A FREE Publication ISSUE EIGHTY FOUR • AUGUST • 2022 Profile: Ironman Dr. Robert Plant Spotlight: Civil War Round Table MicroClimate: Miracle League/Park Plans Cleaning Lake TahoeOne Piece at a Time
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August 2022 · CLIMATE · 3 T • LETTER FROM THE EDITOR •
Scott Dailey, Editor
When evenings are hot, who wants to spend time cooking? Our new food columnist, Susan Jenkins, offers a refreshing Thai dish called Drunken Noodles, which takes just 30 minutes to prepare. Susan is a much-admired author who loves to create recipes ranging from the exotic to the everyday. She’s currently working on — what else? — a new cookbook.
And let’s not forget the shooting stars we see around this time. In a Hollywood sense, San Carlos had one of its own — Irene Manning, whose film career during World War II was as brief as it was brilliant. Jim Clifford’s monthly Peninsula history column appears on page 30.
Last, we have upgraded the beach house. Our “Around Town” feature is now called “In Case You Missed It.” The new name reflects the column’s mission to chronicle memories of Peninsula events. I thinks that’s as far as I can stretch this summertime theme. Enjoy the August issue!
Historians tell us that soldiers in the Civil War’s three-day Battle of Gettysburg fought in hot and humid conditions before the Union Army prevailed on July 3, 1863. For the past 50 years, a discussion group called the Peninsula Civil War Round Table has dissected the five-year conflict and its lasting effects on American life. You can read about this fascinating organization starting on page 16. No matter the temperature or time of year, Redwood City dentist Bob Plant is out running. And cycling. And swimming. At 79, he’s not only one of the world’s top age-group triathletes. He’s still taking care of teeth. Climate’s Dan Brown caught up with him (for a moment, at least) before Plant’s inauguration this month into the USA Triathlon Hall of Fame. Dan’s profile starts on page 24. Late summer is also a great time to play baseball and hang out in the park. Our MicroClimate department this month reports on the Miracle League, a baseball association for disabled children and adults on the Peninsula. It also reveals plans for a string of new parks that would connect downtown Redwood City with the bay’s cooling breezes.
The final weeks of summer vacation have arrived. In many places, this time of year is called the “dog days” — but not because it’s so hot that people want to lie around like a dog. It’s because Sirius, also known as the dog star, rises beside the sun. The ancient Greeks and Romans rightly equated that phenomenon, beginning in July and carrying into August, with the hottest days of the year. As the weather heats up, many on the Peninsula head for Lake Tahoe. Summer and winter, “Big Blue” attracts 15 million annual visitors. Alas, a growing number leave behind so much trash that a post-Independence Day cleanup this year netted almost 3,500 pounds from the lake’s beaches. The refuse often blows into the lake, where it sinks to the bottom. That bothered Peninsula residents Jamie, Kathy and Lindsay Kopf so much that they started a foundation to remove rubbish from the lake floor. Their story begins on page 8.
4 · CLIMATE · August 2022 • TABLE OF CONTENTS • FEATURE Cleaning Lake Tahoe SPOTLIGHT8 Civil War Round Table PROFILE16 Ironman Dr. Robert Plant MICROCLIMATE24 Miracle League/Park Plans 14 IN CASE YOU MISSED IT ..... 20 FOOD ............................ 28 HISTORY 30 On the cover: The underwater drone operated by the Restoring the Lake Depths Foundation prepares to dive and retrieve garbage from the bottom of Lake Tahoe.
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6 · CLIMATE · August 2022 • CLIMATE • CLIMATE MAGAZINE Publisher S.F. Bay Media Group Editor Scott Dailey scott@climaterwc.com Creative Director Jim Kirkland jim@climaterwc.com Contributing Writers Scott Dailey Dan Brown Susan Jenkins Janet McGovern Jim Kirkland Jim Clifford Photography Jim Kirkland Editorial Board Scott Dailey Jim AdamKirklandAlberti Advisory Board Dee Eva Jason ConnieGalisatusGuerreroMattLarsenDennisLogieClemMolonyBarbValley CLIMATE magazine is a monthly publication by S.F. Bay Media Group, a California Corporation. Entire contents ©2022 by S.F. Bay Media Group. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use in any manner without permission is strictly prohibited. CLIMATE is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or artwork. CLIMATE offices are located at 570 El Camino Real, Ste. 150 #331 Redwood City, CA 94063. Printed in the U.S.A. INDOOR/OUTDOOR SEATING AVAILABLE! • OPEN EVERY DAY To order, please call (650) 369-1646 • 587 Canyon Rd, Redwood City Family Restaurant Serving Neighborhood Customers for 48 Years GourmetExcellentBurgers,Pizza,FreshSalad&Sandwiches,MexicanFood,TheImpossibleBurger&More!
August 2022 · CLIMATE · 7 • CLIMATE • ART EXHIBIT DATES & HOURS July 28 and August 25 11:00am–1:00pm ArtConnecting Communit yA BRIDGE UNDERSTANDINGTO San Mateo County Artists7 Jose Castro ■ Elizabeth Gomez ■ Winsor Kinkade Pedro Rivas Lopez ■ Manuel Ortiz Maria Sanchez ■ Laurie Satizabal FIRST ART EXHIBITION at the CZI Community Space, 801 Jefferson St. Redwood City OpenScancameracodeRegister admin@rwcpaf.orgQuestions?Onlineregistrationisrequiredthreedaysinadvance. August 5th Reggae: Native Elements August 12th Salsa: Edgardo August 19th Foreigner Tribute: Foreigner Unauthorized August 26th Michael Jackson: Neverland / Jewelry on the Square September 2nd Steely Dan & Chicago: Steel N Chicago Redwood City Downtown Business GroupMusic on the SquareCome see us at the beer and wine booth
Cleaning Up California’s
• FEATURE • 8 · CLIMATE · August 2022
The Restoring the Lake Depths Foundation is racing to remove Tahoe's underwater trash.
• FEATURE • August 2022 · CLIMATE · 9
California’s Favorite Lake Peninsula residents use high-tech “gripper” to snatch junk from the bottom of Lake Tahoe.
By Scott Dailey It all started when a gust of wind blew Kathy Kopf’s hat into Lake NotTahoe.only did Kopf lose her favorite chapeau, made for her by a friend. She also realized she had inadvertently con tributed to the scatter of debris accumulating at the bottom of one of California’s best-loved destinations. The sting of losing to the breeze gradually wore off. But Kopf still found herself bugged by the deeper issue. How much junk was down there, up to 1,645 feet below Tahoe’s surface? How was it affecting the lake’s ecosystem? And what was anybody doing about it?
10 · CLIMATE · August 2022 • FEATURE •
Attached to the ROV is a 300-me ter-long yellow cord that contains the eight wires connecting the device both to the controller and a laptop that displays the video images the machine transmits as it descends and then hovers above the lake floor. As Fontecchio pulls the cord from a large spool and feeds it into the water, he looks exactly like the fly fisherman he is. Tisdell sits amidships under the boat’s canopy, facing the stern and gazing at the laptop, whose stiff, gray fabric hood blocks the daylight so he can see the screen.
Crew-cut and clad in shorts and a T-shirt, Fontecchio shifts to the back of the boat and carefully slips the ROV into the water. Floating on the surface, it looks for all the world like a very expensive bathtub toy. “In a very big bathtub,” Lindsay quips.
Tons of Trash Like many fellow residents of the Peninsula, Kopf and her husband, Jamie, had been va cationing at Tahoe for decades. They met there at a family July 4 celebration 48 years ago, just after Kathy graduated from Woodside High School. Fourand-a-half years later, after college and Jamie’s army ser vice, they were married there. Today, they own a home there. And they have both become heartsick watching a splendid resource gradually devolve into one big trash heap. “It’s terrible,” Jamie says. “People come up for the day and leave all this junk on the beach, and it all rolls off into the lake.”Eventually, their annoyance spurred them to action. In 2020, even as Covid shut down most of the world, they recruited their 31-year-old daughter Lindsay and formed a foundation to clean up the lake bottom. The nonprofit organization, called the Restoring the Lake Depths Foundation, aims to pick up all the debris on Tahoe’s lakebed — for a start. The long-term goal is to do the same with every navigable lake in California and Nevada. Seed money from Jamie and Kathy bought a 21-foot outboard aluminum cruiser and the core of the operation, a light blue “remotely operated vehicle,” or ROV, equipped with what amounts to an oversized pair of pliers. Operated with a small, handheld device that looks and works just like a video-game controller, the ROV dives below the surface and grabs trash from the lake bottom. Others at Tahoe, notably a group led by a local scuba diver, are also working to glean trash from the lake. Their efforts, however, are limited to areas close to shore and only up to around 25 feet deep. The Kopfs believe their organization is the only procedure includes using a vac uum pump to check for leaks; if water were to seep into the ROV, it could foul the electrical system and a $20,000 piece of equipment could go belly-up. Lindsay Kopf, meanwhile, sits opposite Fontecchio and de scribes how she came to be the foundation’s executive director. Two years ago, she was work ing as the compliance officer for various car dealerships, includ ing the Kopf family’s Board walk Auto Mall in Redwood City. Her job focused on making sure people observed governmental regulations and other rules covering all aspects of the business. That sometimes led to unwelcome conflict. As Lindsay says, “People don’t like to be told when they’re doing something wrong.”
one in the West that’s using an ROV to re trieve lake trash at depths of up to 100 feet.
An Early Start At 7:30 on a cool, cloudless morning, the foundation’s boat and another craft bear ing a photographer are the only vessels visible on the vast, deep blue lake. The granite peaks of the surrounding moun tains soar about the timberline as the boats race from Tahoe Keys Marina, on the Cal ifornia side, to Nevada waters just beyond the state line. (The foundation is licensed to operate in Nevada, but still must leap a few bureaucratic hurdles in California. The Kopfs hope to be working in the Golden State by next year.)
When Jamie and Kathy approached her, she thought, “Hmm. Work in a stress ful job where people hate to see me come around, or live at Tahoe and try to do something good for the world?” She’s glad she chose the obvious. “I don’t have to be rough and tough anymore,” she laughs.
Driving the lead boat is Scott Fontec chio, a robotics expert and retired Tahoe business owner who is now the founda tion’s operations director. While he steers the boat, Operations Assistant James Tis dell prepares the ROV, a model BlueROV2 manufactured by a company called Blue Robotics, to go underwater. His pre-dive “It’s terrible. People come up for the day and leave all this junk on the beach, and it all rolls off into the lake.”
The shores of Lake Tahoe after the recent July 4 celebration. Photo courtesy of U.S. Forest Service.
On this warm Friday morning, with the boat anchored and the ROV sending its video images, the pickings at first ap pear slim. The machine glides through the deep, displaying only pictures of the sand below. Short, irregular ridges make the lake bottom appear a bit like the surface of the moon. Then, finally, a small dark spot shows up on the computer screen. Tisdell directs the ROV closer, and in this land of towering lakeside casinos, the team antici pates a payoff. No dice. It’s a pinecone. On the one hand, it’s disappointing because it isn’t trash. On the other, it’s re object from the floor of the lake. When the ROV surfaces, it’s grasping a slashed, rub ber-covered baseball. “I can’t believe I got that,” Tisdell exclaims.“Nice job,” says Fontecchio, in a genu inely congratulatory tone that nonetheless implies they do it all the time. And, generally, they do. By Fontec chio’s estimation, they’ve come up empty just once in two years. “But that’s good news,” he says of being skunked. “It means there’s not a plethora of garbage downStill,there.”there’s enough to bother not just Fontecchio, Tisdell and the Kopfs, but others from the Peninsula who call Lake Tahoe their second home. assuring because the cone is part of nature. It willThestay.hunt resumes. A minute or two later, the video stream reveals a small, white sphere, settled against a log. There’s just one problem. Beside it lies a jumble of rope that could snare the ROV’s cord. “Too small – throw it back,” Tisdell says. “Catch and release,” laughs Fontecchio, the fly fisherman. Then they reconsider. Tisdell maneu vers the ROV to the other side of the log. Now the target sits between the log and the rope. Fontecchio encourages Tisdell to try if he thinks it’s safe. “It’s going to be a tough grab,” Tisdell muses aloud as he lowers the ROV from above the log. Nudging the controls to squeeze the mechanical jaws, he eases the On a recent day, the take included a plastic cup, two pairs of sunglasses, a hair scrunchie, a watch band, scraps of cardboard and a large, red tarp, presumably a boat cover.
Left: James Tisdell manuevers the ROV along the lake bottom in search of trash. Below: Scott Fontecchio hauls up the ROV after a catch.
Powered by a lithium-ion battery, four small thrusters move the ROV up, down and around as Tisdell manipulates the controller. The underwater appara tus heads straight for the bottom, 73 feet down. There, it will cruise at 1.5 meters per second, a foot or two above the lakebed to avoid stirring up clouds of sediment.
August 2022 · CLIMATE · 11 • FEATURE •
During the five days a week when the boat is operating, Tisdell logs every “catch” from the 6- or 7-hour voyage. On a recent day, the take included a plastic cup, two pairs of sunglasses, a hair scrunchie, a watch band, scraps of cardboard and a large, red tarp, presumably a boat cover. Jamie says sunglasses and baseball caps are the items most often found. Perhaps the strangest discovery: A lawn mower. That led to a joke about fishing for dorado but catching an El Toro. The team also frequently hauls up small, personal video cameras. Tisdell says they’re his favorite finds, explaining, “We get plastics, batteries and electrical compo nents all at once.”
Below left: The prize, a baseball.
Deepwater Angling Now, the search begins. In a sense, it’s just high-tech fishing, with a light and a video camera instead of a sonar-based fish-find er. (The foundation recently obtained so nar equipment, which will be employed in deeper water too dark for the videocam.)
The intrepid crew: Scott Fontecchio, Lindsay Kopf and James Tisdell.
12 · CLIMATE · August 2022 • FEATURE • “It’s the place that I go to for peace and quiet and nature,” says Susan Kimmel, who with her husband Brian owns Clock Tower Music on Laurel Street in San Car los along with a house near Tahoe’s North Shore. Kimmel has been going to the lake regularly since her youth in the late 1970s. Lounging in the water, she says, is “just like being a kid again. You’re out there just splashing around and having fun.”
screen and other refuse on the lakebed as he has finished the race. He thinks it de tracts from the experience. “It happens in the forest, as well,” he laments. “Any time I see debris, I just feel so bad because it’s such a beautiful envi ronment that you want to keep it pristine.”
No doubt it will, if a sizable number of Tahoe’s 15 million annual visitors keep strewing their garbage. San Francisco tele vision station KRON reported on July 6 that the annual, all-volunteer Keep Tahoe Red, White and Blue Beach Cleanup col lected 3,450 pounds of rubbish the day af ter the Fourth of July. Last May, another group called Clean Up the Lake said it had finished the initial segment of a planned circumnavigation of shallower waters along Tahoe’s shoreline. On 189 expeditions covering 72 miles, scu ba divers retrieved nearly 25,000 pieces of litter that together weighed approximately the same number of pounds. The daily breeze helps the trash find the lake. Famed for its calm surface and ex cellent water skiing in the morning, Tahoe gets windy and choppy by midafternoon.
Dwindling Clarity With that in mind, she’s concerned about Tahoe’s water quality. “It’s incredibly im portant that the lake stay the way it’s been over all these years,” she says. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reports that the lake’s clarity has declined by around a third since 1968. According to a recent article on SFGate, scientists mainly blame sediment carried by melting snow from the mountains that ring the lake. Despite a reported $2.6 billion thrown at the problem over the last 20 years, annual measurements during that time show av erage visibility leveling off at between 60 and 70 feet below the surface, compared with 100 feet more than a half-century ago. Even so, San Carlos engineer Fernan do Bravo says the Tahoe Basin “feels like paradise.” Bravo enjoys hiking and moun tain biking, as well as playing golf on the region’s many courses. He especially likes to swim in the Trans Tahoe Relay, an 11.5mile race from Sand Harbor in Nevada to Dollar Point in California. Sponsored by San Francisco’s Olympic Club, the event last year reportedly drew more than 1,200 competitors.Bravosays his favorite part is the last leg, where the water gradually be comes shallower and the lake floor emerges into view. “As you come in, the whole bottom of the lake just becomes clear,” he says. “It’s just such a beautiful transition.”
Informed of the foundation’s work, Kim mel and Bravo immediately offered to vol unteer. “I love lakes,” Bravo says. “And the Tahoe lake is just one of our world’s most valuable treasures. We want to maintain it for our future generations. It’s wonderful what they’re Volunteersdoing.”—and money — will be needed for the foundation to reach its am bitious goals. Soon, Lindsay wants to ac quire an additional two boats and ROVs, and hire two more crews. The foundation’s webpage, www.restoremylake.org, reports $60,000 in recent contributions. Come this November, when operations shut down In the lake’s watery underworld, debris settles almost as quickly as the foundation can pick it up. Says Jamie: “This is going to go on forever.”
From time to time, Bravo says, he has seen sunglasses, plastic bottles of sun until the spring, Lindsay will switch into fundraising mode. She estimates that, ultimately, the foundation’s mission to clean every nav igable lake in California and Nevada will cost millions. According to various sourc es, California holds more than 3,000 lakes. Nevada has 36, including Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the U.S. (The founda tion might get by with a vacuum cleaner on the cracked, muddy bed of Lake Mead, whose shrinking waters have reached a record low.)
Climbing Uphill Just tidying Tahoe is a Sisyphean un dertaking. In Greek mythology, a king named Sisyphus (SIS-a-phis) was sen tenced by Zeus, the chief god, to roll a boulder up a hill in the underworld, only to watch it tumble back so he could push it up again — for all eternity. Lindsay has divided Tahoe into a huge grid and marks off each square as it’s cleaned. Still, in the lake’s own watery underworld, debris set tles almost as quickly as the foundation can pick it up. Says Jamie: “This is going to go on forever.”
More information about the Restoring the Lake Depths www.restoremylake.orgFoundation: C breathing the equivalent of a plastic credit card every year. That said, the jury’s out over whether microplastics are harmful to humans. As of 2021, the only widely known published studies involved mice, with artificially high exposures. But with worldwide plas tic production expected to double by 2050, Koelmans has described the potential problem as “a plastic time bomb,” adding, “If you ask me about risks, I am not that frightened today. But I am a bit concerned about the future if we do nothing.” Indeed, doing nothing may prove a poor choice. From Lake Tahoe’s only outlet, the Truckee River rolls northeast and provides 85 percent of the Reno ar ea’s drinking water before emptying into 112,000-acre Pyramid Lake on the nearby Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation. In addi tion, both the river and Pyramid Lake sup port irrigation. Beyond that, the lake, home to the famed Lahontan cutthroat trout, also Whether it consists of miniscule scraps of plastic or baseballs or flipflops, Lake Tahoe’s growing garbage pile may threaten not only an environmental gem, but also the area’s lucrative tourism economy.
August 2022 · CLIMATE · 13 • FEATURE •
The wind blows articles from boats, beach es and lakeside picnic areas into the water. Beyond paper plates, napkins and newspa pers, plastic items such utensils, cups and bags make for a growing concern. Unease Over Microplastics Wind, waves and sun all cause plastic to degrade. As they weaken, plastic sunglass es and beer cups, for example, can break into tiny chips called “microplastics.” (Cer tain microplastics, such as the tiny beads used in cosmetics, are manufactured.) Microplastics contaminate not only water but also the land and the air. Ac cording to the British scientific journal Nature, microplastics have been found in the atmosphere, as well as destinations as diverse as shellfish, beer and rainwater. In 2021, environmental scientists led by Dr. Albert Koelmans at a university in the Netherlands estimated that, in the worst cases, certain people might be eating and brings considerable revenue from visiting anglers, according to Donna Marie Noel, the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe’s natural resourcesWhetherdirector.itconsists of miniscule scraps of plastic or baseballs or flipflops, Lake Tahoe’s growing garbage pile may threaten not only an environmental gem, but also the area’s lucrative tourism economy. In 2019, U.S. News & World Report ranked the en tire lake region as the nation’s third-best small town to visit. That opinion may not last if increasing numbers of tourists dou ble as chronic litterbugs. But even as more people descend on the Tahoe Basin, in many cases leaving their rubbish behind, the Kopfs’ foundation and other volun teers will follow and smarten things up. And who knows? Kathy Kopf may finally find her hat.
Searching for a New Field
For Redwood City Parks, Recreation and Community Services Director Chris Beth, a suitable field is a high priority. “The Miracle League really ties into our desire to provide recreation access to all, and we recognize the need for a special field like this,” he says. Relying on Volunteers On average, 15 players are assigned to each of the league’s four teams (two for youths and two for adults). Each player is paired with an able-bodied “ buddy,” who assists. That’s 60 people per game, half of them volunteers. Multiply that by two games per day, then add more adult helpers, and the number of needed volunteers can easily climb to 200 on an afternoon. But, the Mortons say, it’s become hard to find people ready to pitch in. Parents are key; they transport their kids to games and often stick around to help. In talking with other youth sports associations, however, Scott discovered a broad trend: Players far outnumber the parents who are willing to assist.“It seems logical when I think about it, that after two years of youth not being able to play (because of Covid), the kids are out and ready to tear it up,” he says. “But over those same two years, adults have become disconnected.”
More information about the San Francisco Peninsula Miracle League: www.miracleleaguesfpen.com
Scott and Gary Morton
Miracle League supporters recently appeared before the city’s Parks, Recreation and Community Services Commission, which unan imously recommended the development of a conceptual plan to build an inclusive sports facility at Mitchell field in the Red Morton complex.
14 · CLIMATE · August 2022 • MICROCLIMATE •
The San Francisco Peninsula chapter of the Miracle League, a nonprofit that helps children and adults with mental and physical disabilities take the field, was started by brothers Gary and Scott Morton in 2018. They adopted the concept from the larger Miracle League, which claims more than 240 individual organizations for dis abled ballplayers throughout the U.S. and Canada.
The Miracle League: Where Everyone Gets a Chance to Play Ball
By Jim Kirkland
The larger Miracle League’s website says the organiza tion represents “more than playing a game,” noting partic ipants make new friends and gain self-esteem. The league has existed since 2000, when its first field opened in an At lanta suburb. During the next two years, chapters sprouted in South Carolina, Alabama, West Virginia, Illinois and Cal ifornia. The organization says it currently serves more than 200,000 children and adults. It adds that it “has an aggressive plan to help local communities build Miracle League com plexes around the globe.”
Ever since starting their Redwood City “franchise,” the Morton brothers have yearned for a field designed specifically for the organi zation’s athletes, in the same way the Magical Bridge playground at Red Morton Park serves disabled children and their families. Games are currently played on the grounds of now-closed Hawes Elementa ry School, on Roosevelt Ave.
The Mortons and members of the board scrambled to keep from losing momentum. “We held a few virtual activities and did our best to stay in touch, with handwritten cards on holidays and sending out cut out face masks,” Scott says. “But it was a far cry from having in-per son games.”Manyof the league’s players have serious physical conditions that make them susceptible to infections such as Covid. Even as other local youth sports started again, the league’s brass chose not to tempt fate and waited until this past April. “We were very cautious,” Scott says. “Two of our board mem bers have children in the league, so we took our lead from them as to when it would be safe to resume playing.”
In Redwood City, the Mortons’ enterprise was an imme diate hit. Then, just two years later, Covid knocked the whole operation out of the park.
Spreading Across the Continent
Enter the Young Men’s Service League of Menlo Park, an organization of mothers and sons working together to im prove the local community. The group has become the main contributor of buddies who play with the disabled athletes. And the league has enjoyed an unexpected bonus. Scott says that on any given game day, “a good third of the mothers stay and help out.”
The motto is simple: Everybody deserves to play baseball.
Redwood City Plans Parks Connecting Downtown to the Bay C Library site plan
She and department director Chris Beth told the business group members that a census of downtown parking, both public and private, revealed more unused spaces than people might re alize. About 600 spaces are scheduled to come online as a result of two new development projects on Main Street, and Olalla says 3,000 additional spaces are projected in the downtown construc tion pipeline over the next decade, if all projects are built.
Keeping Watch Beth contends that park activity and programs, planned lighting and an open-landscaping concept will make goings-on in the parks visible both to passersby and law enforcement. “Eyes on the parks are so important,” Olalla agrees. The city has about $3 million set aside for the Lot A park — $2.2 million in park impact fees paid by developers and an $800,000 grant stemming from the Stanford Recreation Mitigation Fund, which finances parks, trails and related improvements in areas af fected by Stanford’s regional expansion. Stanford has around 2,700 employees at its Redwood City campus.
A major objection has concerned a loss of parking. Under current plans, all of Lot A’s 51 spaces would go, but some parking would remain behind the post office. The other issue, forcefully expressed at a recent meeting of the city and the Redwood City Downtown Business Group, is the potential for the parks to attract homeless people.
By Janet McGovern Plans are taking shape for transforming a small parking lot next to the main Red wood City Library into the first of three downtown parks. Located on Middlefield Road across from Milagros restaurant, the 1.5-acre site could by next year become the first link in a chain of parks, open space and trails that would lead from downtown out to the bayside east of U.S. 101. A second park would be created in the parking lot behind City Hall and the post office on Jefferson Avenue, and the third would be in a less-developed area on Bradford Street, along Redwood Creek, which could include a trail with scenic overlooks and interpretive signs. By fol lowing the path east, people could ride bikes or walk to the bay via the Main Street freeway undercross ing, which opened last year. “We’ve never had a true connection to the creek,” says Park Landscape Designer Claudia Olalla, who has been gathering community comment about the parks and the amenities peo ple want. The Redwood City Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department received more than 1,000 responses to a survey about the library park in July, and city staff is analyzing the responses. Parks for Picnics Development during the last decade has brought thousands of residents downtown, and the city is trying to create a few “neigh borhood” parks for people to enjoy. So far, Olalla says, respon dents to the survey about the library park strongly favor a water feature. They also want casual uses such as spending time with friends, sitting and eating, or working with cellphones and lap tops. Another possibility might allow businesses such as restau rants to rent space for food-related events. In its current concept, the park by the library would include an entry plaza on Middlefield Road, a few landscaped areas, and a courtyard and central plaza. Park planners are also working with library staff to investigate combining children’s activities indoors with opportunities for kids and families outside.
Of the two concerns, Olalla responds, “Those are definite chal lenges, but there are things the city is doing about them.”
Olalla hopes construction drawings will be ready by the end of the year so work on the new parks can begin in 2023.
August 2022 · CLIMATE · 15 • MICROCLIMATE •
16 · CLIMATE · August 2022 • SPOTLIGHT •
New Lessons from a Long-Ago War
These days, that cash typically comes in “greenbacks” — a common nickname for U.S. paper money. The Federal Reserve Board’s U.S. Currency Education Program recalls that, in 1861, the Treasury Depart ment began issuing “non-interest-bearing demand notes” to finance the war. They came in denominations of $5, $10, and $20, and represented loans to the government that could be redeemed at any time for face value. They served as money, and are still valid currency (although today they’re worth more to collectors). On the back, they were printed in green ink – hence, “greenbacks.”Next,steel ships. The French navy is credited with the first iron-covered bat tleship, launched in 1859. But the “iron clads” gained prominence during the Civil War, when they proved superior to wooden vessels, which could more easily be blown apart by artillery shells. Eventu ally, iron gave way to steel for the hulls of modernSuchships.arethe many everyday products of the Civil War. And for the past half-cen By Scott Dailey Ever wonder how money orders got started? Or why dollar bills are sometimes called “greenbacks”? Or how steel ships came to replace wooden vessels? They all date to the Civil War.
August 2022 · CLIMATE · 17
W ithout doubt, the most immediate results were the abolition of slavery and the reunification of the country. But consider something as routine (but also potentially hazardous) as sending money through the mail. Ac cording to the U.S. Postal Service, money orders were established in November 1864 so Union soldiers and ordinary citizens could send funds more securely than if they used easily stolen cash.
When people think of the devastating conflict of 18611865, they may picture blue-and-gray-uniformed soldiers charging one another with long-barreled guns and bayonets. They know the war ended slavery in the U.S. They may remember the names of famous battle sites like Gettysburg, Fredericksburg and Vicksburg. But few people may realize the war's wider effects on American society and even warfare itself. The Peninsula Civil War Round Table probes America’s bloodiest conflict.
• SPOTLIGHT •
18 · CLIMATE · August 2022 tury, they and other related subjects have propelled spirit ed discussions among the am ateur history enthusiasts who meet every month under the banner of the Peninsula Civil War Round Table.
• SPOTLIGHT •
Overwhelming Advantages In military terms, the Union’s victory demonstrated the importance of econom ic, industrial and technological superior ity, at least in conventional warfare. The Civil War also introduced new weaponry, including “rifled muskets” whose grooved bores let soldiers fire up to 10 times farther than before, with much greater accuracy. Historians disagree about whether those guns, along with the first repeating rifles, significantly influenced the out comes on Civil War battlefields. Hofmann sides with those who believe the new weapons prevailed over old, Napoleonic tactics and contributed to a death toll now estimated at 750,000. As Hofmann puts it, “There were a lot of sitting ducks outIt’sthere.”those kinds of is sues that dominate the Peninsula Civil War Round Table’s lunchtime conversations. For exam ple, how much did the Civil War affect global history? Eller's husband Dave believes the impact was huge, particularly inasmuch as it spurred humanity’s ever-growing ability to spill blood since the mid-19th Century. As Dave observes, ironclad ships weren’t the Civil War’s only developments to become broadly adopted. Machine guns also advanced (the hand-cranked Gatling gun was invented in 1861). Though em ployed relatively little during the Civil War, machine guns were used more com monly by World War I and were a staple of World War II. Dave also points to the widely un derstood connections among economic dominance, technological innovation and military success. (A strong economy can lead to inventions such as the telegraph — vital to the North’s triumph — and turn commercial manufacturing into wartime production.)“Whatbecame modern war was de veloped from the United States Civil War,” Dave says. “The whole world’s history since the Civil War is based on what hap pened in all these different ways.”
“The Civil War is a historian’s de light,” says current president Abby Eller, adding, “It was the first large-scale, mod ern total war in history.” (Many historians agree; others consider World War I the first “modern” conflict and view the Civil War as an important precursor.)
That said, Eller continues: “It’s not much of an exaggeration to say that, ulti mately, there was no corner of America, no household that was totally untouched by the Civil War and all the change that it brought about. It was really the transfor mative event in our country’s history.”
Left to right: Joan Larrabee, Magnus Akerblom, Dave and Abby Eller.
Freedom at Last Fellow member Joan Larrabee often fo cuses on the war’s social consequences, especially the end of slavery and the of ficial recognition of former slaves’ status as human beings, rather than property. “The Civil War is a historian’s delight. It was the first large-scale, modern total war in history.”
Quite a statement. But think about it. Today, nearly 160 years after the South surrendered in 1865, resentment lingers in many parts of the former Confederacy. And debates over states’ rights and federal power are as fresh as the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade this past June. Alexander Hofmann, a Civil War scholar at the University of Chicago, notes Roe’s reliance on the Reconstruction-era Four teenth Amendment, whose guarantee of due process underpinned the right to privacy described in the Supreme Court’s 1973 decision. The court’s recent ruling potentially casts doubt on that reasoning; as a consequence, Hofmann says, “Recon struction amendments are literally being litigated through to the present.”
A Long Legacy The group’s exact origins are, well, lost to history. But cur rent members agree that the organization came into being around 1972 or 1973. (The first Civil War Round Table met in Chicago in 1941.) The local association once convened at now long-gone Salvatore’s Con tinental Restaurant on El Camino Real in San Carlos, a popular meeting spot for civic groups. Today, its membership gath ers on the third Tuesday of each month at Harry’s Hofbrau in Redwood City to eat lunch, take in historical presentations and consider everything from 19th-century military tactics to the Civil War’s lasting imprint on American life.
To the slavery argument, Akerblom emphasizes the Confederate states’ decla rations of secession; along with “trial-bal loon” correspondence among southern leaders, many of the formal statements directly or indirectly mentioned preserv ing enslavement. Akerblom also cites the January 1861 farewell speech of then-U.S. Senator Jefferson Davis, who became Pres ident of the Confederacy a month later. In his address to the Senate, Davis specifical ly referred to what he considered the U.S. Constitution’s acceptance of slav ery, and spoke of his imperative “to withdraw from a government … (that) threatens to be destruc tive of our rights.”
Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proc lamation, which outlawed slavery in the Confederate states and made freedom for slaves the centerpiece of the North’s pur pose for prosecuting the war.
• SPOTLIGHT •
Climatewww.peninsulacivilwarroundtable.orgTable:thanksDr.AlexanderHofmannoftheUniversityofChicagohistorydepartmentforhisperspectivesontheinformationinthisarticle.
“To think that you could do that,” ponders Larrabee, her soft, calm voice conveying a combina tion of incredulity and indigna tion. “You could just transfer eight people, including a few babies, and they now have a new owner. It’s appalling, and I often wonder what happened to them.”
The Ellers acknowledge slav ery’s role, also noting that — at least in the beginning — Lincoln aimed primarily to maintain na tional unity. Dave mentions Lin coln’s August 1862 letter to news paper publisher and Republican Party co-founder Horace Greeley, in which the President wrote, “If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that.” Even so, less than five months later
August 2022 · CLIMATE · 19
Another member, Magnus Akerblom, came to the U.S. from Sweden as a child in 1957. His interest in the Civil War stems largely from his desire to understand his adopted country. He estimates he has nearly 100 books about the conflict, and enjoys combing through them to obtain differing perspectives. “Sometimes I find myself studying and looking at a specific topic like, maybe, the Battle of Gettysburg,” Akerblom says. “I’m looking something up, and then I get another book and I’m cross-referencing and checking things out. I just found that at Gettysburg there were 72,000 horses and they drank something like 3 million gallons of water. The logistics of that are fascinating.”RoundTable member Howard Jones’s ancestors fought for both sides. Jones has long been interested in history, and espe cially military history. On the oft-consid ered question of whether the Civil War could have been prevented, he believes the secession of 11 states shortly after Presi dent Abraham Lincoln’s election gave the new commander-in-chief little choice. “Any president who takes the oath to preserve and protect the country, I think, is obligated to take action in a situation like that,” Jones says. “Politics then were pretty much like politics now. Everyone was in everyone else’s face. It doesn’t take much to set it off, (and) that one was a long time coming.”
What Started the War? Along those lines, another frequent ques tion: Was the war fought over slavery or union? Hofmann says historians “univer sally agree” on slavery as the cause, with the proviso that “from a northern stand point, the conflict grew from a war for union to a war for emancipation.”
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Nearly 120 years ago, the American philosopher George Santayana famously proposed that “those who cannot remem ber the past are condemned to repeat it.” If the Civil War was America’s most transfor mative event, it was also the most painful. In another era when, too, “everyone is in everyone else’s face,” the Peninsula Civil War Round Table offers a compelling fo rum for recalling the lessons of history. More information about the Civil War Round
Larrabee, whose extended family resided on both sides of the Ma son-Dixon Line, tells of a distant relative who, according to lore, lost his Louisiana plantation in a card game. His opponent’s win nings included eight slaves. (The transaction, she says, is docu mented in government records found by her son.)
The war ended slavery and led to official recognition of former slaves' status as human beings, rather than property.
20 · CLIMATE · August 2022 • IN CASE YOU MISSED IT• The 4th Makes a Prideful Return to Redwood City Fourth of July festivities returned to Redwood City in a big way after a twoyear pandemic hiatus. A day filled with free events fea tured a pancake breakfast with the city’s Fire Department, chalk art on Court house Square, a downtown festival, the annual parade, and a pre-fireworks concert at the Port of Redwood City. The night ended with the traditional fire works celebration at the port. Grand Marshal, 105-year-old Louise "Auntie Lou" Prado
August 2022 · CLIMATE · 21 • IN CASE YOU MISSED IT•
San Carlos Loves a Block Party
San Carlos is famous for social events, and block parties lead the way in both neigh borhoods and the commercial district. On June 17, residents headed downtown to the 600 block of Laurel Street, where they dined in surrounding restaurants, enjoyed food outdoors, played games, and danced to the tunes of a disc jockey.
• IN CASE YOU MISSED IT•
22 · CLIMATE · August
Redwood2022
The city encourages residents to call Parks and Recreation at 650-802-4382 for help in arranging block parties of their own.
“Block parties are some of my favor ite events,” says Recreation Coordinator Lauren Schneider of the city’s parks and recreation department. “They’re the best, especially since we haven’t been able to have them for so long.”
City Folks Enjoy Magical Music and Motion
The Magical Bridge Playground at Redwood City’s Red Morton Park now offers its “Mag ical Music and Motion” series, which com bines yoga, movement, meditation, dance, and fitness for people of all ages, led by two instructors from Cañada College and Notre Dame de Namur University. “This is meant to be very adaptive,” says Lori Hart, a volunteer with the Redwood City Parks and Arts Foundation. “We’ve had peo ple who have brought chairs. It’s a feel-good movement kind of thing.”
Inductees left to right: Ron DiMaggio, Mike Jameson accepting for Helen Lengfeld, Chris Dorst, Liz Bruno, Scott Feldman and Donovan Blythe.
Helen Lengfeld, a stellar golfer and dedicated advocate for women on the links whose influence lives on at the Peninsula Golf & Country Club and beyond.
Donovan Blythe, a globe-trotting basketball ambassador and coach whose dominant East side College Prep girls’ teams became state champions. Liz Bruno, a basketball star at Mercy High School and Santa Clara University early in the Title IX era. Many of her scoring/rebounding records still stand.
Scott Feldman, a Major League Baseball pitcher who honed his craft at Burlingame High School and the College of San Mateo early in his career.
Hall of Fame Athletes Honored
Tickets: www.foxrwc.com
Chris Dorst, a Menlo-Atherton High School and Stanford University water polo standout who became an Olympic medalist.
• IN CASE YOU MISSED IT•
Proceeds will support an organization that serves children with special needs.
Ron DiMaggio, a longtime track and field coach who has mentored thousands of young athletes in Daly City and the North County.
The San Mateo County Historical Association on June 23 inducted six new athletes into the Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame. This year's honorees:
Christopher Duffley
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Labeled “significantly delayed” in speech, social interaction and cognitive ability, Christopher Duffley began singing at age 4 and has inspired audiences around the world both with his music and his message that we’re all unlimited and usually just need a little reminding.
Fox Theatre Presents
Sunday, September 11, 4:00 p.m.
24 · CLIMATE · August 2022 • PROFILE • “The Fastest
• PROFILE •
I'm going to be the baby in the group,” he says with a laugh. It will be an advantage. At Plant’s age, it’s the younger athletes who typically gain the edge, particularly in a sport that requires a combined 139 miles of swimming, cycling and running. For now, he’s having a heck of a time fend ing off a few of the plucky youngsters at the low end of his 75-79 age group. Sheesh — kids theseStill,days.Plant remains tough to catch for just about anyone. The longtime Redwood City den tist is constantly on the move, whether swim ming, cycling and running, or brushing, flossing and drilling. In both cases, his endurance is stag gering (this is his 51st year as a dentist). In all, he’s wound up with a career for the ages, especially in his sport. Plant, who got a late start as a triathlete, will be enshrined in the USA Triathlon Hall of Fame during a gala in Milwaukee on Aug. 4. Plant’s career age-group résumé includes seven national triathlon championships. He also won a pair of titles in 2018: The famed Ironman Triathlon in Kona, Hawaii, and the Triathlon World Championship in Australia. By Dan Brown One of the perks of being an age-group warrior, as Dr. Robert Plant has been described, is that the calendar resets every few years. Next year, Plant will turn 80. As a triathlete, he can hardly wait to feel young again. Dr. Robert Plant earns a place in the USA Triathlon Hall of Fame.
August 2022 · CLIMATE · 25
Dentist Alive” "
His true introduction to triathlon com petition came in 1989, when Plant volun teered as a timekeeper at the 1989 Ironman World Championships in Kona. It turned out to be the ultimate gateway race — an epic duel between two of the sport’s alltimeThegreats.battle between longtime rivals Dave Scott and Mark Allen became known as the “Iron War.” For more than eight hours, the pair raced side-by-side at a re cord pace. After 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of cycling and 26.2 miles of run ning (a full marathon), Allen snapped the Finding it Hard to Believe “I was not quite accepting of it at first,” the unassuming Plant says of his Hall of Fame selection. “But then all my buddies were saying, ‘You deserve it, blah, blah, blah.’ “So, I finally accepted it. And I finally have kind of embraced it. I'm just happy that it’s not a posthumous award.”
Over time, Plant discovered he didn’t need a sports car to go fast. He competed in track and field at San Jose State during the so-called “Speed City” era under coach Bud PlantWinters.ran alongside future Olympi ans Tommie Smith and John Carlos, best known for their Black Power salute on the medal stand at the 1968 Games in Mexico His true introduction to tri athlon competition came in 1989, when Plant volunteered as a timekeeper at the 1989 Ironman World Champion ships in Kona. It turned out to be the ultimate gateway race — an epic duel between two of the sport’s all-time greats. Dr. Robert Plant
26 · CLIMATE · August 2022 City. Plant recalls a fun bit of trivia; he says the reason Smith and Carlos raised one gloved fist apiece is that they’d forgotten the second pair of gloves back at the hotel and had to share.
Discovering a New Sport Plant just kept going. After college, he competed in recreational 10Ks and ran marathons. In his early forties, he clocked a personal-best 2 hours, 41 minutes at the Boston Marathon. That’s an impressive 6-minute, 9-second pace for every mile.
This year’s four-member induction class includes two multi-time Olympians (Gwen Jorgensen and Laura Bennett) and two athletes who did their best work af ter getting their AARP cards (Plant and 76-year-old Lesley Cens-McDowelllof Pennsylvania). But the coronation should not be mistaken for a finish line. Plant is probably out training at this moment. Maybe he’s pounding out hilly miles at Sawyer Camp, cycling along Cañada Road or swimming at one of the three fitness clubs to which he belongs. Triathletes in the 80-84 category should consider them selves warned.
Earning Respect from Other Athletes On a flight back from an Ironman cham pionship in Kona one year, Plant sat next to another competitor with longtime Pen insula ties, someone also known for his day job. But Plant didn’t know that when he saw his hyperkinetic fellow passenger jiggling his foot up and down, stretching from his seat and propping his foot up on the armrest. Plant finally introduced himself and learned it was Redwood City native Eric Byrnes, the former Oakland A’s outfield er turned endurance athlete. And just like that, a mutual admiration society was born. “Bob is a GREAT guy and an incred ible triathlete,” Byrnes replied via email when asked to confirm the story. “He’s the fastest dentist alive.” Born in 1943, Plant grew up in Red wood City and went to grammar school at Our Lady of Mount Carmel and high school at Serra in San Mateo. Back then, his hometown endured the derisive nick name, “Deadwood City.” Plant says there was little for bored teens to do besides “cruise up and down El Camino in your hot rod, when gas was 25 cents a gallon.”
“It shocked me,” he says. “I was so hyped up, man, because Tommie had an ingrown toenail, and he couldn't run. So, the coach came to me and said, ‘Hey, Bob!’ Are you kidding me? I had not practiced passing the baton, ever. “And when the third guy came around, I just blasted out. I almost went over the boundary line, the passing zone. And it was the fastest I ran in my life, and we won.”
• PROFILE •
Plant started at SJSU as a long-jumper (the event was called the broad jump in those days) before shin splints forced him to convert to the quarter-mile (now the 400 meters).“AndI wasn't that very high-ranked on the team,” he says. Even so, Plant once got to replace Smith at the anchor position for the mile relay.
About the only place he will not travel is on an ego trip. At his den tistry office on Arch Street in Red wood City, his staff had to trick him into bringing in his medals and jerseys, which they framed without asking his permission. In planning his acceptance speech for the Hall of Fame, he notes that he wanted to thank the volunteers and race directors. “Because triathlon is like a fami ly,” he Butsays.his modesty won't help him es cape the highest honor his sport can be stow. The fastest dentist alive is about to get his brush with greatness. tape just 58 seconds ahead of Scott. “I was at the finish line, and I was so excited,” Plant says. “I thought, ‘Wow, I gotta’ do this race.’”Getting the hang of it took work. Yes, he could run. Yes, that cardiovascular training and leg strength carried over into Butcycling.Plant did not take like a fish to water. “Basically, with swim ming,” he says, “I was like a rock with arms.”
He's running in Abu Dhabi later this year before heading to Egypt for another race. “I get around a little bit,’’ Plant says, chuckling. “That's part of the fun, too. I go, ‘Oh, where's the World Championship?’ Well, I'm going to see if I qualify for that. And I want to go to such-and-such place.’” C “I think what really drives the sport is your inner passion. It’s not the hype. I think it's your inner
drive.”•PROFILE
August 2022 · CLIMATE · 27
In that discipline, he had to learn that technical precision with each stroke was at least as important as fitness. It became clear as Plant watched much old er, much larger, swimmers glide past him during his training laps. “I was looking at these ladies and thinking, ‘Man, they're just kicking my butt,’” Plant says with a laugh. “It was all technique, right? If you have lousy tech nique, you're not going anywhere!” Eventually he figured it out, although swimming still ranks last on his list of tri athlon skills. Nonetheless, he says he gen erally finishes near the top of his age group in all three stages. When he won the Ironman World Championship for his age group in 2018, he set a record for the 75-79 category by finish ing in 13 hours, 6 minutes and 3 seconds. How dominant was that? Fidel Rotondaro of Venezuela, his closest competitor, fin ished 30 minutes and 52 seconds behind. “It comes down to just hanging in there mentally, just breaking through the barriers and trying to just persevere,” he says. “It’s just having that ‘don't-quit’ atti tude, even when the body says, ‘Oh, sorry, I know you don't want to quit, but we're not going anyplace.’” Going, Going and Going It should be known to competitors every where that Plant has no plans to stop run ning — ever. His best triathlon advice — his “tri” tip — is simply to love it as much as he“Idoes.think what really drives the sport is your inner passion,” he says. “It’s not the hype. I think it's your inner drive.”
Above: Plant's medals commemorate national and international championships.
The office staff presented this custom-made bobblehead to the dentist and triathlete.
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I lived in China for 15 amazing years, fall ing in love with the people, the culture and the food. Living there made it easy to hop onto planes and jet off to nearby places, such as Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. The last was my favorite, for two initial reasons: Visas weren’t required and the modest costs fit my teacher's budget. As I kept returning to this land of smiles, making 12 trips in all, I found many more reasons to love it. Most were because of Koh Samui, the small, rocky island just a short flight from Bangkok. There, I found a favorite seaside resort that boasted the best in everything: Quietude, massage, wellness and — well, the most gorgeous, delectable food I've ever seen or tasted. One early morning, a taxi picked me up to transport me to the tiny island air port, where I planned to catch a flight back to Bangkok. In the wee hours of the morn ing, before the sun rose, we came to a stop while a herd of 10 wild elephants plodded ahead of us. In the darkness, they seemed like moving mountains. The sheer force of their footsteps caused the ground to trem ble, literally, and I found it unforgettably thrilling to share the morning with such gentle, hulking creatures. And the food on Koh Samui. So fresh, perfectly seasoned and cheap. Drunken Noodles were one of my favorite dishes — at once sweet, salty and savory, as well as just a bit fatty and pleasingly acidic. I always found them both satisfying and re freshing on a long summer evening.
1. Soak rice noodles in hot water until they’re flexible, 10 to 15 min utes. Occasionally move the noodles around to separate them. Drain the water and cover noodles with a wet paper towel.
2. Combine oyster sauce, soy sauce, Asian fish sauce, maple syrup, sugar and water in a small bowl. These ingredients form the drunk en-noodle sauce.
8 ounces dried rice noodles
• FOOD by Susan Jenkins • 28 · CLIMATE · August 2022
4. Add drunken-noodle sauce and sliced green onions and mix. Cook until sauce begins to simmer. Add soaked rice noodles and toss to coat until noodles have absorbed the sauce and are cooked through, about two minutes. Remove from heat.
Midsummer Thai Dream C
3. Heat vegetable oil and sesame oil in a wok or large frying pan over medium-high heat. Stir-fry shallots, chili peppers and garlic until shallots are soft, about two minutes. Move the mixture around the outside of the pan to create a space and add chicken. Sear chicken for one minute, then com bine it with shallot mixture. Add bell peppers and Chinese broccoli or bok choy and stir-fry them until they’re tender, about two minutes.
Drunken Noodles
Now that I've returned to Califor nia, I have found it necessary to learn to make my own Thai dishes. I don't know how Drunken Noodles came to have their name, because they contain no alcohol. But I don't think anybody will mind if I sip a glass of chilled Chardonnay while I cook them, especially in the summer. At least, it works for me. Note: The list of ingredients may sug gest a lengthy cooking time. Fear not: From first chop to final sizzle should take only about 30 minutes.
5. Stir in basil leaves until they’re wilted. Taste and adjust seasoning, if needed. Serve.
¼ cup oyster sauce ¼ cup soy sauce 1 tablespoon Asian fish sauce 1 tablespoon maple syrup 1 teaspoon white sugar 2 tablespoons cold water 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 teaspoon sesame oil 1 cup shallots, thinly sliced 6 teaspoons chili (bird's eye chilis), thinly sliced (I order mine from Amazon; you might need to remove the seeds — they're hot) 4 cloves garlic, minced 2½ pounds skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into strips 1 pound Chinese broccoli or bok choy ½ red bell pepper, chopped ½ green bell pepper, chopped 4 stalks green onions, thinly 1slicedcup fresh basil leaves
August 2022 · CLIMATE · 29 • CLIMATE • weTogether,design places that inspire people. 855 MAIN STREET
In his hefty book, “The Warner Bros. Story,” movie critic Clive Hirschhorn was less than kind to the film. Still, he praised Manning and Morgan, concluding that “together they made beautiful music.”
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(The film, based on an operetta by Sigmund Romberg and Oscar Hammerstein II, couldn’t have been all that bad. It inspired a 1953 remake that starred Kathryn Grayson and Gordon MacRae.) In the words of one critic, “Shine on Harvest Moon,” which again featured Morgan, was “little more than a platitudinous backstage musical.” But, like Hirschhorn, the reviewer found the songs pleasant and added, “So was the singing of Irene Manning.”
30 · CLIMATE · August 2022 • CLIMATE • tor Cyril Ritchard in “The King and Mrs. Candle,” which aired on NBC’s “Producers’ Showcase” series in 1955. (Ritchard is perhaps better-known for playing Captain Hook in the 1960 NBC production of “Peter Pan,” with Mary Martin.)
After the war, Manning returned to the U.K. for a BBC television show called “An American in England.” She also appeared onstage in the U.K. before coming back to the States, where she performed in regional theater productions as well as on television, notably with the Australian ac-
“I was living a new life as Mrs. Maxwell Hunter II,” she said in Gene Arceri’s excellent biography, “Irene Manning: The Rebellious Prima Donna.” She said her professional life “did not exist anymore,” although she tried to fill the void by teaching drama and voice. She also took up painting and appeared in a few Bay Area stage shows, among them “Mame” and “Pal Joey.” The marriage to Hunter, who was honored in 1995 by the National Space Society for his lifelong contributions to space-flight technology, lasted until Hunter's death in 2001. Hunter wasn’t the only one who adored Manning. Her biographer appeared smitten, as well. “I fell in love,” Arceri wrote in his book about Manning. “She was just so beautiful and Sometimes,vivacious.”starsburn seemingly forever. Other times, they flame out in the summer sky. In the 1940s and on one memorable night in 1983, Irene Manning brightened the U.S., the U.K. and the Peninsula, with film, television and stage performances that should never be forgotten.
HISTORY by Jim Clifford • Irene Manning: A Star Who Settled in San Carlos C I watched “Yankee Doodle Dandy” on July 4, and, inspired by Jimmy Cagney’s legendary performance, did some research. I learned that the iconic 1942 patriotic film also featured Irene Manning, who retired to San Carlos following what the New York Times called a “fleeting but stellar” career as a Hollywood leading lady during the war years of the 1940s.
In 1964, Manning married Maxwell W. Hunter II, a rocket engineer and space-flight manager famous for his work during the Cold War. The couple lived in San Carlos to be near Hunter’s work in Silicon Valley.
The Times’ assessment came in its obituary for Manning, who was 91 when she died in San Carlos in 2004. Beyond the Cagney classic, Manning’s other films included “Shine on Harvest Moon,” the 1940s version of “The Desert Song” and “Hollywood Canteen,” 1944’s top money-maker for Warner Bros. Born Inez Harvuot in Cincinnati in 1912, Manning also appeared on Broadway and the London stage. She entertained troops in the U.K. during World War II, and had a stint with the Glenn Miller Army Air Force Band. Fluent in German, she cut four songs in that language with Miller; they were among the last recordings Miller made before his military plane disappeared between the U.K. and France on December 15, 1944. Manning also appeared on the cover of Yank magazine, a weekly wartime military publication, gazing seductively into the camera and clad in what appeared to be a two-piece negligee. “The Desert Song,” a musical in which Manning was paired with actor and singer Dennis Morgan, deserves special attention, if only for a 1983 showing at the Fox Theatre in Redwood City. Manning attended the event, saying she hadn’t seen the movie since it debuted in 1943. The Fox screening of the all-but-forgotten film was sponsored by the now-defunct Center for the American Musical at Cañada College in Redwood City. Wrote one observer: “If it never does anything more than enable movie buffs and operetta fans to see this one lost version of ‘The Desert Song,’ the Center will have performed quite a service.”
August 2022 · CLIMATE · 31 •W Street Life Ministries is banding together with a handful of local organizations to launch “Homeless to Healthy”. A 12 Month Christian Rehab Program that will take homeless addicts and turn them into healthy members of society.“HOMELESSTHETO H EA L THY” I N IT I A T IVE STREET LIFE MINISTRIES SCAN BARCODE WITH MOBILE PHONE LEARN MORE STREETLIFEMINISTRIES.ORG/HOMELESS-TO-HEALTHY Downtown Redwood City Office located at 555 Middlefield Road Each office is independently owned and operated. suelehrmitchell@gmail.com650.619.9311suelehrmitchell.com DRE# 01087715 Realtor®SUE LEHR MITCHELL Community Matters Creator, Sponsor & Chair, Mardi Gras Carnival Sponsor & Chair, Hometown Holidays Celebration H enLocally RedwoodProudOrganicallygrown,raisedmemberofthehistoricalCityWoman'sClub DRE 01886755 cell: 650.430.8220 office: 1629email:www.kathyzmay.com650.556.8674kathyzmay@gmail.comMainSt.,RedwoodCity The Redwood City Downtown Browsers Welcome. Buyers Adored! Serving since January 28, 1978 Call about our summer sewing camps! Ralph's Vacuum and Sewing • Sales & Service • Bags, Belts & Filters • Sewing Classes 2011 Broadway • 650-368-2841 • ralphsvacnsew.com Original Oil Paintings by J. Ennis Kirkland www.jenniskirkland.com Gems Business Group Presents
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