Woodland Hills

After more than two decades of doing business in Glendale, coordinating trips for thousands of vacationers, Worldway Travel & Tour is set to take a trip of its own ? and its not coming back. Hamzik Der Gregorian and Jackie Abkian, the father-daughter ownership team of the longtime Glendale travel agency, are moving their business to Woodland Hills after 25 years in the city. Their move marks a new chapter for a business that has, like independent book, record and movie-rental stores, struggled to compete with the growing, online, one-stop-shop giants.

WOODLAND HILLS ? It was a memorable night for Glendale boxing, with four up-and-coming boxers who fight out of the Jewel City by way of Armenia, claiming victories in front of an animated partisan crowd. Art of Boxing?s Friday night promotion, the Warner Center War II, succeeded in drawing a large group of area fight fans to the grand ballroom of the Warner Center Marriott in Woodland Hills for a seven-bout card that featured Vardan ?Vito? Gasparyan, Art ?Lionheart? Hovhannesyan and Gabriel ?

For the first time in Crescenta Valley Little League history, the 11-year-old Little League All-Stars have advanced to the Division 3 Final. With three La Cañada Flintridge players on board, the All-Stars have won both the District 16 Tournament and the Section 2 final to advance swiftly to Division 3 which will begin this Saturday in Santa Fe Springs at 11 a.m. where the team will play the Section 5 winner. CV swept the district with a combined three-game score of 68-0, crushing Tujunga, Glendale and Burbank.

Auditions held for ‘Dog Whisperer’ A producer for National Geographic Channel show “The Dog Whisperer” will hold one of four auditions in Burbank for dogs and owners to be in its fifth season. The program features dog behavior specialist Cesar Millan, who helps owners solve behavioral problems with their dogs. Producer Kay Summer will be looking for dog owners whose pets are experiencing a range of problems, including unusual phobias, obsessions or fearful behavior.

Judy Seckler NORTH HOLLYWOOD -- The Assn. of Retired Teachers will hold a gala luncheon at 11:20 a.m. Sept. 19 at the Beverly Garland Holiday Inn at 4222 Vineland Ave. in North Hollywood. Guest speakers will include Chief Executive Officer James Mossman and Ed Derman of the State Teachers Retirement System as well as legislative advocate Rusty Selix. Join friends and former colleagues and learn what the association is doing to enhance teacher retirement benefits.

GLENDALE ? Before postseason play began, the Crescenta Valley 11-year-old All-Star baseball team set out some goals for itself. One objective was to win a District 16 championship, another was to capture the Section 2 title and a third was to play 10 playoff games. Coach Dan Mulcahey's squad completed two of its goals. Now its sights are set on the last one. Six days after capturing the Section 2 title ? which went well with its district crown ? Crescenta Valley (6-0)

GIRLS' VOLLEYBALL Flintridge Prep 3, Claremont Vivian Webb 0: Lindsay Fletcher tallied 22 kills, increasing her area-leading total to 456 in 76 games, as the Rebels bounced back from Saturday's tough five-game setback to Pasadena Poly to post a convincing 25-13, 25-12, 25-22 Prep League home victory Monday. Fletcher, who trails Village Christian's Errin Benesh (1998) by just 29 kills in pursuit of the all-time area single-season record, also had five digs and two blocks.

WOODLAND HILLS - Both the Flintridge Prep boys' and girls' cross-country teams entered Saturday morning's Prep League championships at Los Angeles Pierce College with similar, yet strikingly different goals. Even though both pined for a Prep League title, it was the boys who proved themselves steady again in defending their crown with ease, while the girls narrowly avoided being upset in finishing second overall. "We are a very hard-working team and I think the guys are starting to finally realize that they are a really good team," Flintridge Prep Coach Ingrid Herskind said.

WOODLAND HILLS — Just call them the bash brothers. Considering their recent hitting tear, it only seems fitting. Continuing to put on a dazzling display of offensive output unmatched by its opposition, the members of the Crescenta Valley Majors All-Star team slugged their way to yet another lopsided victory. Twenty-one runs, 23 hits, seven home runs. That was the final damage from Crescenta Valley's latest conquest, a 21-3 win over Pasadena Southwest in the Major Baseball Sectional Tournament's opening game on Saturday at the Surprise Little League Complex in Woodland Hills.

WOODLAND HILLS - Both the Flintridge Prep boys' and girls' cross-country teams entered Saturday morning's Prep League championships at Los Angeles Pierce College with similar, yet strikingly different goals. Even though both pined for a Prep League title, it was the boys who proved themselves steady again in defending their crown with ease, while the girls narrowly avoided being upset in finishing second overall. "We are a very hard-working team and I think the guys are starting to finally realize that they are a really good team," Flintridge Prep Coach Ingrid Herskind said.

WOODLAND HILLS - There certainly were lessons learned and insights gained by the Providence High boys' basketball team in Saturday afternoon's second day of the War on the Floor Showcase at Los Angeles Pierce College. The Pioneers played with little practice, even less rest and no superstar in reigning All-Area Player of the Year Marcus LoVett Jr., and yet gained a big helping of confidence after a 51-40 victory over Canoga Park in the final game of pool play. "During summer, it's just about learning the new system because we have a lot of new guys," Pioneers Coach Ernest Baskerville said.

WOODLAND HILLS - It's often been said that one of the benefits of participating in summer league basketball for a prospective team is an opportunity to see an array of different squads and coaching styles. For the Renaissance Academy boys' basketball team, though, playing in Saturday's second day of the War on the Floor Showcase at Los Angeles Pierce College presented the chance for a small Wildcats squad to showcase its own talents. Six-man Renaissance, which was missing three players due to transfer, continued to impress in holding off Los Angeles City Section Dorsey High, 49-41, in Saturday afternoon's pool play finale.

WOODLAND HILLS - Wins didn't come easy for Jorge Bonilla when he played football at Hoover High. And while Saturday night might not have exactly been easy, Bonilla was victorious in quick, impressive and emphatic fashion. The former Tornadoes defensive back/receiver notched an ultra-impressive omoplata submission victory just 50 seconds into his amateur mixed-martial-arts debut on Friday night at the Warner Center Marriott against Tom Pagano. “It was my first fight, I was really nervous,” said Bonilla, 21, a 2008 Hoover graduate.

Within the confines of Alberto Crane's Gracie Barra Burbank studio sits a brand new cage, as the Glendale resident and Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt touts the growing presence of mixed martial arts inside his gym and beyond. When he's not teaching classes or competing himself, Crane is also cornering a rising stable of fighters and lending his name to Alberto Crane's National Fighting Alliance Mixed Martial Arts, which will put forth its second Valley Invasion card tonight in Woodland Hills at the Warner Center Marriott.

GLENDALE — Anatoliy Dudcehnko, who's had some of his best fights in Glendale, and Gapo Tolmajyan, who trains in the Jewel City, will add some local flavor to tonight's "War at Woodland Hills 4," which is co-promoted by Glendale's own resident fight promoter, Kahren Harutyunyan. Between their twin trilogies of shows at the Warner Center Marriott in Woodland Hills, site of tonight's card, and the Glendale Civic Auditorium under the Glendale Glory banner, Harutyunyan and his partner Steve Bash have set a standard of staging accessible action-packed boxing events for area fight fans.

WOODLAND HILLS — Besant Hill took control of the game early and handed Renaissance Academy a 52-46 loss at the War on the Floor Invitational at El Camino Real High on Saturday morning, but the Wildcats’ furious fourth-quarter rally gave the Coyotes something to think about should these CIF Southern Section Division 5A opponents meet again in the postseason. Led by 10 fourth-quarter points from senior guards Dushon Carter and six from Brian Bourgeois, the Wildcats, who were without starting Gil Tacita due to a knee injury sustained in practice, rallied from a double-digit deficit to make it a two-point game with 2:00 left.

Auditions held for ‘Dog Whisperer’ A producer for National Geographic Channel show “The Dog Whisperer” will hold one of four auditions in Burbank for dogs and owners to be in its fifth season. The program features dog behavior specialist Cesar Millan, who helps owners solve behavioral problems with their dogs. Producer Kay Summer will be looking for dog owners whose pets are experiencing a range of problems, including unusual phobias, obsessions or fearful behavior.

As I stood one Saturday morning on the 7th green at Verdugo Hills Golf Course, watching golfers golfing, lizards sunning, bunnies playing and hawks flying, I wondered what it must have been like there before the Foothill (210) Freeway went through. The calming quiet on the top of the hill was amazing. From that vantage point, you can also see the hikers and bicyclists on the fire roads across the freeway heading into the Verdugo Mountains — what a nice way to spend a morning.

WOODLAND HILLS ? It was a memorable night for Glendale boxing, with four up-and-coming boxers who fight out of the Jewel City by way of Armenia, claiming victories in front of an animated partisan crowd. Art of Boxing?s Friday night promotion, the Warner Center War II, succeeded in drawing a large group of area fight fans to the grand ballroom of the Warner Center Marriott in Woodland Hills for a seven-bout card that featured Vardan ?Vito? Gasparyan, Art ?Lionheart? Hovhannesyan and Gabriel ?