Hub in the morning but when it came time for the Topanga Chamber of…

City Planners Hear Promenade 2035 Specific Plan

More than 250 area residents and Westfield employees filled the Trillium Grand Ballroom of the Hilton Woodland Hills on April 30 to express their opinion about the proposed $1.5-billion development at the…

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Designing Women

Three eclectic shops on the Boulevard in the center of town—Pebbles, Luv & Sunshine, and Moona Star Collective—embody the unique style of Topanga. PEBBLES From the road one can easily see the…

Challenges of the Urban Beekeeper

What do you do when your domestic bees abandon their hive and a swarm of wild bees moves in? My first introduction to backyard beekeeping was in February of last year when…

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A Circle of Life Tradition Continues with New TCC Sages Room

Bright sunshine and 80-degree temperatures chased people to wherever there was some shade. Seniors, friends, volunteers, and representatives of the community’s favorite government officials gathered for the Grand Opening of the TCC…