SPANNING AGES; GENERATIONS GATHER ON MOTHER'S DAY.

Byline: Robert Monroe Daily News Staff Writer

The video cameras rolled, the families squeezed together around their matriarchs for photos, and an annual homage took place Sunday at the Los Angeles Jewish Home for the Aging.

At what was billed as the World's Largest Mother's Day Celebration, women grouped together for family portraits that spanned several generations.

One of those families included 90-year-old Helena Karp, who had three generations of smiling women flanking her in a family photo. Framing them were the traditional trappings of the fifth annual event: clowns, jugglers, a giant Mother's Day card, a brunch of bagels and lox, and Jewish music. Her daughter mused on the holiday's significance.

``We don't think every day on what a mother really does,'' said Karp's daughter, Marianna Frankel, a 67-year-old Encino resident.

The day displayed several incarnations of motherhood among the 1,500 participants. Age forces some among the residents to be the wards of their children. Circumstance forces younger mothers to also serve as fathers to their children.

Mia Robinson, a 32-year-old, bore the box of chocolates her daughter Ruby won for best explaining ``Why My Mom Is the Best'' in a countywide essay contest for schoolchildren. She came alone with her children. Her husband is an Army reservist deployed to Kosovo until December.

Mia Robinson nonetheless considered this the best Mother's Day she had ever had. Sunday's event to her served as recognition that the most important role of mothers is to be the glue holding families together, especially as the outside world increasingly infringes to break them apart.

``If you keep the family close, you can do it,'' she said.

Ruby, 7, was just happy a trip to Disneyland was among the prizes she won.

The 1,500 who attend the Jewish Home for the Aging celebration every year is a number event creator Meyer Gottlieb believes can't be beat.

That size comes at a price, though, according to neighbors of the home, who say they are put out by the floods of visitors looking for parking.

Lillian Frey, 78, had her three children come visit her home two doors down from the Home for the Aging on Victory Boulevard.

This year, as last, her children could find no convenient parking.

``I came to see my parents just as these people did,'' said Frey's daughter Nancy Kiley, a 45-year-old Simi Valley resident.

Jewish Home spokeswoman Valica Boudry said the facility tries to solve the parking problem by offering a shuttle service to and from the nearby Victory Tampa Medical Center parking lot. The no-parking zone is only meant to allow the shuttle buses easy passage to and from the home, she said.

But the home can't stop visitors from parking on city streets, she added.

Gottlieb also offers an olive branch to the home's neighbors.

``I say, it's Mother's Day. Come celebrate with us.''

The region saw many other events take place that have become Mother's Day traditions.

Mothers and their families planted oak, sycamore and walnut trees in the ``Mother's Day Forest'' at Griffith Park created by the organization TreePeople.

Nearly 300 homeless women and their children were luncheon guests at a celebration put on since 1994 by the Union Rescue Mission in Los Angeles. The moms also received makeovers, hairstyling and manicures.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

PHOTO (1) Marisa Kamenow, 19, top left, stands with her grandma Gloria Borenstein, 73, her great-grandma Gert Stone, 95, and mom, Elaine.

(2) Grandmothers Sandra Weisbrot, 85, left, and Rose Kantor, 98, get in the spirit.

Tina Gerson/Daily News