On The Town:

The Cusumano Real Estate Group welcomed guests to the annual holiday party on Dec. 12 at the Burbank Bar and Grille.

With more than 100 years of combined real estate experience, company principals, Chuck Cusumano, along with his brother, Roger, and Chuck’s sons, Michael and Charlie, head up a team of professionals who oversee the organization’s property management, development, construction and brokerage divisions.

From the North Hollywood border to the Verdugo Mountains, the Cusumanos have a stellar reputation in developing quality projects, offering attentive management to their residential and commercial tenants and financially supporting numerous community programs and charitable organizations that benefit the residents of our city.

Among those who enjoyed the evening on the restaurant’s rooftop patio were Michael’s beautiful wife, Caroline Cusumano; Burbank Police Chief Tim Stehr and his wife, Barbara; Gary Olson of the Chamber of Commerce with his wife, Sharon; Carolyn Jackson; Tim and Paula Davis; Lou and Tomme Lenz; Gary Canfield; former Burbank Mayor Bob Bowne; and Gay Maund of the Burbank Senior Citizen Board.

Also on hand for the festivities were Keith Sanneman, Burbank Traffic Engineer Ken Johnson, and Park, Recreation and Community Services Deputy Director Jan Bartolo.

With just two weeks to go until the big day, this is of course a time rife with holiday parties and preparations and this past week, as Christmas tree shopping hit its peak, members and supporters of the Burbank Community YMCA put their own preparations on hold to serve as volunteers at the organization’s 48th annual Christmas Tree Lot.

“This week has been very busy, and this coming weekend will be our busiest,” said Roger Koll of the Y’s Men service club that operates the tree lot as a fundraiser for the YMCA.

Koll, who has worked at the lot for the past four years, went on to say that while volunteers know the importance of raising funds by selling trees, they also really enjoy the work.

“It’s fun,” Koll said.

“You see a lot of the same people year after year who buy their trees from us because they want to support the Y.”