A village maintained

CHERRIL DOTY

In celebration and homage to a wonderful summer, the onset of autumn

and more, residents of the small Chamberlain/Crabbe ways village came

together one recent weekend evening. Barbecues were readied, salads

prepared, cookies baked, beverages on ice and a spicy guacamole of

jalapenos and avocados started things off. Villagers began with

tentative steps to emerge from their “huts.”

One meaning of the term village is a relatively small group of

people organized chiefly in families that constitutes a distinct

social unit and usually forms a community. One such village is the

small community of Chamberlain/Crabbe ways. What? Never heard of

these streets? Never passed them? Then read on for the back story.

In 1932 the Summer Olympics were held in Los Angeles. This was

Depression times and the village of Laguna Beach struggled along with

the rest of the nation. There was little money to spend on tourism

and so members of the local art association came up with an idea to

draw dollars this way. They would have an art festival to be held the

week following the Olympics in the hope that visitors to the Olympics

would travel south before returning home. Thus was born the art

festival that was to become the Festival of the Arts/Pageant of the

Masters.

The games of the X Olympiad had only half as many athletes (1332)

compete as in 1928. Nevertheless, competition was high and 18 world

records were equaled or broken. 100,000 people attended the Opening

Ceremony alone. When the 16 days of the Olympics competition were

past, did the hoped for tourists come to Laguna? Well, I hope and

assume so, since the Festival of the Arts has lived on. But that is

not my story today; my story is about villages.

The athletes of the X Olympiad were housed -- as the athletes

still are to this day -- in a village. This first ever Olympic

village was made up of wooden cottages and was located in Baldwin

Hills. The male athletes were the only ones housed there, as the

female athletes were put up in more luxurious surroundings at the

Chapman Park Hotel.

Some of the American athletes were swimmers Helene Madison and

Buster Crabbe, equestrian Harry Chamberlain, and track standouts

George Saling, Frank Wykoff, Babe Didrikson, Benjamin Eastman, and

George Jefferson.

After the Olympics were over, the story has it that many of the

cottages that made up the Olympic village were moved to the hillsides

of Bluebird Canyon in Laguna Beach. The streets on which many of

these cottages or huts were situated were named after American

Olympians, many who medaled in those 1932 Olympics.

In a recent Olympic symposium it was reiterated that the intention

of the Olympic village was for the athletes to live communally,

respect the rights and privileges of others, participate in

intercultural activities and engage in the experience of the local

culture. It occurred to me that these were the same standards set for

the Crabbe/Chamberlain village gathering. It was an opportunity to

come closer together, learn more about our diversity, and respect and

rejoice in it. There was good food and drink. There were many good

folks of different ages from a variety of backgrounds and

nationalities joining in conversations. There were mini-tours of each

others’ homes and gardens. It felt like community. As the moon

frolicked in and out of the clouds, its silver light touched us all

and put the final gilt on a lovely evening in our mini-village. I got

a sense of what village might mean well beyond any mere dictionary

definition.

Geographical/ historical postscript:

In a relatively small area of upper Bluebird Canyon you can find

Crabbe Way, Chamberlain Way Smith Way, Miller Way, Wykoff Way, Carr

Place, Riley Place, Madison Place, Jefferson Way, Didrikson Way,

Coleman Way, and Saling Way. And there is Regatta, perhaps named thus

for the American team that beat Italy across the finish line in the

coxed eights by one-fifth of a second. There are also Bauch Drive,

Johnson Way and Keller Way, though I could find no Olympians by those

names in the X Olympiad records. It is also entirely possible that I

have missed something.

* CHERRIL DOTY is a creative life coach and artist. You can reach

her by e-mail at emmagine@cox.net or by calling (949) 251-3883