Post to Honor Historian Betty Lou Young

Betty Lou Young, long recognized and appreciated for her prodigious chronicling of the history of Pacific Palisades in books and articles, has been named a Community Treasure and will be honored at the Citizen of the Year banquet on May 24 at the American Legion Hall. The honor, bestowed by the Palisadian-Post, is reserved for those community builders who have made a significant and long-lasting commitment to Pacific Palisades. For the many people who settle in the Palisades year after year, the story of the town is absorbed and valued, thanks to Betty Lou and co-author Randy Young’s history ‘Pacific Palisades: From the Mountains to the Sea.’ In that volume, the Youngs trace the history of the area, beginning with its geology and early inhabitants. In subsequent chapters they describe the founding of the community in 1922, the development of various Palisades neighborhoods, the Long Wharf and Santa Monica Canyon, and the post-World War II boom. The Youngs also co-authored ‘Street Names of Pacific Palisades and other Tales,’ ‘Rustic Canyon and the Story of the Uplifters,’ and ‘Santa Monica Canyon: A Walk Through History,’ which includes a guided walking tour. Young, a native of Minnesota, moved to Long Beach with her family when she was 11 months old. She rode through the Palisades on Sunday excursions in the family car, which is how she discovered Rustic Canyon–where she has lived for 53 years. Her interest in the history of Rustic Canyon began in 1973, when the homeowners association asked her to write a small pamphlet critiquing the city’s plan to extend Reseda Boulevard right through the canyon to Will Rogers State Beach. The pamphlet turned into a two-year project and resulted in a 164-page book. Young has been at the forefront of many hard-fought community battles to preserve the small-town atmosphere and its parkland surrounds. When Randy was named Citizen of the Year in 2001 for his efforts to restore Los Liones Gateway Park, he passed the honor to his mother, explaining that ‘she is the one person who has given the community an identity. Betty Lou deserved this award more than anybody else.’ Los Liones provided the perfect backdrop for Betty Lou’s 85th birthday picnic in 2004, for she was the first to imagine over a decade earlier that the canyon, which had been written off as surplus land by the state for years, could be restored. She underwrote a plan to develop a botanical garden in the canyon, realizing that if those who were fighting to keep Los Liones from being developed had a alternate proposal, it would show they were in earnest. When the state decided to turn Los Liones into a gateway park in 1994, Betty Lou joined a hardy cadre of volunteers who spent weekends ridding the canyon of years of discarded debris and rampant ‘exotic’ plants. Along with her action-oriented projects, Young and her late husband Thomas raised three children and she was active as a Girl Scout leader. She has assiduously pursued her interest in history and has spent 20 years researching and writing the history of the Chautauqua movement. Her latest book, ‘Frontier Chautauqua: The Chautauqua Movement on the Pacific Coast,’ describes the extraordinary scope of these community gatherings, and characterizes in successive chapters the unique assemblies that took root in California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada and Idaho. In fact, Pacific Palisades was the site of the last, most ambitious Chautauqua, which began in the summer of 1922 and flourished for many years in Temescal Canyon. This book provides an additional resource that attests to the unique history of Pacific Palisades, a history that Betty Lou has brought to life through her years of attention to the town. ‘To the developers and newfangled folk who want to make Pacific Palisades into their castle kingdom, Betty Lou has said ‘No!” Randy says. ‘There is this grassroots spirit that she has identified and put into her books.’ Although Betty Lou has always flown steadfastly under the attention radar, the Community Treasure Award recognizes her dedication to the town and the historical significance of her work.