Pumpkin bread man

Councilman Tom LaBonge's penchant for handing out loaves of pumpkin bread made by nuns at Hollywood's Monastery of the Angels makes the pages of this week's Los Angeles Independent. Notice Channel 2 sportscaster Jim Hill's wary reaction as he receives the blessing of the loaf at his recent Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony. It's not an uncommon response, but LaBonge is irrepressible. He's said to carry bushels of pumpkin bread in the car he uses to make appearances around his district. Writes columnist Tony Castro:

The cloistered Dominican nuns at the monastery just north of Fountain Avenue at the foot of the Hollywood Hills make the pumpkin bread daily.

These nuns have taken vows of silence, so their story — and that of the fabled pumpkin bread they bake — isn't something they talk about.

And poor, devoted Tom LaBonge, for all his dedication to these constituents of his council district, rarely gets the chance to tell their story because usually the person he gives the pumpkin bread to doesn't have time to listen to it.

Or is too baffled trying to figure out what they've just been handed....

"The pumpkin bread is special," says restaurateur Lucy Casado, whose family has been buying loaves for years. "It is made by the hands of nuns who are close to God."

Disclosure: I've been loafed in the past by LaBonge, and the bread is exquisite.

Photo: Los Angeles Independent/Gary McCarthy