In Goldmans’ Community, Sympathy and Satisfaction

The stark pain shone like a bruise.

Residents saw it in Kim Goldman’s drawn face as she stopped by the Beanscene Espresso coffeehouse for a drink to go. Neighbors felt it when Fred Goldman swung by to speak at Municipal Advisory Council meetings, they say. Strangers sensed it in Patti Goldman’s stoic expression.

Perhaps now, that bruise can begin to fade.

That was this neighborhood’s wish Wednesday, a day after a jury found O.J. Simpson liable for the deaths of his ex-wife and her friend, Ron Goldman.

“I’m happy for them--if you can be happy about something like this,” said Julie Gerhardt, a mother and a Goldman neighbor for 10 years.

Gazing at the cluster of camera crews outside the Goldman residence, neighbor Alma Stern expressed similarly mixed sentiments.

“I was very pleased with the verdicts,” she said. “I know it doesn’t take away their pain or anything, but maybe they can really grieve for Ron now. . . . I hope they can have as ‘normal’ of a life as possible.”

No raucous parties or neighborhood barbecues marked the occasion of the verdicts and the imposition of hefty compensatory damages in this community of quiet streets and stately homes.

But there were signs of subtle celebration.

A trickle of florists’ vans approached the family’s cream stucco house, leaving baskets and vases of blooms. One neighbor dropped off a bottle of champagne.

Fred Goldman mustered a wan smile for the TV crews as he checked his mail.

“I’m still exhausted and tired,” said Goldman, looking relaxed in jeans and gray boat shoes. “We were up all last night. We were getting calls at 4 a.m.”

Of the verdict, he would only say, “I think Ron’s proud.”

Pink and yellow metallic balloons decorated the grassy median strip of the street leading to the Goldman home. Farther down the road were handwritten signs on corrugated cardboard: “Time 2 Pay O.J.”

At Ron Goldman’s grave at Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks cemetery, a mini-shrine of flowers, ceramic angels and handwritten notes appeared.

A waist-high spray of birds of paradise, gerbera daisies, carnations and irises stood by the black granite gravestone. Written in gold script on a white satin ribbon were the words: “Finally justice is served.”

At sunset, Patti Goldman walked up to the grave, surveying the flowers and notes left there. Moments later her husband arrived. He placed a bouquet on his son’s grave, and the couple sat down to read the handwritten notes. They embraced and Patti began to cry.

After about 10 minutes, the couple left the cemetery.

The verdict was the talk of nearby Beanscene Espresso, where Fred and Kim Goldman sometimes stop and chat.

“I don’t know if the feeling is relief, really,” said Beanscene worker Phyllis Gates. “It’s just like the right thing happened. This is the way it should be--finally.”

Even people who haven’t met the Goldmans feel somehow close to their plight, she said.

“They’re a nice family, a really nice family, and boy do they deserve peace,” Gates said. “Just seeing them, we’ve all been touched by this.”

In the Oak Park Shopping Center parking lot, Agoura Hills resident Wayne Stitzer called the first verdict a “travesty.” But he could only greet the second with numbness.

The understated jubilation of this white, upper-crust neighborhood spawned the music teacher’s ambivalence.

“I’ve been surprised--and disgusted--at how many people focused on the racial [aspects],” Stitzer said. “You know: ‘They got theirs, and now we’ve got ours.’ ”

Times photographer Mel Melcon contributed to this story.

DAMAGES

Victims’ families could face obstacles in collecting significant sums of money. A1