Honoree’s Heart Remains in Watts

Honors she has, in abundance, but a little funding would be nice too.

On April 29, the Coro Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan educational foundation, will fete Dr. Grace Payne (“proudly” of Watts) for “distinguished contributions to the community.” The latest laurel is not entirely unexpected. Payne has been similarly cited by everyone from Pepperdine University (honorary doctorate of laws) to the State Assembly (“Woman of the Year”).

“You’d think I was the only person in South-Central L.A. doing anything,” she says with a sigh, but if it calls attention to her prime project, Payne will endure. For 17 years, she has been executive director of the Westminster Neighborhood Assn., a Watts center that provides a spectrum of social services for senior citizens to children with behavioral problems; three day-care centers; a restaurant to train youth for food-preparation jobs; a new $1-million gym. . . .

In her spare time, Payne, 72, is one of five commissioners of the Port of Los Angeles, administering a relatively little-known facility that does no less than $65-billion worth of business annually. But her heart remains in Watts.

“I guess I could live about anywhere,” she says, “but I feel that I’m needed here. These people have as much right to quality service as anybody anywhere in the city. I can help see that they get it. And not only do they benefit from my skills, I benefit from theirs; I learn a lot from them.

“I’d like to find a way (to ensure) that when I’m gone, they won’t have to struggle to raise funds,” Payne muses aloud. “We need an endowment, and I need to have somebody show me how to do that.

“It’s hard, though. It’s fantastic what the center does, but when people talk about Watts they only talk about the crime. I keep trying to explain to them that Watts is the name of a community, not a riot!”

Griffith Park’s Little Nugget a Real Gem

Anachronistically tucked under the sleek skin of the streamlined City of Los Angeles, the luxurious railroad lounge car called the Little Nugget was patterned after an Old West saloon.

Created and decorated by artist Walt Kuhn, the Nugget was considered the most lavish car on the rails--this in the pre-Amtrak era when railroads vied not only for passengers but for distinction.

From its custom-woven floral Brussels carpet to clusters of cupids cavorting on the ceiling, the lounge was unique. Even the bar sported its own brass gaslights, carved roses and a warbling mechanical “bird in a gilded cage.”

Delivered in 1937, the Nugget was retired in 1956. Rather than consign the car to the scrap heap, the Union Pacific Railroad gave it to the city, where it fetched up--and was subsequently plundered--in Griffith Park’s Travel Town. “We’re not sure how it happened,” says Greg Gneier, a TV art director who moonlights as project director of the volunteer Little Nugget Restoration Team. “Visitors were allowed to walk through the car, with attendant wear and tear.” In time, the car’s ornate chairs, tables and wall pictures began to vanish.

“We’re not accusing anybody,” Gneier hastens to add. “Let’s not say thieves . We prefer rescuers . We would like the furnishings back, though, no questions asked, maybe even a little reward. Actually, we started with one chair. We made some phone calls. Now we have three chairs, a table and one of the missing paintings--which, for all we know, may have been taken down in the ‘70s when the city painted the walls, stored somewhere and forgotten.”

The plan is to display the restored Nugget in the new Travel Town museum, whenever it is built. “It’s not just a railroad car,” says Gneier, an unabashed “romantic.” “It’s a work of art. It represents an entire life-style long gone. It’s part of our heritage.”