Boy Scouts’ Local Branches

The corner lot is empty now, just the way Boy Scout Troop 104 planned it.

Until this weekend, the lot flourished, as it has for the past 40 years as the centerpiece of the troop’s effort to raise money and the neighborhood’s spirits.

On Saturday night, however, the last tree at the corner of Devonshire Street and Lemona Avenue was sold. And all that’s left are good memories and a few fading pine needles--until next year.

“Our biggest thing is repeat people, some who have been coming here for 25 years or more,” said Glenn Smith, the original scoutmaster of the troop, last week. “You’ve got the families of kids who were in the troop coming here and even some of their kids are grown up now, and they come here with their families.”

The 79-year-old retired cabinetmaker started the troop’s tradition of selling trees in 1956 and hasn’t stopped since. Greeting Edith Bane of Pacoima, he fussed over her son, Herbert.

“You’ve been coming here ever since he was about this high,” said Smith, holding one hand at waist level and pointing at Herbert with the other.

Standing about 6 feet 2, and seeming somewhat embarrassed, Herbert Bane said, “Yes, I guess it’s been about 30 years now.”

After so many years, Edith Bane said, “we wouldn’t go anywhere else.”

Smith, clad in a red jacket from the 1973 Scout Jamboree, said he joined the scouts as a boy in Cincinnati in 1930. Since then, there have been thousands of meetings, hikes and camp-outs. He has attended seven national and two international Jamborees, the scouting equivalent of the World’s Fair.

“Mr. Smith was my scoutmaster,” said the troop’s current scoutmaster, Conlee Clampitt of North Hills.

“When this troop started, this was all brand-new housing and this church was just a small garage we met in,” said Clampitt, referring to Mission Hills Christian Church, next to the lot. His son Christopher, 16, is now a scout in Troop 104.

Clampitt said Smith deserves much of the credit for the troop’s proud history, including more than 50 Eagle Scouts and a long-standing tradition of community service.

“Mr. Smith has always been able to draw on the mothers and the fathers to help out with transportation and whatever was needed. He’s kept things going,” Clampitt said.

Assistant Scoutmaster Rick Ruud said the scouts and their families commit to working several shifts, including overnight security watches.

This season the troop sold almost 2,000 trees. Most of the profits will help pay for a trip to the national Boy Scout Jamboree in Virginia and other scout activities.

“I’ve been doing this since I was a Cub Scout,” said Richard Jonokuchi, a senior at Van Nuys High School and an Eagle Scout. “It’s a fun thing to do every Christmas. You see the same people every year.”

One of those familiar faces belongs to Leon Yarzab, who lives nearby. He said he has helped the troop for the past five years by dressing up in outlandish costumes to attract interest from passing motorists.

“I must have waved to every person in this Valley three times in the last few years,” Yarzab said, taking a break from an appearance as Frosty the Snowman.

A newlywed couple stopping by didn’t require the pitch.

“This is our first Christmas, we just got married,” said Karen Ylshino, who was introducing her husband, Gary, to a family tradition that goes back 27 years. “We started coming because my mom’s friend’s son was in the troop back then, and we’ve kept coming back.”