November Visit to Fowler

Raquel Gutierrez (CTC’s MCP) and I drove to Fowler on Tuesday.  It’s about 210 miles from Los Angeles.  We made the trip in 3 and a half hours. 

We had a fun stop along the way at a Traver travel stop—they’ve gone all out to get folks to stop and spend money.  There is a BBQ restaurant, tons of interesting patio and garden space, a petting zoo of sorts, clean restrooms, a fruit stand, a gift store that sells local cheese and treats as well as a big selection of food, collectible, travel and kitsch items.  If you want to visit you can’t miss the signs.

We did a short driving tour around part of Fowler then headed to Fresno to meet Debra P.  Debra is M. deRosa’s sister and a long time Fresno resident.  M. is a longtime Cornerstone friend and community collaborator.  Currently she is also on our Community Advisory Committee.  It was a treat to meet M.’s sister.  Debra was a terrific host as we talked about our intended Fowler project and how she might help us.  She knows a lot of people including a few with Fowler connections.  She is an interior designer (and a dancer, too) and does design work for some well-to-do homes.  She commented that farmer wives are sometimes sort of glamorous, society-types.  Debra gave us some information about local press contacts including local public radio.  She is going to reach out to those she knows and see who might be able to talk with us and/or connect us with others.  She’s really excited to see a Fresno County community celebrated. 

Fresno is about 11 miles north of Fowler.

We headed south and did some more exploring in the car—toured around the tiny town of Del Rey.  We passed the POM (Wonderful!) plant at what seemed like quitting time for many workers.  There were not many cars driving the streets of Del Rey but there were droves of kids, probably just dropped off by the school bus, walking down the streets.  Del Rey is about 10 blocks nestled among crops, mostly grape vineyards.  It includes a store, a post office, a beauty salon, a school, a senior center, 2 or 3 churches, and the POM plant (I think is a packing facility).  

We drove into and around Fowler (pop 5500) which is approx. 26 streets, mostly east of Hwy 99.  The part of Fowler west of the highway seems like the other side of the tracks literally and figuratively.  As we parked the car in front of the Presbyterian church a woman who was on her way into the church stopped and inquired if we needed some help.  She listened to why we in town then told us a lot about her church and her community.  She showed us inside the church. The church has beautiful stained glass and an exceptional pipe organ.  She told us about many of the programs there:  ATM Diner (ATM=“at the manse” which is the priests’ house), Monday evening youth group (middle school kids), Kids Club (2 five week after school sessions), Gear Up Sports in summer (100 kids sports and arts projects, like a day camp).  Sunday worship service is at 10:30- it’s a mixed/blended service which means that there’s a mix of traditional and new music.   She recommended we talk with Sandi M. (Baptist church) who has done some drama projects.  We should also talk with the superintendent of schools.

We attended the Fowler city council meeting from 7 – 9:30pm.  There are 5 councilmen including the mayor and mayor pro tem.  Additionally the city manager, city attorney, city clerk (the only female official), and chief of police all sit at the head of the room as participants in the meeting.  Another table was present up front for 4 or 5 other officials: assessors, financial officer, fire chief, etc.  The meeting room was full with observers and stakeholders.  Public comments were at the top of the agenda.  I introduced our project and made clear our three requests (community support, assistance with affordable housing for our residency, and an affordable performance venue).  The questions from the council were Have you done this sort of work in the central valley before? (yes!) Do you charge for tickets?  (no!)  They all received information packets about Cornerstone and the Fowler project.  Councilman Rico Aguayo gave me his card then he spent his break talking with Raquel and I about how to move forward with our project.  Rico, it turns out also works with Recreation Commission, Friends of the Library, Historical Society, and probably some other organizations.  He’s the youngest council member and energetic about creating positive change in Fowler. 

[ The city council meeting was long and mostly interesting.  Highlights:

A gentleman who accused an unnamed council member (“he knows who he is”) of libel and slander and asked that the man be kicked off the council.   A Sikh gentleman thanked the council for permitting street closures and public declaration of official Sikh Appreciation? Awareness? day to be celebrated with a parade on Nov 21.  The owner of Madam Sophia’s Palm Reader reminded the council that inexplicably his business license costs $1200 when all other business licenses are $40 and could they please change that sooner than later.  Hearings for rezoning 2 properties from single-family home to multi-family properties both ended with denial based on neighbor concerns of “bad element” renters and parking impact.  It was noted that plenty of people were very unhappy to see that the cemetery neglected to put up flags for Veterans Day.  A letter of appreciation to the City from Superintendent of Schools was read acknowledging support that made the middle school band event successful.  Bids for building a Pickleball court at a local park were too high.  Adjustments were made to what the city can do on their own to reduce cost and the request for bids will go out again in January.  Two new small business owners (a salon and an antiques store called “A Little of This And A Little of That”) were granted loans from the city for business equipment. ]

Aeric, the front desk receptionist at the very new La Quinta in Fowler, is a local resident and was excited to hear about our community play project.  Folks who need a place to stay in Fowler when they come to see the show or visit the Institute will be very happy with La Quinta Inn and the manager is eager to arrange a group rate for us for the summer.

Raquel and I stopped by the School District office and spoke with Robin (the website says she is Accounts Clerk).  We left info packets for the district school board members who happened to be meeting that night.

We walked the businesses of Main Street and made purchases at 2 of the 3 markets, one of which includes a mix of Indian and Mexican items. 

We visited Sara Brown the Librarian at the local library.  I’d spoken with her on the phone previously and she’s very enthusiastic about our project.  Many organizations meet at the library so she knows all the coordinators for these groups.  Mostly they are youth programs, like ballet for preschoolers and others age 7-12, the Girl Scout Juniors, etc.   Sara made some calls to people right then to see if anyone was around to talk with us and she continues to make introductions around town on our behalf.

We spent about an hour with Yvonne, the Senior Center Coordinator.  She was generous with her time and shared a lot about her hometown.  She also asked good questions.  Yvonne is also with Recreation Commission.  She is a photographer and does design work for posters and such.  We saw the team photograph poster she made for an neighboring town’s football team.  It’d be great if we can hire her for our show photos and maybe poster, etc. 

Some other things we learned (or re-learned) about Fowler:

They are into their school sports (Go Redcats!)

They have swim team events in summer time.  There’s a pool at the high school.

Until very recently the library was a storefront on Main Street.

There’s going to be a Father/Daughter Dance event in Feb & a Mother/Son event in May.  These are new community events promoted by Recreation.

There’s a Tree Lighting event on December 4.  This is a popular traditional event.

There’s a Car Show in May.  The farmer’s market begins in May, too. 

There’s July 4 Fireworks at the high school. Folks attend from neighboring towns.

There are quite a few churches including St Gregory’s Armenian Apostolic Church, the Buddhist Church and 3 Black churches.  According to Diane L., this proportion doesn’t match the demographic of Fowler but people come from other towns to attend.  Many of the churches work together on events.

Latinos, Anglos, Armenians, South Asians, a few African Americans and a few Japanese Americans live in Fowler.   They seem mostly middle class.

There are not many apartments in Fowler, esp east of the highway.  West of the highway there is a mobile home park and a residence motel (Fowler Motel), both look nicely maintained.

People tend to be involved in multiple roles for the community, such as Connie who works with the Boy/Cub Scouts, the Chamber of Commerce, Kids Break program and the Mothers’ Club.

Generally there are a lot of folks who like things as they are and as they have been for a long time—maybe resistant, or at least slow, to change. 

Others are interested in change and engagement and active civic pride.

Residents generally really love their town and are friendly.

First Circle I-7: gorgeous

something to know about Pacoima 2

                                                               (John McCoy/Staff Photographer)
Guillermo Manzo parks his 1984 Chevy Van on Glenoaks Blvd, next to Hansen Dam golf course everyday. The thing that is different about Mazo's van is, it is covered with over 100 bicycles. In reality, Manso does not drive the van anymore because he feels that it probably is not safe. Manzo began covering the van with bikes 3 years ago, and continues to add to his collection whenever he finds a suitable set of wheels.

The overburdened 1984 Chevy van has become a fixture of sorts on Glenoaks Boulevard near Hansen Dam Municipal Golf Course - a quirky roadside attraction that has drawn curious gawkers and finger-pointing, along with a few snickers.  The van is laden with old bicycles - dozens, perhaps up to 100 - covering the sides and top, strapped on and tied down with rope and string.

The van's owner, Guillermo Manzo of Pacoima, moves it around a few feet every day in a sometimes-successful bid to avoid parking tickets, but other than that it is virtually a permanent sight around the course.

"Someone called him the Bicycle King," said golfer Lloyd Carll of Los Angeles, who, like a lot of passers-by, found Manzo's bicycle-laden van a curiosity. "All those bikes on his van - I've seen modern art not half as interesting."

Rusted bikes. Busted bikes. Bikes with missing chains. Their condition doesn't matter to Manzo, 54, who says he collects and repairs the broken bicycles as a form of therapy for a broken life.  "These bicycles have been discarded and unwanted," Manzo said, speaking in Spanish. "I fix them and make them work. And in that way, I make my life work."

Years ago, according to relatives, Manzo emigrated to Southern California from the Mexican state of Michoacan. He married, worked steadily and fathered four grown children.  Manzo doesn't like talking about what happened next, except that a series of setbacks triggered a downward spiral - and began his bicycle collection.

"He's had some bad luck, losing his job (at a foundry) and being kicked out of his home by his wife when he was no longer bringing in a paycheck," said a niece who identified herself as Maria Tejas.
She and her husband took her uncle into their Sun Valley home, she said.  "We've given him a bedroom and a room over his head at night," Tejas said. "But he leaves real early each morning. He takes off to look for odd jobs or to salvage some bicycles - anything he can to make a few dollars and help him pay for his food."

Manzo said he scours trash bins and alleys for discarded bicycles - or sometimes buys a bike for a few dollars from a thrift shop. He then returns to his van where he piles them on top of his other bicycles.
The van is almost always parked somewhere near the golf course because he finds it safe - and because it is mechanically undriveable beyond a few feet.

"I move it every day just to keep from getting parking tickets," he said.  Sometimes, he said, he returns to find a bicycle or two gone, but for the most part he hasn't had much trouble.  "Who would want to steal these bicycles?" he asked. "I leave people alone, and people leave me alone."

Manzo wants it that way. He even doesn't care much about selling the bicycles he repairs, as if seeing them in operating condition alone is an affirmation of his own being.  "These bicycles help keep me sane," he said. "When I'm working on them, everything is so peaceful. Fixing them gives me tranquility.  "Each bicycle I fix is like a little miracle in my life."

by Tony Castro, staff writer for Daily News

original posted: 02/10/2010.   See the original article for more photos.

Pacoima Creates Community Forum Through Theatre

Unusual Suspects is a very cool theater company who's working with the Pacoima community-- been doing a few projects over the past year or so and continuing, as you can see from this story about an upcoming performance.

Pacoima Creates Community Forum Through Theatre

Sergio, a cast member from their previous production in the partnerships mentioned in the article-- Life! Love! Lies!, it was called-- called to learn about auditions for It's All Bueno.  He says he'll be there.

something to know about Pacoima 1

Community Mourns Ida Kinney, oldest African American in the San Fernando Valley, dies at 104 -- January 10, 2009 -- LA Times
By Valerie J. Nelson

Ida B. Kinney worked on the campaigns of several presidents, lobbied to establish a Pacoima senior center and helped the NAACP push initiatives.

Kinney launched a successful campaign to integrate the Lockheed Corp. union during World War II and was a driving force for civil rights in the Valley.
Ida B. Kinney, a 104-year-old who was believed to be the oldest African American in the San Fernando Valley and who was a driving force for civil rights in the region, died Jan 1.

Affectionately nicknamed "Mother" Kinney, she died of complications related to old age at the Lake View Terrace home of her caregiver, Christel Flynn.

"She was living history," state Sen. Alex Padilla (D- Pacoima) told The Times. "She was a living reminder that not that long ago, our country was breaking civil-rights barriers."

In 1999, Padilla was campaigning for the Los Angeles City Council when he knocked on her Pacoima door. Stories started spilling out of Kinney, the granddaughter of slaves. A mesmerized Padilla stayed for four hours.

As one of the first African American "Rosie the Riveters" to work at Burbank's Lockheed Corp. during World War II, Kinney launched a successful drive to integrate the union.

She was working in a berry patch when she was hired in 1943 by the defense company. She was paid the same as her white colleagues -- but was prohibited from joining the union.

When a fellow worker learned that she took home more money, Kinney responded: "You pay union dues. But I don't because I was born black," she said in 2006 in the Daily News of Los Angeles.

That infuriated some of her co-workers, Padilla recalled, "and the next thing you know, the union was integrated."

Kinney was happy to pay dues because it meant she wasn't being treated differently because of her skin color.

"I told them: 'I don't want to ride on anyone's back -- I want to contribute just like everyone else,' " she said in 1997 in The Times. "I used to eat my lunch with a sandwich in one hand and a petition in the other."

After the war, she started substitute teaching in Bakersfield and later taught in Los Angeles.

She also helped organize the Valley's first Head Start program, remaining involved with it until 1974.

In Pacoima, Kinney helped establish the senior center by relentlessly lobbying her City Council representative. She also played a key role in creating the Pacoima Boys & Girls Club.

The Rev. Zedar Broadous, a Los Angeles County commissioner on human relations, called her influence on the Valley "immeasurable."

"Much of the positive change that has occurred in the San Fernando Valley among African Americans as well as seniors is because of her," he said.

An only child, she was born Ida Ford on May 25, 1904, in Lafayette County, Ark. Since her mother, Bessie, was a maid and cook, Kinney was raised mainly by her grandparents on their Arkansas cotton farm. By selling cotton, her grandparents had bought their freedom from slavery.

As a child, Kinney was shot in the leg by a Ku Klux Klan member in a dispute. It was possibly over the planting of flowers, she later recalled.

When she was 16, she moved to Santa Monica with her mother, who worked as a housekeeper. To prevent Kinney from following in her footsteps, her mother refused to teach her to cook.

Instead, she sent her to college. Kinney spent a year at Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Ark., and another year at UCLA before marrying Carl Binion. She eventually earned a bachelor's degree in sociology in 1970 from what is now Cal State Northridge.

Widowed in 1939 after a decade of marriage, Kinney soon moved from Santa Monica to a white neighborhood in Van Nuys. The chilly reception she received was reflected in the 16 parking tickets she was given over two months.

"They were trying to move me out. They were ignorant and backward," Kinney said in the Daily News in 1999, but a judge dismissed the tickets.

In 1952, she married Perry Kinney, a construction worker. When they purchased their Pacoima home in 1954, they had a white friend pose as the buyer.

A committed volunteer, Kinney helped the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People push through initiatives on the local and state level, said Jose De Sosa, a former NAACP officer.

The deeply religious Kinney also was a founding member of Pacoima's Greater Community Missionary Baptist Church, the first African American church in the Valley.

Independent and energetic, Kinney refused all medications until shortly before her death, her caregiver said. The aloe vera plant was Kinney's cure-all.

Her husband, Perry, also lived to be 104 and died in 2004.

Kinney is survived by her cousins in St. Louis, Mayetta Miller, 107, and Evelyn Green, believed to be 97; a  stepgrandson and a stepgranddaughter.

Services will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at Greater Community Missionary Baptist Church, 11066 Norris Ave., Pacoima.