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CRA News May 2002
Selected articles from the newsletter of the Carmel Residents Association
Marta and Tom Korper, right, display the Certificate of Appreciation presented to them by CRA President Monte Miller, left, and Treasurer Peggy Purchase. The Korpers are longtime members and supporters of the Carmel Residents Association. (See story below.)
CRA Meeting -- The Magic of Robinson Jeffers and Tor House
| Thursday, May 23 -- CRA Meeting | |
| 4:45 p.m. -- Alex Vardamis -- Robinson
Jeffers and Tor House Vista Lobos Meeting Room, Torres between 3rd & 4th Following the meeting, delicious hot and cold hors d'oeuvres |
|
We are fortunate to have one of the foremost experts on poet Robinson Jeffers as a speaker at CRA's May meeting--our own Alex Vardamis. President of both the local Tor House Foundation and the Robinson Jeffers Association, a nationwide university-based organization dedicated to promoting the study of the poet, Alex will discuss the poet's life, his poetic importance and Tor House itself. Owned by the Tor House Foundation since 1978, this magnificent stone structure was preserved largely through the efforts of the late Fred Farr, Donan and Lee Jeffers and other dedicated locals. The city of Carmel-by-the-Sea owns 10% of the building, having contributed $10,000 toward its purchase. Lee Jeffers, Donan's widow, lived at Tor House until her death in December, 1999. Her cottage now houses the office of the Tor House Foundation.
Alex Vardamis, a native of Bangor, Maine, has a Bachelor's Degree from West Point, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature from Columbia University. Author of an influential text in Jeffers' studies, The Critical Reputation of Robinson Jeffers, he has written extensively on modern American Literature.
During his military career, our speaker was a professor of English at West Point, an exchange officer with the German army and defense attaché in both Norway and Greece. He was a Fellow at Harvard University and Director of European Studies at the U.S. Army War College, and he served in Viet Nam.
Retiring from the military as a colonel, Vardamis taught at Dickinson State University, in North Dakota, and for ten years at the University of Vermont, in Burlington, where he received an award for teaching excellence. During 95-96, he was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship and taught American studies in Norway. Last year, he taught a Gentrain Course at MPC on Steinbeck and Jeffers.
Equally active, Alex's wife Fran is the author of Russian Doll, a detective novel dealing with international terrorism, set in Athens, Greece. A second novel, Ancestral Voices, is scheduled for publication in early 2002. She is also well known for her work as a Norwegian-English translator. Fran serves on the Harrison Memorial Library Board, as president of the Friends of the Harrison Memorial Library and editor of the Tor House Newsletter.
CRA set for Forest Theater on July
12
A wonderful summer event for CRA
members and friends has been planned for Friday, July 12, at the Outdoor
Forest Theater! At 6:30 p.m., we will enjoy a delicious dinner catered
by Ron Benedetti, followed by the Forest Theater Guild's production
of Fiddler on the Roof. The cost for the dinner is $18 and
the ticket, $12. Please send your check by July 6, made out to
CRA, for $30 for both the dinner and performance, to Mary Pankonin.
(Call her at 622-0531 for information on where to mail the check.)
Because we will have paid the caterer and Forest Theater Guild,
no additions or refunds can be made after July 6. If you have
questions, please call Mary at 622-0531.
Remember to bring your own liquid refreshments, warm coats, hats,
gloves and blankets.
The hard-working event committee, headed by Mary Pankonin,
includes Lisa Budlong, Sandra Benson, Diane Flanders,
Flo Snyder and Brie Tripp.
President's Message
It's been a good year serving a great organization
by Monte Miller
My term of office is drawing to a close.
How time flies when you are having fun! In both my Air Force and civilian
careers I have always been middle management. Then all of a sudden I was
promoted to be "President" of CRA, a 600+ membership. Roberta, my wife,
kept me from having a swelled head. It was also quite startling to be
the one where the buck stops. I heard about my mistakes in no uncertain
terms, although these comments were mitigated by unsolicited compliments
about how nice a particular program was, or that a policy change was appreciated.
The Board kept me on course from some of my wild ideas so that tradition
was never violated.
Things about my term that were pleasing:
Our general meetings followed by either refreshments or dinner at one
of our fine Carmel restaurants--these programs included topics on historic
preservation, the Coastal Commission, Afghanistan, the beautiful parks
and trails of Carmel, time travel to the Civil War with Isaiah Turner,
and our very own Howard Skidmore, in a fascinating discussion of celebrities
who have known him.
Our new member coffees, which proved to be very successful--we are far
behind, however, because of the number of new members. So be patient as
it will take quite a while to take care of the 90 or so new members who
haven't yet been invited. We found that about 20 invitees at a time allows
everyone to get a chance to talk with each other.
Our social and fund raising events--these included BBQs, dinner at the
Forest Theater, a joint fund-raising effort for Sunset Center with the
Carmel Business Association and the Beach Cleanup marchers in the city's
birthday parade.
Our civic activities--Citizen of the Year, the Voter Forum and our monthly
Beach Cleanup.
Most of all, I enjoyed the chance to meet and chat with the many members
who participated as volunteers or attendees at our events.
Things about my term that were somewhat disconcerting:
The shots our organization took during the recent campaign--I tried hard
to steer a course of dealing with issues rather than supporting any particular
candidate. We still suffered slings and arrows from newspaper letters,
articles and editorials. We have members from all sides of the political
spectrum and all we asked of them was to vote as they saw fit. I believe,
unless the membership wants to change these policies, that we should continue
this approach.
Not enough members attend council and commission meetings. The following
quote from the beginning of the Brown Act states best why we should
stay informed:
| "The people of this State do not yield their sovereignty to the agencies which serve them. The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know. The people insist on remaining informed so that they may retain control over the instruments they have created." |
May is annual dues month when all members
must reaffirm their membership. It is also the time to let us know on
the dues-return envelope how you would like to help. We maintain a data
base of those who have volunteered for various activities like handing
out information flyers at the Post Office, the Beach Cleanup or working
on our many social events. If we can get an e-mail address from you, it
reduces the number of telephone calls we have to make when significant
events occur that require member notification.
I will present the new slate of officers, elected by the Board, at our
May 23rd general meeting. In addition, I will announce the new and renewed
Board members elected by the membership during April and early May. At
that time I will hand over the gavel to our new president. The hors d'oeuvres
after the meeting will be provided this month by Board members to give
our usual willing helpers a break. Thank you for your continuing support
of the Board and its officers. I especially appreciate all the enthusiastic
efforts from the many volunteers who are the backbone of our organization.
Ordinance to limit number of art
galleries placed on hold
A long-awaited ordinance which would
place a numeric limit on the ever-increasing number of art galleries
in Carmel was included on the agenda of the May 8 Planning Commission
meeting. However, when the meeting reached that point, a letter was
read advising that the matter be "tabled." Commission Chair Frank
Wasko, when asked, said, "I understand that it was the City Administrator
who wanted the ordinance off the agenda." We had hoped to find out
more information on the status of this ordinance. Unfortunately, we
played "phone tag" with City Administrator Rich Guillen and
Planning Director Christi diIorio but were unable to talk with
either of them before CRA News press time.
COUNCIL WATCH
- At the May 7 City Council meeting,
Mayor McCloud appointed Dick Ely Mayor pro tem
and Paula Hazdovac as an ex officio member of Carmel Business
Association Board of Directors.
- Because the council had rescinded
its approval on April 18 of the 12th Avenue Stair project after pulling
a routine-looking item from the Consent Calendar, CRA President Monte
Miller asked the City Council to ensure that agenda items in the
future were printed in clearer language to give the public an idea of
what kind of action could be taken.
- The City Council decided to postpone
action on the formation of a citizen Community Traffic Safety Commission
until the June 4 meeting. Although originally proposed as an effort
to use less staff time, city staff in an August 8, 2000 memo, argued,
"The existing [staff] committee believes that replacing the current
membership with citizen members will multiply the demands on staff time
rather than reduce demands." The ad hoc committee appointed to study
the issue recommended that the citizen committee be formed. At the council
meeting, Councilman Rose said that the purpose of this commission is
to "wrest control from staff." Councilwoman Livingston pointed out that
cities she had contacted--Sedona, Sausalito, Monterey and Sonoma--all
use staff traffic committees.
- Unfortunately, this year's budget
meetings (See calendar) are already scheduled.
However, we hope that in the future the city will hold at least one
budget meeting in the friendlier "Town Hall" format. Although this practice
was dropped after the 2000 election, we feel that a more informal setting
makes it far easier for residents to express their opinions. Many are
uncomfortable having to use a podium and microphone at council or commission
meetings and, thus, do not speak or even attend.
- In order to conform with the Federal
Clean Water Act, the city will have to spend considerable funds on its
storm water drainage system. Currently the city pays around $203,000
for storm water control, but in order to conform with new guidelines,
the tab will be closer to $500,000. In 2001 the council formed a Storm
Water Utility which includes a provision to charge a fee to users. The
city is currently planning a three-month public information program
with the intent of beginning in July to charge residents $10.13 per
month, which would generate around $500,000 per year. Public Works Director
Jim Cullem hopes to hold an informational town meeting on the
subject. It is not clear if this fee must be voted on by Carmel residents.
- Committees have been appointed to 1) study consultant reports on file with the city, including master plans for the Forest Theater and the Scout House; and 2) study whether or not to replace the Scenic restrooms with a permanent facility. We hope that the first priority will be to restore the portable units, no matter what the final decision might be, since a permanent solution would take many months.
Beach Cleanup
Saturday, May 25
10 a.m. - noon
* Volunteers meet at foot
of Ocean Avenue
* Please bring gloves
* Coffee and pastries served courtesy of Caffe Cardinale and Carmel
Bakery
St Moritz Sweaters awarded a Certificate of Appreciation by CRA
St. Moritz Sweaters,
located on the south side of Ocean between Dolores and Lincoln, was a
recent recipient of a Certificate of Appreciation from the Carmel Residents
Association.
Tom Korper was born in Switzerland and moved to Argentina when his father's
company relocated. Marta is a native Argentinian. Their small, family-operated
shop, opened in 1982, is filled with an impressive array of beautiful
American-made and imported fine woolens, cotton, cashmere, alpaca, angora
and hand-knit products. This is a Carmel shop that gives you a quality
product for a reasonable price.
The Korpers routinely offer a 10% discount to Carmel residents. However,
they said that since June will mark their 20th anniversary in business,
they are offering a 20% discount to all Carmel Residents Association
members during the month.
OLD CARMEL
by Connie Wright
Those MacGowan Sisters
and the Carmel Bunch
The MacGowan House on 13th Ave.
is a familiar landmark
Alice MacGowan (1858-1947) and Grace
MacGowan Cooke (1863-1944) came to Carmel in 1908 with Grace's two daughters,
Helen and Katherine. Preceding them in the move were George "the King
of Bohemia" and Carrie Sterling, Mary Austin, Arnold Genthe, Jimmy Hopper,
Nora May French and Mike and Peggy Williams. Jack and Charmian London,
Ambrose Bierce and others stayed briefly.
Previously the McGowan sisters had been residents of Helicon Hall, an
experiment in socialist living in Englewood, New Jersey, established by
Upton Sinclair in 1906. Members included every kind of left wing and crank
group. A temporary drop out from Yale, Harry "Hal" Sinclair Lewis was
the somewhat incompetent furnace tender. When the Hall burned in March,
1907, Alice and Grace were injured jumping from a second-story window
and lost all their notes and manuscripts.
The sisters followed Upton Sinclair to Carmel in 1908, where he was attempting
to start a socialist utopian open air community. Their house on 13th,
2 N.E. of San Antonio, is two story, pseudo Tudor with a stone chimney
and cantilevered bay window. The house was originally almost all alone
on a bluff facing the bay. The cove below is now called Cooke's Cove,
after Grace. Sinclair Lewis described the scene as "a drift of redwood
bungalows lost among the pines." The house became a focal point for gatherings
of the Bohemian colony and Cooke's Cove became a favorite spot for mussel
and abalone feasts and picnics. Tenderizing the abalone was accompanied
by the singing of the Abalone Song, whose composition was a communal
effort.
Carmel has been described as "the first rural colony of American men and
women of art and letters." These Bohemians gathered here because living
was cheap and informal. They could eat abalone, mussels, salmon, quail
or other game. There was the Pine Inn, built in 1904, and a general store.
For the rest, merchants from Monterey were used. There was no electricity
or gas; no paved roads--Main Street was a washboard of mud; and there
were paths through the woods on which the residents travelled by foot.
Some of the Bohemians loafed, but the MacGowans were self-supporting,
professional writers with schedules, working from morning until midnight,
stopping only for meals and an afternoon drive. They had an office and
reference books, but no secretary. Grace wired Sinclair Lewis in New York,
who arrived scruffy, malnourished and penniless, as usual. It is doubtful
that he performed any secretarial duties at all and Grace sent him packing
when she heard him make a remark about Helen. He left, owing Grace $150,
but George Sterling got him a job on a San Francisco newspaper.
The MacGowan sisters wrote historical romances, social novels, mysteries,
Westerns, local color stories and children's fiction. Often they collaborated
with themselves or others. Alice wrote five mystery novels with Perry
Newberry. While their fiction is certainly not prize winning, it is interesting
in that they take up "modern" subjects. The Power and the Glory
(1910) deals with conditions in the cotton mills and child labor; Wild
Apples (1918) is the story of an unwed mother; and a series of stories
for Everybody's Magazine explored the racial question in the South.
Despite the delightful surroundings and the relaxed atmosphere, people
frequently became depressed and suicidal. In 1907, Nora May French took
cyanide and died in the Sterlings' cottage; in 1913, Carrie Sterling left
George, unable to put up with his alcoholism and womanizing. In 1916,
Jack London, alcoholic and feeling that life had no purpose, died of kidney
disease or perhaps suicide. And, in 1918, Carrie Sterling, depressed and
destitute in Oakland, took cyanide.
In 1926, Sinclair Lewis, now the highly successful author of three best
sellers, Main Street, Babbitt and Arrowsmith, came
to San Francisco and visited George Sterling, who was living at the Bohemian
Club at the expense of an anonymous benefactor, as a curious kind of historic
relic. Lewis bought a Buick touring car and motored down to the Del Monte
Lodge, owned by a Yale classmate, Sam Morse (whom he had not known at
Yale). Lewis wrote to his father:
| "Here I am a mile from my old haunts at Carmel. Gosh how the whole place has changed. Carmel is about three times as big as it used to be, and where once the main street had just simple, ordinary grocery stores and so on, now it has arty shops selling English pottery and French lamp shades and that sort of junk; where once everyone was poor and simple and walked, wearing corduroy trousers and flannel shirts and sneakers, now they ride, in fairly expensive cars, and wear smart English tweeds; where once we went picnicking on the rocks, carrying our grub in baskets, they go over to the Del Monte Grill to dine and dance ... and those same once wild rocky shores, so free and uninhabited then, are covered with expensive homes. All in fifteen years!" |
Lewis interested Alfred Harcourt, his
publisher, in publishing a book of George Sterling's San Francisco literary
reminiscences. But before the project could go forward, George, in despair,
took cyanide.
Through it all, the MacGowan sisters soldiered on, but by 1928 the taste
of the reading public had changed and their careers were finished.
Local History Lecture
The year's final local
history lecture will feature Wei Chang, well-known local photographer,
talking about the life and art of his grandfather, master painter Chang
Dai-Chien. The event will be held at 7 p.m., Monday, May 27 in Carpenter
Hall at Sunset Center.
Heralded as the best-known Chinese painter of the 20th Century, Chang
Dai-Chien (1899-1983) derived a modern, international style from the Chinese
art tradition. He left China during the revolution of 1949 and lived in
many countries before coming to California. He moved to the Monterey Peninsula
in 1956, owning homes in Carmel and Pebble Beach. His work was greatly
inspired by the local landscape of our area.
Our Favorite Places
A Great Barber
Shop
Clayton Anderson says, "If you want a top-notch haircut, you don't
have to leave Carmel-by-the-Sea. Michael Maryk's Princetonian is
right here in Carmel and he does a great job of barbering. Or, if you
need hair replacement, he is an expert on that too.
"Michael Maryk, a long-time CRA member, doesn't review movies--he writes
them and is a successful screen writer with a new film coming out this
summer. The movie, 13th Child--The Legend of the Jersey Devil,
featuring Cliff Robertson, Leslie-Ann Down, Robert Guilleaume and Christopher
Atkins, includes an eight-foot-tall rendering of America's oldest monster
legend, the Jersey Devil."
Old Carmel
|
They will forget the chaparral --Valerie Gough Reprinted from a March, 1943
edition of the |
Remember that your City Council is on T.V.
City Council meetings
are taped and re-broadcast
Sundays, 8 a.m. - 12 noon on
KMST Channel 26
