On the Fourth of July, many Palisadians wake up early to run in the 5K or 10K race which start at 9 a.m. But Rich Wilken is up long before that because by 6 a.m. he’s at the corner of Alma Real and Ocampo, where the race starts, to make sure the streets are closed. He and his son, Matt, then patrol the route to make sure the way is clear for the runners. At the first Will Rogers race in 1978, Wilken was asked to purchase a starting gun and blanks. “I showed up a couple of minutes before the race and handed it to them,” Rich said. “‘Where have you been?’ they asked. It was before cell phones and no one had seen me for a couple of days and they were worried they wouldn’t have a pistol.” Wilken has attended 28 of the 29 years of Fourth of July races; the one year he missed it, he was in Denmark with his Boy Scout troop. After the race, Rich goes to the Palisades High School football field, where he unlocks the gates for the fireworks technicians from Pyro Spectaculars who will spend the afternoon preparing for the nighttime show. He started working on the fireworks years ago when a fellow Optimist Club member Bud Petrick asked him to help. Wilken grew up in the Palisades and, as a 10-year-old, he marched in the parade with his Boy Scout troop. When he was 14, he drove his baseball team through town, because the team coach, who was supposed to drive, never showed up. “I didn’t kill anyone, but I did get into trouble,” he said. It was his fellow Optimists John Prough, Wally Miller, Arnie Wishnick and, of course, Petrick who encouraged him to join the Palisades Americanism Parade Association (PAPA). “Once you’re on the committee, you help here, you help there,” he said. From the high school, Rich dashes to the starting point of the parade where he hands out awards to visiting VIP’s. He then makes his way to Sunset and Swarthmore and assists in crowd control, until the skydivers have landed. Early parade-goers might remember that the parade originally had one announcer, a man from Pageantry Productions. Bud Petrick eventually became the first local announcer and still anchors the show for parade watchers in the bleachers in front of Ralphs. Wilken provides commentary from one of the additional locations on the parade route. “I did it a few years with Flo Elfant,” he said. ” The past few years, I’ve worked with Cathy Wishnick the past few years. She’s good with the script. I specialize in the ad libs.” Rich often runs a mic out to a tuba player or a dignitary in a car. “One year when I handed former Honorary Mayor John Raitt the mic, he sang ‘God Bless America’.'” Once the parade passes his location, Rich returns to the Stadium-by-the-Sea to see how the fireworks set-up is proceeding, and then back to the parade route to pick up traffic barricades no longer needed and move them to the stadium. Volunteers for crowd control have been slim in the past few years, leaving Wilken and his son to set up red, white and blue plastic bunting between the barriers. After the parade is over, Rich makes a quick run home for a shower before the fireworks begin. Not only does he organize the fireworks program, from the bands playing, to the outside vendors, to arranging for small American flags to be handed out, but he also the official announcer. After he introduces the band, he gives a “stand-up” salute to veterans, followed by announcements and thank-you’s to the sponsors, initiates the National Anthem and then signals the start of the fireworks display. “It is at this time I join the crowd and sit back and enjoy the noisy and colorful fireworks display,” he said. After the display, he once again is on the move. “I put lost parents and kids back together, stack barricades, return the electric carts borrowed from the parade route, collect any donations given to PAPA people during the show, work with the Pali staff plant manager to close down the stadium, and then I go home to collapse’until the next Fourth of July.” (Rich Wilken grew up in the Palisades, was one of the first students to attend PaliHi, and, in addition to at least 29 years of volunteering for PAPA, he has been PAPA president twice. Wilken is an architect who designed Mort’s Deli, Palisades Lutheran Church Sanctuary and the remodel of Saint Matthew’s Parish Center. He was the founder and designer of the once locally well-known Wilken Surfboards company. Wilken and his wife Deann have two children.)
At Home On the Road
Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer
W hen the Pattersons of Pacific Palisades embarked on a 7,500-mile round-trip journey across the United States in the summer of 1951, the local newspaper announced the family’s departure: “Pattersons Leave on First Trip in Unique Private Bus.” Martha Patterson’s husband, Pat, might have challenged that headline, arguing that what they were driving was not actually a bus. It was an early motor home’a 33-ft.-long, 8-ft-wide vehicle called a Flxible that they had converted into a house car for family travel. Martha, who holds the distinction of having lived in the Palisades the longest of any current resident, tells the story of her family’s adventure as pioneering motor homers in a new book, “It Isn’t A Bus,” written with her daughter, Sally Patterson Tubach. The authors will sign their self-published book at a party at Martha’s home on July 3. For more information, call (213) 447-5188 or e-mail lauraepatterson@yahoo.com. “It Isn’t A Bus” details the two-month trip that Martha and Pat took with their three young children, Charles, 12, Dave, 9, and Sally, 5. Told in Martha’s warm and honest tone, with a good dose of humor, the story takes readers on a bumpy but joyous ride across the country and introduces them to a host of quirky characters from a female hitchhiker to vacationing school teachers driving a hearse. “My mother’s account of our family’s adventure has allowed me to see my five-year-old self, my older brothers and my engineer father through her eyes,” Tubach writes in the foreword. “Based on her journal of this trip and her letters home, her story conjures up an America that was more innocent and less regulated and in which husbands and wives rarely questioned their roles. People were not afraid to invite strangers into the private space, and no one thought twice about powering large vehicles with abundant fossil fuels’except for my dad. He thought about the future and created a hybrid house car that could run on both gasoline and butane gas, because the latter ran cleaner and cheaper in our bus’ powerful Buick engine.” Motor homing, before it was called that, was Pat’s idea. “He had a wild imagination,” says Martha, who married Charles Patterson (Pat) in 1938. It had been Pat’s idea to elope and marry in Las Vegas, which Martha agreed to because “I was so much in love with Pat.” She admits, “I was so uneasy going off with a young man I wasn’t married to. You know, it wasn’t done in those days. That’s what made me nervous, and I thought I’d ruin my reputation with all my Pacific Palisades friends to do something like that.” Martha didn’t ruin her reputation in town. After they were married, the Pattersons bought two lots on Via de la Paz, next to the original home of Dr. Charles Scott, founder of the Palisades, and near Martha’s family’s original home on Swarthmore. Pat, who worked as a mechanical engineer for North American, had a passion for cars and, over the years, acquired quite a collection of automobiles and airplane parts that the Pattersons stored on their Potrero Canyon property, which extended from La Cruz almost to PCH. When they purchased the canyon in 1949, it was being used as a landfill and was known as the “town dump.” One of the familiar sites on the property was a cigar-shaped aluminum “bomber” made from two cockpit sections of World War II Martin B-26 Marauder bombers that Pat had bolted together. Pat had wanted to turn the bomber into a travel home but, fortunately for Martha, before he had the chance to do that, he discovered a small school bus in a junkyard in East Los Angeles. The 1933 vintage model Utility Coach served as the Pattersons’ first family house car for a trip they took to Apple Valley (at the edge of the Mojave Desert) in 1948. They affectionately called it the Bouse’a combination of bus and house. Pat had aspirations to take their children on a longer, educational cross-country trip. He himself had come west from Iowa on a motorcycle in 1934, during the Great Depression. M artha, too, had journeyed to California from the Midwest, traveling with her family, the Frenches, from Ohio in their Jeffrey Touring Car in the summer of 1921. She was only six years old at the time, and it took them 26 days to make the trip, camping along the way, often with other migrating families. They settled in the Palisades in early 1925. It would be about 25 years before Martha would again embark on a journey across the country’and back’this time, with her own family. The Pattersons’ vehicle of choice was a used red and white Flxible bus that they converted into a home on wheels. Flxible buses were built in Loudonville, Ohio, and carried passengers between the LAX and downtown Los Angeles in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Pat found a damaged one that needed its engine rebuilt, and a salesman agreed to sell it to him with the necessary parts but without the tires, for $1,500. Martha writes in her book: “During the nine months we worked on it in our spare time, evenings and weekends, we discovered to our chagrin that a modern, 1945-model, cross-country bus was a far cry mechanically and financially from a Model A Ford.” While Pat worked on the mechanics of converting the bus into a traveling home, Martha was in charge of the interior design, of making it feel homey inside. “I thought it would be good policy to have a different design on each pair of sheets because we all had to have single beds,” says Martha, who sewed patterned sheets for her family’s beds, plaid slipcovers for the four passenger seats behind the driver’s seat, and ruffled yellow and black floral-print curtains for the driver’s window. Pat had constructed bunk-bed frames along the sides of the bus where they slept, except for Sally, whose bunk was suspended by chains from the overhead baggage rack. Martha found a large National Geographic map of the country and shellacked it over their masonite dining table, which folded out from the wall. “We could sit at that table and eat, and we could also sit at that table and plot our next day’s journey, and see where we were headed and how much progress we had made,” she says. “It was real cozy in the bus.” ”The Pattersons set off in the summer of 1951 in their “Flexie,” which they also called “the Monster,” “the Thing” and “the Bouse.” They headed to Las Vegas and traveled through Arizona and New Mexico before heading up through the Midwest to New York, and then taking the northern route home, dipping into Colorado and Utah for the last leg of their journey. Pat’s ingenuity and Martha’s faith in Pat were tested many times throughout their journey, the first time at the beginning of the trip when Martha was driving and the clutch housing exploded. They had to spend 11 hot days on the Hualapai Indian Reservation in the Arizona desert while they waited for the clutch parts from Ohio to arrive. “It was a very binding experience for us as a family to go through all of these problems we ran into,” Martha says. “I think it gave the family a feeling of togetherness that, possibly, we might never have achieved in ordinary daily living. We shared all of these things’the good things and the scary things. I figured that when we had that breakdown that would be the end of the trip, but no, not for Pat.” In addition to patience and perseverance, the Patterson children also learned about some of this country’s history. They explored the historic battleground at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, visited George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate in Washington, D.C., and studied Mt. Rushmore through a telescope in South Dakota. “I think they liked the freedom of having our own vehicle and our housekeeping arrangements so they didn’t have to be dragged in and out of restaurants or hamburger stands,” Martha says about her kids. “It was a traveling home. I cooked at the little four-burner stove that Pat had installed and I cooked good meals, I have to say. We ate everything like we would at home, but when we got tired of being where we were we could just start up the engine and go.” They had all the facilities they needed except for a bathroom. Pat had installed a toilet in the engine room but they only had access to it from the outside, so they had to stop at trailer parks to shower. “We were stopped frequently by policemen and other people who said, ‘You can’t park a bus here,'” Martha says. “Pat’s answer was always, ‘This isn’t a bus’ and then he’d invite them to come in, and they’d look around and they were utterly surprised to see a stove and a kitchen sink and beds.” At the time of their trip, the Pattersons only knew a couple of people who had converted buses into house cars. “A few people were ahead of us in this but not many,” Martha says. “Most of the motor homes in those days had to be converted buses because those were the only vehicles you could get with enough space to make it into a home.” In the years after their cross-country journey, the Pattersons enjoyed many shorter trips in their Flexie. In the mid-1960s, Pat and Martha discovered the smaller, German Setra buses, five of which they imported and converted into motor homes. Their last motor home was a GMC with automatic transmission. Martha still cherishes the memories of her family trip and her adventures with Pat, who died unexpectedly in 1976. “On the road still has a powerful allure, and the spirit of our family’s long trip is something that my brothers and I have retained throughout our lives,” Tubach writes. “Whatever this journey meant for us, it was my father’s uncommon vision that made it possible.” Martha Patterson is the author of “The Backyard Bomber of Pacific Palisades.” Sally Patterson Tubach, who has a doctorate in German literature from UC Berkeley, is the author of “Memoirs of a Terrorist” and co-author of “An Uncommon Friendship: From Opposite Sides of the Holocaust.” For more information about their book, visit www.motorhomepioneers.com.
Beloved Old Barns: New Book Tells the Story
I don’t give a jot. I love you a bushel and a peck. What’s a jot, a bushel, a peck? Time passes and words disappear, often protected only in the context of a clich’. And, according to author Bob Crittendon, the big red barn, the schooner of the prairie, may soon be just a word without a home. The author of “Barn in the U.S.A.” (Fulcrum Books), Crittendon is doing his very best to document these icons of American history. “I never lived on a farm,” Crittendon told the Palisadian-Post, “but my dad took me to my granddad’s farm in Tennessee when I was 5. I loved the smell, size of the barn and I harbored an interest in barns for many years. I wondered what the story was behind the barn.” Finally, when Crittendon retired, he took a four-year sojourn through the back roads of the western states documenting these American icons. “I decided to focus on the Western states because in those barn-rich areas there are just so many barns, it’s ridiculous.” Whereas in the West, development has gobbled up farmland and the fabled barns as well. In choosing the barns to include in the book, Crittendon had certain criteria in mind. “They have to be historic, either 100 years old, or have some particular architectural significance, or connected with a person or event that was historic. “I wanted to know how old it is, who created it and its survival story,” Crittendon said. Will Rogers’ barn is included, as is the O.K. Corral, Crittendon explained. Each barn is given a full-color page, paired with another page of history and additional photos. He has included just five in Southern California, far fewer than in other states. “Will Rogers’ barn was actually more assembled than built, since Will acquired two sections of horse stalls from a barn in the San Fernando Valley,” Crittendon writes. In its final form, the barn, with its distinctive round canopy roof, also featured a row of windows and open wooden louvers, and provided quarters for a stable foreman, tack room, utility room and a wash rack. In addition to chronicling the most interesting barns in the West, Crittendon included addenda in which he discusses the traditional barn color, red, historic preservation efforts and barn styles. In the early 19th century, red barns began replacing the colonial grays of the 1700s. “The red color was a derivative of ferrous oxide (rust), a common component of paint mixtures in New England because it was cheap and easily obtained,” he writes. “This became the standard, and the familiar red barn was born.” The styles of the barns of the West often combined the earlier Eastern barn styles with the particular needs of an owner. “A barn is used to shelter livestock, horses or cows, or for feed,” Crittendon said. “There is supposed to be some covered enclosure, but I did include the O.K. Corral stables in Tombstone, Arizona, because of its historical significance. “The covered stables will suffice as the barn closest to the famous gunfight.” “Barn in the U.S.A.” will be available in bookstores this summer and to members of historic preservation groups at www.historicbarns.com.
Wedding Bells for Palisadians
Eric Treibatch and Julie Jeffries Exchange Vows Julie Jeffries and Eric Treibatch were married on April 29 on the Gulf Coast in the Florida panhandle, not far from Julie’s Mississippi birthplace. Attended by family and friends, the wedding took place on the beach at Southern Grace, a lovely beachfront home on Santa Rosa Beach. Son of Chuck Treibatch and Rony Treibatch, Eric grew up in Encino, California, and graduated from Montclair Prep School. He went to college at Cal State Northridge, where he attained a degree in business marketing while also playing college football. He is currently a partner in a commercial real estate business with his father. Julie is the daughter of Jim Jeffries of Louisiana and Bonnie Burke of Pacific Palisades. She also attended Cal State Northridge and obtained a degree in liberal arts and elementary education. She has worked for the Los Angeles Public School system for several years and recently began working in real estate with her mother at Heritage Realty in the Palisades. Currently, Eric and Julie live in Brentwood, but recently bought a home in West Los Angeles where they will reside after remodeling is complete. Rhames and Johnston Wed in Colorado Gretchen Colleen Rhames and Michael Richard Johnston were married on September 17 in Fort Collins, Colorado. The bride is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Michael Richard Rhames of Pacific Palisades and the granddaughter of Mr. and Mrs. Emil Alle, also of Pacific Palisades. The bridegroom is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Wesley Johnston of Windham, Maine. The wedding took place at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Fort Collins. The Reverend Monsignor Paul Dotson, longtime friend of the bride’s family, officiated at the ceremony. The reception was held at the Fort Collins Country Club immediately following the ceremony. The bridal party included maids of honor Katie Rhames and Alle Rhames, sisters of the bride. Other bridesmaids were Mara Wiggins and Heather Hoff, sisters of the bridegroom, and Annie Brignon, friend of the bride. Brad Johnston, the bridegroom’s brother, served as the best man. Other groomsmen included Andrew Rhames, brother of the bride, Dennis and Patrick Johnston, brothers of the bridegroom, and Simon Lawler. The flower girls were Megan Alle (cousin of the bride), Lilah Johnston, and Hadley and Grace Wiggins (nieces of the bridegroom). Nephews Jake, Dillon and Jeremiah Johnston served as ring bearers. The bride attended Corpus Christi School, Marymount High School and Colorado State University. The bridegroom graduated from Pope John High School in New Jersey and the University of Connecticut with a degree in psychology and criminal justice. Following a honeymoon on Maui, the couple returned to Fort Collins, where the groom owns and operates a construction management firm with his brother, Brad, and the bride is employed in sales. Kaszubowski and Cheng Marry in Hawaii Martin P. Kaszubowski and Jean Cheng were married on April 29 at Doral Resort and Spa in Miami. The bridegroom is the son of Drs. Krystyna and Pawel Kaszubowski, longtime Palisadians. The bride is the daughter of Mrs. Tina and Mr. Ray Cheng of Coral Springs, Florida. The bride is a very talented musician and plays on various instruments. She graduated from Florida State University with a B.A. degree in music and political science. After graduation, she played violin in the Atlanta Orchestra. The bridegroom, a doctor in the Air Force, graduated from the Uniform Services University of the Health Sciences in Washington D.C., in 2004 and currently works as a staff physician at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson. He attended Corpus Christi School and Loyola High School and obtained his B.S. degree cum laude from UCLA in 2000. The groomsmen were Michael Kaszubowski, his older brother; Sergio Antoniuk, his best friend (also from Pacific Palisades); and the bride’s younger brother John. After enjoying a honeymoon trip to Hawaii, the young couple reside in their new home in Tucson. Just before the wedding, Martin served his first medical duty in Afghanistan.
Palisades Graduates
Palisadians Graduate from Oaks Christian High School For the past four years, a group of 12 local students have braved the commute from the Palisades over the monotonous PCH, through the winding canyon, down the 101 North sprint to Westlake Village to attend Oaks Christian High School. Many of these students went to Mommy and Me, pre-school, elementary, and middle school at Calvary Christian, which means they have been together for up to 14 years. They chose Oaks Christian for its similar emphasis on Christian principles, a Christian teaching staff, excellence in academics and sports. Their years together have bonded them like siblings. On June 8, they crossed another milestone in their life: high school graduation. (See graduating seniors in photo.) This fall, they will continue their education to colleges and universities such as Syracuse University, Bentley College, University of Colorado, Baylor University, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, University of San Diego, Pomona College, USC and Santa Barbara City College. Oaks Christian School was founded on a collaboration between Palisadians David and Dallas Price and Calvary Christian Church in Westlake Village. The Prices, generous benefactors to Calvary Christian School in the Palisades, were looking for a site to establish a high school environment that would offer a similar Christian experience for their grandchildren. That site turned out to be a property owned by the defense contractor Eaton Corporation in Westlake Village. The property was purchased in 1996 and the school celebrated its first graduating class in 2003. There are currently about 600 students enrolled in 6th through 12th grade. o o o JERRY McBREARTY, JR., son of Jerome and Kathy McBrearty, graduated from UC San Diego, with a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering on June 19. Jerry was chairman of the student council of Eleanor Roosevelt College this past year and was the student commencement speaker at the ceremony. He also has been a college ambassador for the admissions office and was the director of sponsorships for AS Programming for two years. He will be working as an aeronautical engineer for the Tactical Systems Division of the U.S. Navy on Coronado Island. Jerry is a 1998 graduate of Corpus Christi School and a 2002 graduate of Loyola High School. o o o ERICA LEE SHAH graduated from Azusa Pacific University with a bachelor’s degree in psychology on May 6. o o o CORINNE YARBROUGH (n’e Stauff) graduated from USC Medical School last month. She will be doing her residency at USC County General in internal medicine. Corinne graduated from Harvard-Westlake in 1997 and the University of Oregon in 2002. o o o KIRAN NARSINH received an M.D. in medicine, and JULIE S. CASSO and JOANNA L. McCRACKEN received bachelor’s degrees in communication, from Boston University in May. o o o Soaking wet and covered in a clear poncho with wind chill factor at 40, PERRY GREENSPAN, the daughter of Eric and Maxine Greenspan, received a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in marketing from the School of Management at Boston University on May 14. Perry is pursuing a career in marketing new rock n’ roll bands and guiding their music to successful collaborations.
On Your Mark, Get Set, Go!
2006 PALISADES WILL-ROGERS RACE PREVIEW
Photo by Rich Schmitt, Staff Photographer
The Palisades-Will Rogers 5/10K Run will kick off a day of fun in the Palisades next Tuesday, kicking off Fourth of July festivities for the 29th straight year. The race has evolved into a proud local tradition and is expected to attract between 2,500 and 3,000 runners this year. Next Tuesday’s race begins at 8:15 a.m. at the intersection of Alma Real and Toyopa Drives and will again be sponsored by Coldwell Banker, William E. Simon and Sons, and the Santa Monica Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Group. None of last year’s winners hailed from the Palisades, a rare occurrence in a race that has traditionally been dominated by local runners who are familiar with the course, which winds through Huntington Palisades streets and up the switchback trails at Will Rogers State Park before ending where it started at the entrance to the Palisades Recreation Center. Kevin Koeper of Arcadia won the men’s 10K last year, finishing the 6.2-mile course in 31:54 while Lucy Fitzgerald of Santa Monica won the women’s 10K for the second time in three years, finishing in 39:33. Eric Emilsson of UCLA won the men’s 5K in 15:06 and Therese Fricke of Santa Monica won the women’s race in 18:39. Lu Parker of KTLA’s Prime Time News, will be the official race starter for the second straight year along with Palisades’ current and past Honorary Mayors, Robert Sedway of Coldwell Banker and Bill Simon of William E. Simon & Sons. Will Rogers park ranger Mikal Sandoval will sing the Star-Spangled Banner. Parker came to KTLA in January 2005 from KENS-TV in San Antonio, Texas, where she had hosted the station’s daily live entertainment morning show ‘Great Day SA.’ She was Miss USA 1994 and fourth runner-up in the Miss Universe Pageant. She has been a guest on ‘Larry King Live’ on CNN and E! Entertainment and authored the book “Catching the Crown: The Source of Pageant Competition.” The 10K course record of 29:46 was set by Russell Edmonds of New Zealand in 1983 and no one has come within 40 seconds since. Five-time winner Katie Dunsmuir set the women’s record of 35:09 that same year. The 5K record belongs to seven-time winner Peter Gilmore, who set the record for his hometown race three years ago by blazing the 3.1-miles in 14:10. The women’s 5K mark of 16:29 was established in 1995 by Anetta Leuvano. A half-mile Kids’ Fun Run will follow the 5/10K races at 9:15 a.m. Proceeds will go to the Palisades Optimist Club to benefit local youth activities. Pre-registration packets can be picked up at Benton’s Sports Shop (1038 Swarthmore) from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Sunday and Monday. The entry fee for the 5/10K is $30 and the fee for the Kids’ Run is $20. Race-day registration will be conducted at the Pali Rec Center from 6:30 to 8 a.m. at a cost of $40 for the 5/10K and $25 for the Fun Run. Medals will be awarded to first-, second- and third-place finishers in 28 age divisions (14 male and 14 female) in the 5/10K races. Male and female 5/10K winners are invited to ride in the Fourth of July parade that afternoon. Visit the official race Web site at www.palisades10k.com for more information.
PaliHi Baseball Players Earn All-League Honors
Two Palisades High varsity baseball players earned All-City honors and many others were All-League selections after their efforts this spring. Making the All-City first team was Dolphins’ third baseman Andy Megee, who led the team with a .466 batting average, 11 doubles, three home runs, two triples and 28 RBIs). Making the All-City second team was pitcher Cole Cook, who compiled a 7-3 record with a 3.01 earned run average and 91 strikeouts in 60 innings. Four-year starter Matt Skolnik was named the Western League most valuable player after a stellar senior season. He batted .411 with 10 doubles, three triples, a homer, 29 RBIs and had a .982 fielding percentage while playing second base and short stop. Skolnik will play baseball at the University of Redlands next spring. Other All-Western League first-teamers included Megee, Cook, pitcher Mitchell Schwartz, catcher Tim Sunderland (.388 batting average, 24 RBIs), outfielders Bobby Hicks and Austin Jones and designated hitter/pitcher Johnny Bromberg, who batted .435 with six doubles and went 3-2 on the mound with two saves. Sunderland is headed for San Francisco State and Bobby Hicks is bound for UC Berkeley. Second-team All-League honors went to utility players Eric Verdun and Rob Rosenberg, outfielder Garrett Champion, infielder Adam Green and pitcher Seri Kattan-Wright.
Coaches Honored for LAUSD Service
Several Palisades High coaches and administrators were recognized for their contributions to the Los Angeles Unified School District during a reception June 8 at the Dodger Stadium Club. Recognized for 20-24 years of service were former baseball and football coach Russ Howard and current boys’ basketball and golf coach James Paleno. Recognized for 30 years of service or more were current Dolphins’ tennis coach Bud Kling and football coach Leo Castro. Swim coach Maggie Nance was also acknowledged for leading Palisades to the girls team title this spring.
Palisades Catches World Cup Fever
By MICHAEL KAPLAN Special to the Palisadian-Post Even though it is the most-watched sporting event on the planet, the World Cup does not carry the same weight in American culture as, say, the Super Bowl or the World Series. Many casual sports fans wonder how a game in which the combined score of the two teams rarely reaches four can be exciting. Soccer enthusiasts, however, appreciate a scoreless tie as much as a 5-4 shootout–especially when national pride is at stake. Although this year’s World Cup is being contested in Germany, it is attracting attention around the globe, even here, halfway across the world. Whether rooting for their favorite country or their native country, soccer fans are brought together every four years to witness “futbol’s finest” and the Palisades is no exception. At Mort’s, for example, people have gathered around the deli’s two corner televisions every morning and afternoon to watch their favorite countries play. Busboys and kitchen staff constantly steal glances at the games, giving celebratory high-fives for a goal or conciliatory groans for an-all-too frequent red card. ‘The World Cup is very popular here–people come and sit all day,” Mort’s owner Bobbie Farberow said. “They come to watch Brazil, they came to watch Mexico, they come to watch many different countries. We are definitely the most popular spot for watching the World Cup in the Palisades.’ Esperanza Caulderon, who works behind the counter at Mort’s, wore a red, white, and blue bandana to show her support for the United States during the group phase of the tournament, which ended last week. She recalled taking a momentary break from cutting turkey pastrami to celebrate America’s lone goal against Italy. ‘My employees are really into it, they are die hard,” said Mort’s manager Katie Kalvin, who works mostly morning shifts when, because of the time zone difference, the games are aired live. “They scream whenever there is a goal, they love it. Esperanza is definitely one of the crazies.” Despite Caulderon’s spirit, however, enthusiasm for the U.S. was equaled, sometimes even surpassed, by interest in other teams. The choice tables nearest the TVs, filled for Brazil and Argentina games, were empty at times during the United States’ must-win clash against Ghana last Thursday morning. “Americans just don’t seem to be as into it as the rest of the world,” Kalvin said after the United States’ 2-1 loss ended its hope of advancing to the knockout stage of the competition. ‘In America, soccer is a niche sport, a lot like lacrosse and what hockey is becoming,” Mort’s patron Barry Rohrlick said, echoing the sentiment of many fans across the country. “It’s never going to get the ratings that football and basketball get. Not until it becomes that popular can we field a juggernaut on the soccer field.’ Having reached the quarterfinals four years ago, the United States entered this year’s tournament as a contender for the first time–a sign that American soccer is gaining respect worldwide. And while the Americans did not play up to expectations this year, plenty of other teams are feeling love from the Palisades. ‘Brazil, Spain, Germany, Italy and Portugal are definitely the most popular–they attract the biggest gatherings,’ Mort’s employee Jose Aragon said last Thursday, his eyes glancing up at the screen in time to see an Italian player being red-carded. A man wore a jacket with ‘Italy’ printed across the front over his suit, hoping his team would beat the Czech Republic, which it did. That afternoon, fans clad in their Brazilian green and yellow flocked to the corner tables at Mort’s to watch their powerhouse squad dismantle Japan. The World Cup is about more than just players kicking a ball up and down the field. It is about fans of all ages and ethnicities rooting for their side, taking pride in their heritage and eagerly awaiting their chance to shout… “GOOOOAAAALLLL!.”
Fred Wright, 90; Douglas Engineer
Fred Asbery Wright, a 56-year resident of Pacific Palisades, died in his sleep on June 20. He was 90. Fred was born on May 10, 1916 to Dayton Charles and Ethel Bonney Wright on a rural farm in upstate New York, just north of Cooperstown. He was the youngest of three siblings. One of his earliest memories was of snuggling beneath buffalo ropes on winter sleigh rides to town. In 1924, the family moved west to Colfax in Eastern Washington. Throughout his life he would recall the 20-horse team-drawn combines harvesting wheat on the rolling Palouse region. The family moved further west a few years later to the shores of Apple Tree Point, near Kingston, they started a commercial chicken farm and the children learned their way around the salt waters of Puget Sound. When Fred was in high school, the family gravitated south to Oakland, California. He completed public school there, then earned an engineering degree from UC Berkeley in 1941, graduating with membership in Tau Beta Pi and Sigma Xi. After graduation, he moved to Santa Monica to work for Douglas Aircraft. He had a 30-year career as a hydraulics engineer and rocket scientist working on C-47, DC-4, DC-6, DC-7, DC-8, B-66 and X-3 aircraft, and assorted missiles. As chief design engineer on the Thor missile, he was responsible for over 100 successful launches in a row and more than 500 launches overall carrying weather and military satellites into orbit. During and after his time at Douglas, Fred consulted on a variety of projects, including the design of the landing gear for the first Learjet. Later he volunteered at the Museum of Flying at the site of the old Douglas plant in Santa Monica and enjoyed being in the pit crew of “Miss America” and “Dago Red” at the Reno Air Races. In 1945 Fred met Ann McCoy, a fellow Douglas engineer. They married on October 27, 1945. Three sons were born in the next seven years: William, John and Robert (Rusty). During this period the family moved from Long Beach to the San Fernando Valley and then settled in Pacific Palisades in 1950. Fred designed their new house on Arno Way overlooking the ocean, and this is the home he and his wife shared for the rest of their lives. As the boys grew, Fred, wearing his Stetson, would frequently lead trips to the Sierras and the desert. One memorable hike up Mt. Whitney ended short of the summit when heavy rains washed out their high-altitude camp. Fred was active with his sons’ Boy Scout troops and the Air Explorer Scouts. After retiring from Douglas, Fred became the handyman for his neighborhood. In 1987, appreciative friends regaled him as “the wizard of Arno Way” at a party in his honor. When one son settled in Washington state in the early 1970’s, Fred began spending summers there, helping build a cabin and barn. He became close friends with neighboring farm families and made regular visits to Deep River for more than 25 years. Fred also made frequent visits to son Bill in San Diego and son John in Alaska. On one memorable trip to Dillingham, Alaska, he shot a Boone & Crockett record caribou. On another trip, he spent three weeks commercial salmon fishing with John’s brother-in-law in southeast Alaska. Fred never slowed down until he suffered a stroke at 85, which limited his travels mostly to walks in his upper Bel-Air Bay Club neighborhood, where he and Ann strengthened their ties with longtime and recent residents. Fred was preceded in death by Ann in August 2005, just a few months short of their 60th wedding anniversary. He is survived by son William (wife Susie, daughter and son-in-law Amy and Tony Roach, great-granddaughter Madeline Roach, and son Morgan); son John (wife Kathleen, daughters Maia and Katrina, son Grant); and son Robert (Rusty) and partner Susan. A memorial service will be held at Fred’s home this Saturday, July 1 from 1-3 p.m. For more information, call his son John at 454-3370.
