WWII Mementos Will Soon Be a Memory at Thrift Shop

Retro chic trendies, consider this fair warning.

Much of the World War II memorabilia, as well as the clothing and household items from the Eisenhower era, are expected to be snapped up Saturday, the day they go on sale at the American Cancer Society Thrift Shop in Northridge.

According to shop manager, Jill Angel, the mementos currently being showcased in the shop’s windows have drawn considerable interest. The items are the personal collections of three middle-class Americans, donated by the person who owned them or by close relatives.

“The World War II items, which include flags, ‘40s newspapers and magazines, sheet music and some very dapper street clothing, are from the estate of the late Vince Scalice and were donated by his niece, Linda Scalice, who is one of our volunteers,” Angel says.

The ‘40s and ‘50s kitchen items, many in their original boxes, as well as dishes, clothing and buttons,” were donated by Alice Solheim, an 85-year-old woman now living in a Midwest retirement home.

Solheim made the donations to the thrift show through her daughter-in-law, Carmen Solheim, another Cancer Society volunteer.

The third donor is John Jones, a 65-year-old Northridge resident, who has saved “everything” over the years, including his clothing and that of his late wife. Many of her things still have the original Bullock’s sales tags on them, according to Angel.

She adds that Jones started coming into the shop a few months ago and “we just sort of adopted him. He finally told us he was remarrying and wanted to donate all of his clothing and memorabilia he’d been collecting for 40 years or so.”

The shop is at 9719 Reseda Blvd.

All proceeds benefit the American Cancer Society.

Slide Stopped Short, but Not the Outpouring of Support

March 7 started out to be a great day for Harry Talbot.

He and his fellow educators from Maclay Middle School in Pacoima were holding a weekend conclave at the Miramar Hotel in Santa Barbara, where they brainstormed ideas for improving and expanding the learning process for a student population that is rich in its diversity.

The weekend was being underwritten by a donation from Lockheed Corp., which has followed with interest and generosity the school’s effort to enrich the students’ learning experience.

Although the skies were dark and gloomy that weekend, the conclave attendees seemed caught up in the enthusiasm over the wealth of ideas that had been generated.

Talbot, the school’s vice principal, had just finished speaking to the assemblage on restructuring and reconforming when a woman ran up to him to say she had heard about a big landslide in a little village north of Ventura.

Talbot’s interior warning system was instantly alerted.

This was not good news.

After excusing himself from the group, he hit the parking lot running.

On his way to La Conchita, stuck in traffic, he thought about the 2 1/2 years of living in the house into which he had poured his life savings. Living there meant leaving home at 4:30 a.m. on weekdays to get to the gym for a workout before heading to Maclay in Pacoima. It meant long drives to Edwards Air Force Base, where he serves as a colonel in the Air Force Reserve.

It also has meant peace and quiet and memorable sunsets in La Conchita, a tiny village on the ocean, populated with fiercely independent, but still interdependent, people.

The trade-off worked for Talbot.

During the interminable time it took to drive the 15 or so miles from Santa Barbara to La Conchita, Talbot speculated about the condition of his home and worried about the little white stray cat named Mouser that he had taken in some eight years before.

He finally got to the town, got through police lines and looked up to where his house was. What he saw took his breath away.

The house was still standing.

The mudslide had stopped at his back fence.

He was allowed to enter his home for a few minutes. Escorted by men from a search and rescue team, he filled a pillowcase with family pictures and treasures. He grabbed the frightened cat and was escorted out.

Since then, Talbot, now staying with friends, has tried to continue business as usual, attending education conferences in California and Philadelphia, tending to his duties at Maclay.

He goes to La Conchita often to take on the recently entrenched bureaucracy and get a few more things out of the house, which he still can’t stay in since no one knows when the rest of the mountain hovering over Talbot’s property may decide to pay a more personal call.

Friends, the school administration and staff, students, former students and students’ parents have offered support and a helping hand, all of which have helped sustain the normally “in full charge” Talbot during this time of uncertainty and confusion.

“I’m grateful,” he says. “People have been great.”

And the Winner Is ... a Reseda Student Getting Her 1st Break

Tonight’s the big night for some Hollywood stars and for Romina Atayan of Encino, a Reseda High School student.

She’s the 17-year-old senior who is the first credentialed high school reporter ever in the almost 70 years that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has been handing Oscars out.

She’ll get to be there elbow-to-elbow with all the industry stars, scribes and groupies for the pre-Oscar ritual of passage into the Shrine Auditorium.

She’ll be backstage when the winners come back for a chat with the press.

Then, it’s the Governor’s Ball and pounding out her story. An editor at USA Today will take her dictation and get the story into print.

Her journalism teacher, Beth Bleiberg, will be guiding her through the maze of motion picture hoopla. Bleiberg, a former newspaper and wire reporter, says she is excited about the event as well.

Atayan got the assignment because she asked the academy chiefs the right question at a press conference for high school journalists. The event was meant to generate interest in a younger audience for the Oscar awards ceremony, which is seen on television all over the world.

During the press conference Atayan asked why the academy didn’t let at least one young journalist cover the event. Minutes later, the officials said it was a great idea and that she would be the first one. Stories and television interviews followed for Atayan.

Her parents, Sossy and Hamayak Atayan of Encino, were proud of the attention focused on their youngest of four daughters. They wrote to tell all the relatives in the United States and Lebanon about what Romina was doing.

The only request from Sossy Atayan to their suddenly famous daughter, was for her to look out for Mel Gibson.

“My mother really likes him,” Atayan says.

Overheard:

“I got so sick of trying to explain my divorce to people who thought we were the perfect couple that I started telling people, very seriously, that he was an alien who had gone back to his home planet. You should see the looks I get.”

Woman to friends at a Woodland Hills cocktail party.