Downtown L.A. booster Hal Bastian got a surprise one recent afternoon when he went in for his daily exercise at the Los Angeles Athletic Club.

Associates, friends and relatives – 90 in all – had secretly gathered there to congratulate him on achieving an unlikely milestone: 1,000 consecutive days of exercise.

Bastian, director of economic development for the Downtown Center Business Improvement District, had a health scare three years ago. Following that incident, he vowed to exercise daily and made no secret of his progress with his friends.

So, as day 1,000 approached, Justin Weiss, who works with Bastian at the Downtown Center BID, and Jeff Malin, a downtown developer and longtime friend, put together a surprise party May 24 to mark the occasion. According to Weiss, Bastian knew something was up when he walked in and saw his mother. “Then he just stopped and looked at everybody and this huge smile lit up his face,” Weiss said.

Bastian sent out a “thank you” e-mail the following day. “Boy was it a surprise,” he wrote. “You can now all work for the CIA.”

Life Lessons

With two daughters studying at Harvard University, Schuyler Moore is often asked for advice on how to raise children. Moore’s answer: He told stories about his own difficult childhood to explain to his daughters the importance of succeeding.

Now Moore, an entertainment lawyer at Stroock in Century City, has published those lessons to his daughters in a book called “Advice From Dad.”

In the book, Moore, who turns 56 this week, explains how his struggles with drug addiction and multiple arrests helped him teach his daughters important life lessons.

“I had a very difficult youth,” he said. “It’s interesting from the perspective of a bad kid who turned around his life and from the perspective of applied lessons from my problems.”

“Advice from Dad,” which was released last month, is Moore’s second book. His first was about the entertainment industry.

Moore said the inspiration for his second book came from wanting to preserve his stories for his children.

“I wanted my kids to know about my background,” he said. “I always wished my parents had sat down and relayed their life to me.”

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