The River and the Money Manager

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Last summer, Bryan Brown took 100 days off work and did what he says no human has ever done before: paddled the entirety of the Colorado River watershed by himself in a kayak.

Brown undertook the 2,400-mile trip stretching from Wyoming to Arizona as a tribute to his younger brother, Bruce, who died in late 2012 due to a rare adult-onset form of muscular dystrophy. The two had talked about going on such a trip since they were kids. Brown spread his brother’s ashes along the way.

Brown, 57, was able to take the time off because he has flexible hours working as an outside consultant for money management firms from his Beverly Hills home. But that turned out to be the easiest part.

He broke a rib, lost four toenails and two fingernails, and lived on a diet of tuna, peanut butter, bread and candy he found at stores close to the route. He also had to pull eight permits and passed through dozens of municipal and tribal jurisdictions that each had their own set of regulations, forcing him to mail himself equipment at different points on the route in advance.

The payoff was not only a sense of emotional closure but a discovery of “true wilderness,” he said. At one point, he went 12 days without seeing another person.

“I pulled off a historic trip because I had something telling me I had to get it done for my brother,” he said. “I am not unique. Every single person out there has something they want to do that’s important to them or a family member, or to the memory of a family member.”

Movie Rider

Greg Laemmle recently started a tradition: the president of his namesake family’s L.A. theater chain has led some three dozen people on bicycle rides through various parts of Los Angeles on Super Bowl Sunday.

Last year, it was a football-themed ride from the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to the Rose Bowl. This year, the cyclists wound through North Hollywood, Griffith Park and Los Feliz.

For the 48-year-old Laemmle, it’s the latest step in an increasingly active – and activist – bicycling program. Ever since childhood, Laemmle loved recreational cycling, especially with his father, Bob Laemmle. But seven years ago, as gas prices spiked, he took bicycling to another level: commuting every day from his home in Century City to his theater chain’s main office in West Los Angeles.

Besides saving gas money and improving his health, “the most rewarding part for me was rediscovering my city,” he said. “I got to see how neighborhoods connect in Los Angeles and can observe more closely any development and retail trends.”

He convinced many of his employees – along with his father – to do the same.

“My father and I still commute by bike every day to work, except we come from different directions,” he said.

This week, Laemmle’s two worlds will intersect: He’s hosting a fundraiser for the Los Angeles Bicycle Coalition at his North Hollywood theater with a special screening of the 1979 classic bicycling film “Breaking Away.” He hopes to raise a few thousand dollars to allow the coalition to buy bicycle lights for people who need them to ride at night.

Staff reporters Alfred Lee and Howard Fine contributed to this column. Page 3 is compiled by editor Charles Crumpley. He can be reached at [email protected].

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