The Willmore City Heritage Association was proud

to be honored by Long Beach Heritage for rehabilita-

tion for the Jergins Pillar Project at their annual

Preservation Awards Benefit. Project leads, Kath-

leen Irvine, Jim Danno and Emily Kiwa Tanaka, with Jan Van Dijs of JRVD Builders, took the stage

as Vice-Mayor Robert Garcia gave a short presenta-

tion on the project. He presented, not only the

award from Long Beach Heritage, but also commen-

dations from other Council Members, the Mayor and

California Senate and Assembly Members. The other awardees were:

CULTURAL RESOURCES & REPORTS:

Date: Tuesday, April 16

Time: 7:00 p.m.—9:00 p.m.

Place: Drake Park Please join the WCHA and a representative from the Port of Long Beach for a presentation on the history of the Port. Following the presentation, Scott Ringwelski and other WCHA members will reminisce and share memories of one of our great neighbors, Jean Davis, who passed away recently, at the age of 96.

There will be no Code Enforcement Meeting until June.

Historical Society Press Telegram Collection

STEWARDSHIP:

Jean Bixby Smith & Barbara Bixby Blackwell RESTORATION & REHABILITATION:

Minnie Butler Guest House – Chris Hogan514 East

14th Street – Christopher & Mary Ann Zawalski

RESTORATION & PRESERVATION:

3253 Karen Avenue – Josh & Jen Amstone and

Doug & Rochelle Kramer The Arts Building – JR van Dijs & Greg Gill

REHABILITATION & ADAPTIVE REUSE:

Rancho Los Alamitos Rancho Center & Barns Area

CONTEXTUAL IN-FILL:

Parklets at 2030 East 4th Street & 420 East 4th Street – Studio One Eleven

The Benefit took place on February 21, in the

beautiful Art Deco Grand Salon aboard the RMS

Queen Mary. We are grateful to everyone who sup-

ported and contributed to this project. Thanks to

everyone who joined us in celebrating the accom-plishments of the WCHA and the other preservation-

ists in our City, while helping Long Beach Heritage

with their mission of advocacy and education.

Vice-Mayor Robert Garcia, Jim Danno, Jan Van Dijs, Emily Kiwa Tanaka and Kathleen Irvine

By Toni Ivashkov

I love teaching art in Long Beach. My name is Toni

Ivashkov. I am a working professional artist and art

educator and the owner of Artist Factory- a local art

studio in Long Beach for kinder, children, teens and adults. I received my BFA from the School of Visual

Arts in Manhattan, NY. I moved to Long Beach in

2008. After living in various places around LA I fi-

nally found a place I felt had a similar beat to mine.

Long Beach to me, has a great mix of people from the bohemian creatively weird, to yoga spiritualists

raw-food masters. I always joke about Long Beach

being like ‘Cheers‘. I feel everywhere I go people

Artist continued on page 2

2

does art stop for most people when they go to col-

lege, or become an adult, or get their first parking

ticket?” Art is a big part of defining our culture. Why does art lose its importance? I believe that vis-

ual art is a powerful language for creating new ways

to think, to articulate and view your thoughts, feel-

ings and responses to the outside world. Students

are encouraged through the process of learning

basic fundamental skills and advanced concepts of color theory, perspective, composition and design to

find their individual voice and ultimately to find out

what type of artist they are or would like to become.

For registration and to find out more information

you can visit me online www.artistfactory.org and follow us on www.facebook.com/artistfactory1330

or Contact Toni Ivashkov at (310) 420-0774 or ar-

tattackit@me.com

know my name. But truly, there is a grounding

sense of community that I feel here, that made me

want to stay. I have been teaching art for over seven wonderful

years. As an art educator I feel strongly in teaching

people to express what they see as well as what they

feel. To truly uncover their own voice in the work

they create.

Beginners, intermediate and advanced students are all welcomed to the Artist Factory. Classes are

ongoing enrollment. At the Artist Factory we believe

in a balance of academic skill and self expression.

Building a strong foundation and vocabulary in un-

derstanding the fundamental building blocks of art goes hand in hand in building and uncovering the

artist that you truly are. This specialized program

is crafted for individualized interests which gives

students the opportunity to develop their personal

visions and bring their ideas to life. You pick your

desired medium to play with which includes oil painting, watercolor, drawing, sculpture and recy-

cled mixed media assemblage.

The Artist Factory is located in an artist co-op

which is an artist community surrounded by other

working professional artists, in the Zafaria Design District of Long Beach, California. This is a great

opportunity to experience other working artists and

exhibit your own work in the communal art gallery.

Kids today are jam-packed with so many amazing

activities from art to sports to dance and music,

they are so busy. The question on my mind is, “Why

Artist continued from page 2

PLACE: Downtown Long Beach

DATE: April 12-13

TIME: various The only actual street course utilized for drifting!

Using parts of the Grand Prix Street Course, this

is one of the most exciting events of the year.

http://www.formulad.com/schedule/pro-

championship/long-beach.php

PLACE: Santa Anita Race Track DATE: April 20

TIME: all day

A guided tour of Santa Anita, Thoroughbred

horse racing and lunch at the famous Turf Club.

www.lbheritage.org

PLACE: Downtown Long Beach

DATE: April 18

TIME: 6:30 p.m.

Kickoff for the Toyota Grand Prix with displays,

motorcycle stunts, motocross demonstrations,

live music and celebrity drivers. www.downtownlongbeach.org

PLACE: The streets of Long Beach!

DATE: April 19-21

TIME: 8:00 a.m.

The 39th Annual Toyota Grand Prix featuring the IndyCar series on the 1.97 mile course.

Loud cars, fast men and women, lots of beer!

www.GPLB.com

PLACE: Casino Ballroom

DATE: May 11

TIME: 6:00 p.m.—10 p.m.

A magical evening with elegant dancers gliding

over a polished wood floor; the Jazz Age and Big Band sounds return to the romantic 1929 Casi-

no Ballroom on Catalina Island.

www.adsla.org

PLACE: Various

DATE: June 2

TIME: 12:00 p.m.—5:00 p.m.

Beautiful homes and a beautiful day at the Beach! Long Beach Heritage sponsors this an-

nual fundraiser that benefits the historic Bem-

bridge House.

www.lbheritage.org

3

/

4

with husband Eddie Fisher, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean

Martin, Betty Grable and others.

Less than a year later, The King came. In case you hadn't heard of Elvis Presley in the summer of 1956,

the Long Beach Independent explained that he was

a "youthful new singing sensation who has taken up

where Johnny Ray left off. Hailed as the greatest

current rhythm and blues singer, Presley just

turned 21 and is a favorite of the bobby-sox set. His frantic shouting, acrobatic instrument playing and

uninhibited country-style singing have earned him

the title of `America's Only Atomic-Powered Singer."'

Liberace played one of his early recitals at the Au-

ditorium, launching his first world tour in the hall in February 1947.

Bob Hope was practically the house comic during

the war years (all the war years), when he would of-

ten perform free shows for servicemen and veterans,

many of which were broadcast on the radio for the

troops overseas. Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis performed one of

their first shows in 1951 in the auditorium.

In 1949, the local high schools began having all-

Tim Grobaty, Columnist Posted: 03/06/2012 06:11:35 PM PST

Updated: 03/06/2012 07:56:10 PM PST

HOUSE OF STARS: When the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium

opened 80 years ago this week, it promised to serve

all the entertainment and convention needs of the

city well into the future - although we're pretty sure

its builders had hoped for more than 43 years. Though it was demolished in 1975, the Auditorium

more than delivered on its promise. In its main

room and halls it had hosted trade shows of almost

every kind, from buttons to autos.

The Miss Universe beauty pageant was born in the

auditorium in 1952 and brought international at-tention to the building and the city during the pag-

eant's eight-year stay in Long Beach before it moved

to Miami in 1960.

In the 1950s and early '60s it drew thousands of

housewives to cooking schools that included bags of free grocery samples and demonstrations of the lat-

est in home appliances.

Sports competitions were held there: The Wilson-

Poly basketball game was played there when it was

the biggest sporting event in town, next to the Wil-

son-Poly football game. Bill Tilden played there in his first pro tennis tour and the Harlem Globetrot-

ters brought their tour there annually.

In terms of star power, it's difficult to know where

to start. Wait. No, it isn't. You have to start on July

11, 1955, when Judy Garland performed her "Comeback Tour" following her success in "A Star Is

Born." She, of course, was a brilliant enough star,

but those lucky to be in attendance at her show at

the Auditorium were blinded by her guests on stage.

One after another, she called them up: Frank Sina-

tra, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, all of whom rode on a chartered bus from Hollywood down to

Long Beach. Also on that bus and in attendance at

the show were Ronald Reagan, Debbie Reynolds

Auditorium continued on page 5

5

Auditorium continued from page 4

night graduation dances at the Auditorium, and the

dances featured nationally known artists including

Kay Starr, Les Brown and Stan Kenton. The hall was a mandatory stop on the campaign

trail. Richard Nixon, Earl Warren, Adlai Stevenson

and Estes Kefauver all shared their political views

there. An attendance record was set in August 1956

when 14,776 people at a Jehovah's Witness conven-

tion (a convention that still comes to Long Beach to meet in the Arena) listened to Roscoe Stone explain

"Why Permanent Peace Will Come in Our Time."

More than a decade after Elvis opened the rock 'n'

roll floodgates, the Auditorium hosted, especially in

the late 1960s, up to its demolition in 1975 when it shared rock-concert business with the Long Beach

Arena.

Most baby boomers and those thereabout in age

recall some of those great shows, which included

Three Dog Night with Lee Michaels (May 30, 1969),

the Band (Feb. 6, 1970), the Allman Brothers (March 5, 1972), Emerson, Lake & Palmer (March

22, 1972), Chuck Berry (Nov. 19, 1972), Stevie Won-

der (March 16, 1973) Steely Dan (May 5, 1974), and

Savoy Brown, headlining over Manfred Mann and

KISS (May 31, 1974). But, to discover just how versatile a space the Mu-

nicipal Auditorium was, we've got to go all the way

back to the second year of its existence: the days

following the March 10, 1933 earthquake, when the

Auditorium was converted into a shelter for those

made homeless by the quake. Thousands of cots

were brought in by the Navy and a soup kitchen was set up.

Further, it served as City Hall for a time following

the quake, and City Council meetings were held in

its glamorous rooms.

Seems the auditorium was strong enough to easily

withstand the dev-Auditorium continued on page 6

6

astating quake. It was built to last a lot longer than

it did.

tgrobaty@yahoo.com, 562-714-2116 or twitter.com/grobaty

Reprinted with permission of Tim Grobaty.

10% off $20 worth of dry-cleaning!

In a wonderful show of support and community,

the monthly WCHA meeting was standing room on-

ly, in reaction to the March shootings in Willmore

City. New Police Commander, Richard Rocchi, said

that they are not sure whether the January gunfire

and the current shootings along with the uptick in property crimes and graffiti are all connected. They

currently have no information about the shooter,

and need the community’s help in finding the per-

petrators. Community was the topic, as the Com-

mander asked for help from the neighborhood in

reporting crime, suspicious people and activities. By being a “nosy neighbor” we can all help the po-

lice - by being friendly with neighbors and passers-

by, getting to know who lives around you and who

comes and goes—the community will notice people

who don’t belong, who are possibly up to no good.

People knocking on many doors, unfamiliar cars at odd times, and even people in Verizon or Long

Beach Gas Company shirts are cause for a call to

the LBPD. Burglaries are up 40% in our neighbor-

hood—and nearly half are the result of people leav-

ing cars and house doors unlocked, with tempting

items in plain view. Most of the crimes are oppor-tunistic—if it is difficult, these criminals move on to

an easier target.

Vice-Mayor Robert Garcia announced that six

cameras that are connected to the LBPD computers

are being installed around Drake Park, as a result of crime issues in the area. Community members

have requested them there. Robert also said that

people who are willing to have cameras on their

property should contact the LBPD about tying into

their system.

Finally, there was a graffiti awareness presentation by Detective Adrian Garcia and Detective Sean

Magee. The bottom line—where there are illegal

drugs, there will be criminal activity. Where there is

graffiti, it typically informs criminals that crime is

some what tolerated in that area. There are about 10 known active gang members in Willmore. Of the

10, 7 are currently incarcerated. The uptick in graf-

fiti recently was an announcement of the return of

one from jail. He has since been re-arrested.

So, we can all help our great police department by

staying alert, getting to know each other better and by calling 562-435-6711 or 911 to report suspicious

activity. The main line to the LBPD Gang Office is

562-570-7370.

This year, for the first time, the WCHA will march

in the Gay Pride Parade, as part of the 1st District.

We will also be hosting a booth with information

about our wonderful historic neighborhood.

Volunteers are needed to help in planning, man-ning the booth, or getting the word out and we

KNOW you want to march in your Sunday best!

Contact Eduardo Vier at coach@eduardovier.com,

or Emily Tanaka at Emily@willmorecity.org, or call

WCHA at 562-435-9606 for more information.

1st District Council Office 562-570-6919 Code Enforcement 562-570-2633 Barking Dogs 562-570-PETS

Neighborhood Watch 562-570-7229 Police, Non-Emergency 562-435-6711

Public Services 562-570-2700 Graffiti 562-570-2773 Pot Holes 562-570-3259 Storm Drains 562-570-2440 Alley Cleaning 562-570-2876 Bike Trails (Glass or Other Debris) 562-869-1176 Street Maintenance 562-570-3259 Recycling 562-570-2876 Stray Shopping Carts 800-252-6131

Trash Collection 562-570-2878 Special Pickup 562-570-2876 Environmental Services 562-570-2876 Get the Go Long Beach App for an easy and fast way

to report many of these problems!

7

Join the WCHA. Yearly membership due in June. Renewal______New______Phone:_______________________

Name_________________________________________________

Address______________________________________________ City____________________________State______Zip_______ Email________________________________________________ General $20________________ Student $10________________ Business $30_______________ Senior $10__________________ Business Sponsors: $70/year (10 month guarantee) Please send business card with check.

Donations (any amount appreciated) $___________________________________________ YOU CAN NOW PAY YOUR MEMBERSHIP ON OUR WEB-SITE WITH PAYPAL! Please make checks payable to: W C H A PO Box 688 Long Beach, CA 90801 Ph. 562-435-9606

Donations are Tax Deductible 501(c)3: 33—0201588

Kathleen Irvine, President & (562) 612-0639

Newsletter Editor kathleen@willmorecity.org

Michelle Muniz , Vice-President (714) 478-9647

mmuniz717@yahoo.com

Jana Shields, Treasurer (562) 495-1729

jana@willmorecity.org

Patty Lund, Secretary 562) 435-9606 patty@willmorecity.org

Jim Danno, Community Outreach (818) 266-7110

jim@willmorecity.org

Emily Kiwa Tanaka, (562) 290-2962

Web Communications emily@willmorecity.org

Hulean Tyler (562) 755-4640

huleantyler@yahoo.com

Ph. 562-435-9606

Visit us at our website and on Facebook:

www.willmorecity.org

www.facebook.com/pages/Willmore-City-Heritage-

Association

Return service requested

Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Long Beach, CA Permit No. 748

General Meeting will be held at

Drake Park on Tuesday, April

16th at 7:00 p.m.

No Code Enforcement meeting