Pasadenans ‘Stroll Through the Decades’
There’s an epidemic of pride in Pasadena--with good reason. The Crown City, as the Eastside city at the foot of the purple San Gabriels is called, celebrates its centennial in July.
Last week the City Hall, as pretty as any European dome, was aglow for 1,200 residents who paid $100 each for a pre-centennial “Stroll Through the Decades.” Long-time resident Jean Kulli headed the street-party festivities in front of City Hall, under the supervision of Pasadena Centennial Coordinating Committee chairman John C. Wood.
“This party is for lots of those nice things for the city,” Kulli said. What she meant is that net funds--a hoped-for $100,000--will be directed toward the grassroots celebrations upcoming, such as a gigantic parade with wagons and antique autos, centennial school celebrations, art festivals, cultural and sports competitions.
More than 300 volunteers, headed by Pat Bond, the city’s centennial executive director, have become bookworms at the library, seeking accuracy in memorabilia for the official send-off Jan. 1 at the Rose Bowl Parade. The real birthday is June 19, 1986, when the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors incorporated the city.
Amid all the twinkly lights the other eve, Mayor William J. Bogaard helped the crowd catch the spirit. It wasn’t hard. Pasadena’s best restaurants had donated the cuisine--and the lines were long for all the yummies, including the miniature ice cream cones. And there’s something giddy about dancing on the front steps of City Hall to Monte Easter and his Kansas City Jazz, the Burt Jones Dixieland Band and the Home Savings of America Band. Wholesome, like apple pie.
Vice chairman Loretta Thompson-Glickman had the fun of introducing special guests--such as Stephen J. Cannell (the “A-Team” producer was there with his wife, Marcia), William Christopher, Claude Akins, Dana Andrews, Bob Cummings, Buddy Ebsen, Brock Peters and Cesar Romero.
Among those exuding pride galore were Weta and Dr. Allen Mathies (he’s the head of Huntington Hospital), Polly Goodan, Estelle Schlueter and Polly Foley, Roger Kelley (head of security for the Pasadena police force), Willis and Helen Stork (he’s headmaster emeritus of Polytechnic School), Angus Wyte of the Art Center School of Design, Judy and Frank Morse (she’s chairman of the Centennial outreach program) and their guests, Cynthia and Terry Perucca (she just headed Pasadena Day Nursery’s 75th celebration) and Eileen and Fred Schoellkopf (she’s new president of the Pasadena Junior League).
In on the planning were Bessie Shenk, Wayne J. Shilkret, Alfred F. Moses, Tom Branigan, Mario Lopez Sewell, Ralph Carmona, Brooke Larsen Garlock, Anna Beatriz James, Al Lowe, Katherine T. Nack, Vahe Nigsarian, Lois Richard, Beverly Boatwright, Louanne Kalvinskas, Pat Moody, Linda St. Jean and Doris Stovall.
What most people don’t realize is that Margaret Paterson Carr, chief of protocol of Los Angeles County, is a volunteer. That’s the sort of exceptional service that brings gratitude and toasts. Last week at her farewell in The Founders in the Music Center a beaming Margaret got both from a host of supervisors--Chairman Edmund D. Edelman, Peter F. Schabarum, Deane Dana and Michael D. Antonovich. Only Kenneth Hahn was missing, and he was out of town, but Sheriff Sherman Block brought accolades. So did the dean of the consular corps, Ecuador’s Consul General Francisco Aguirre, and the Latin Business Assn.’s Ray Hernandez and Orange County protocol’s Irene Vames.
Willard Z. Carr, Margaret’s attorney husband, and both her sons--Clayton and Jeffrey--joined friends such as Dan and Mia Frost; Sally and Bob Brant; Sid and Nancy Petersen; Kilbee Brittain; Susie Donnelly; Walter Coombs; John Welborne (who worked so closely with Margaret on the Olympic Host Committee); Britain’s Consul General Donald F. Ballentyne and his wife, Elisabeth; John Holton; Austria’s new Consul General Nikolaus Scherk, and Belgium’s Andre C. Adam for a sip of wine.
Also there was Sheldon Ausman, managing partner of Arthur Anderson. His wife, Sandra, is the tall, attractive pillar in Club 100 and Music Center fund raising. She garnered mountains of experience during the Olympics working with the Host Committee.
Margaret Carr, a former Los Angeles Junior League president, and the first woman foreman of the Los Angeles Grand Jury, expects to spend a lot of hours traveling back and forth to Montgomery, Ala., where she and cousins are developing a shopping center.
Too, she’ll have to categorize all those mementos: good times leading prominent foreign guests through the ranks--the king of Tonga; Luxembourg’s Prince Henri; Crown Prince of Jordan Prince Hassan and Princess Sarvath; Thailand’s Queen Siriket; England’s Prince Philip; Auckland’s Mayor Catherine Tizzard; Greece’s former King Constantine and his wife, Queen Anne-Marie; Princess Margaret; Queen Noor, to name a few.
Who’s her replacement? “I’m not at liberty to say,” the classy Mrs. Carr said. “It will be announced Oct. 1.” One supervisor’s office said the appointment will be revealed Oct. 8.
A few drops of rain in Arcadia this week didn’t dampen Las Floristas’ enthusiasm for their first luncheon meeting of the year. As soon as their accountant returns from vacation, they’ll know how much they can give Rancho Los Amigos Medical Center from their 1985 ball. Plenty. Maybe $350,000. In the last three year the 57-member gung-ho group has raised $1 million for handicapped children.
Newly installed president Mrs. Thomas Simms conducted the meeting. And ball co-chairmen Mmes. Donn C. Lynn and Ronald Higgins were charging the troops to greatness--Mmes. Taylor Richardson, Welton Beckett, Anthony Artukovich, Theodore Bentley, George Chumo, Robert Gershon, Michael Hall, Marshall Jarvie, Carole Wells Karabian, Paul A. Smedley, Nick Lee, Al Markovitz, and a whole lot more.
The Excellence in Caring Steering Committee for Huntington Memorial Hospital is cranking up a heart and focusing on a seminar, “Living Longer and Loving It--A Family Affair,” Oct. 21 at a brunch to introduce “The Senior Care Network.”
They have cartoonist/writer Mell Lazarus (“Momma” and “Miss Peach”) as keynote speaker. It should be a riot, says Eileen Zimmerman and the committee including Deborah Hollingsworth, Suzy Crowell, Katie Tuerk and Linda Massey.
