‘Oldtimers’ Gather to Recall Pacoima of Bygone Days : Memories: Fifth get-together of families who lived there decades ago draws 350 who talk about friendship, community’s history.

They came--all 350 of them--to reconnect with old friends and recall with pride when the dirt roads of old Pacoima linked a close-knit community where families were friends and not just neighbors.

In a swank hall at the Odyssey restaurant, overlooking a 180-degree view of the San Fernando Valley at dusk, generations of Pacoima’s Latino residents traded stories of the past and caught up on decades of separation that included marriages, children, grandkids and even great-grandchildren.

Some, like Armida Frias, traveled from as far away as Sacramento for this, the fifth reunion of the Pacoima Oldtimers club. For the past decade, dozens of Latino families, some of whom lived in Pacoima as far back as 1900, have gathered to remember old Pacoima.

“We’re just people--just a bunch of friends from Pacoima,” said Lupe Ramirez, one of the organizers of this year’s reunion.

But for those who attend each reunion, especially such elderly residents as Hermelinda Lujan, 84, who was raised in Pacoima, the gatherings carry a more important meaning than simply seeing old friends.

“This right here is the example of community, of people coming together like this, even though some of us have not seen each other in so many years,” Lujan said.

“This is what is missing from communities now, this connection,” Lujan said.

“People are scattered and distant, even though they live next-door to each other. This isn’t the way it was at all in Pacoima when we were growing up. You couldn’t live there without people knowing you and your family and looking out for you. So, I would never miss these things.”

The reunions were the brainchild of Albert Escalante and Ramirez’s sister, Christine Reyes, who spent hours in the early 1980s reminiscing about the way things used to be and the need to reunite the old community.

After years of talking, the two took action in 1984, drawing up a map of old Pacoima, bordered by Foothill Boulevard, San Fernando Road and Paxton and Osborne streets, and looking for anyone who had lived in that area from 1900 to 1942. The search yielded more than 400 responses, and in 1985 the first reunion was held. Subsequent reunions followed in 1987, 1990 and 1993, and most recently, Sunday night.

The number of attendees has fluctuated over the years with the deaths of some residents, including Reyes, and relocation of others, like Escalante, who moved to New Mexico. But still people flock from nearby Valley areas such as Sylmar, Canoga Park and North Hollywood and such distant cities as Fresno and Sacramento.

Inez Soliz, 92, and her friend Juanita Granados, 94, have never missed a reunion.

“I come because there are at least 20 families that I haven’t seen since the last reunion that I only get to see here and it’s very nice,” said Granados, who has lived in the same house in Pacoima since she moved there in 1923.

As the reunion’s two eldest attendees--who have 76 grandchildren and 103 great-grandchildren between them--Soliz and Granados were given special honors by City Councilman Richard Alarcon, who represents the 7th District, and the reunion gathering. Soliz also still lives in Pacoima.

“There is a lot of joy and happiness when you see people from so many years ago,” Granados said. “I look forward to coming here.”

After some prodding from her sister, Lina Padilla, 59, came down from Sacramento to join the festivities and search for her old grammar school friend, Sally Corona, whom she hadn’t seen in nearly 40 years.

They recognized each other almost immediately. “I wanted to cry I was just so happy to see her,” Padilla said. “I’ve always thought of her and it was so nice to see her.”

Rosalie Guillen, who was responsible for getting Padilla and her two other sisters to attend the reunion, came for the second time Sunday. It was a chance to see the old neighborhood, visit the community and reconnect with her roots, she said.

“When we were living in Pacoima we were poor, but we were tight--very close--and you can feel that when you see people again,” said Guillen, 55. “There’s some real history here and we need to continue this until we’re all gone and then our children and grandchildren return with photos and develop a new tradition.”