City Beat: Beverly Hills centenarians help kick off city centennial
Live 100 years or more and you certainly earn the right to do what you want to do, when you want to do it.
Mary Goldberg will be 106 next year. She likes to sing “God Bless America.”
On Tuesday, Goldberg was one of four centenarian residents of Beverly Hills honored by the city. The youngest, Elly Newton, turned 100 just a week ago.
Beverly Hills turns 100 next week and will be celebrating for months to come.
The centenarians’ event was one of the first in a rolling yearlong birthday party.
Before being ushered into the City Council chambers for speeches and the official presentation of centennial pins and certificates, the centenarians gathered in a room nearby, surrounded by their relatives.
Asked what Beverly Hills was like when she first saw it, Goldberg said, “I don’t know. What difference does it make? I’m living. I’m living. I’m living.”
Then she said, “I sing. I sing. Now I’ll sing for you,” and she started belting out her favorite number.
In the council chambers, she did it again, into a microphone. The assembled crowd ate it up.
Read all about Mary Goldberg and the other centenarians in my latest City Beat story.
And feel free to send me ideas for future City Beat stories about moments in the life of Los Angeles.
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Email ideas for future City Beats to nita.lelyveld@latimes.com
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