San Pedro Today - June 2021

JUNE 2021

SAVING OUR LOCAL TIDEPOOLS | PEDRO PARKS & SANDWICHES | REINVENTING RANCHO SAN PEDRO

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JUNE 2021 I SAN PEDRO TODAY I 3

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

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This town constantly surprises me.

One of the things I love most about producing this magazine every month is learning about the lives of so many interesting people here in San Pedro. This month is no exception.

When I had the idea to write about Jim Callon’s JDC Record Store for this month’s cover story, I assumed it would be a straightforward business profile about a guy and his record shop. I had just read a news article about vinyl records outselling CDs for the first time since 1986 and was curious how a niche store like his was faring coming out of the pandemic. Initially, that’s what I thought this month’s cover story was going to be about. Then I met and interviewed Mr. Callon.

In my experience, the stories I have the most fun writing are the ones I never expected to tell. When I interviewed Callon last month in his warehouse, we sat together for a good hour with him telling me stories about starting a band at UCLA in the late sixties, playing on the same bill as The Doors and the Grateful Dead, and about that one time the Rolling Stones used his band’s

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I was clueless about his engineering work with George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic and had no idea that JDC Records was also an independent record label with a roster of artists they represented. What I thought was going to be a simple story about a record shop, turned into an 1,800-word story tracing a fascinating man’s life through the music industry. All of Mr. Callon’s anecdotes made for a fun interview, and, I hope, an enjoyable read for you this month.

FIRST THURSDAY’S RETURN Looks like the First Thursday Art Walk will be returning to Downtown San Pedro soon, but this time it’s going to look a lot different, namely because for the first time in this town’s history, every downtown restaurant has outdoor dining available. If you thought the downtown streets were busy during a normal art walk, imagine what it’s going to be like now that we can eat and drink outdoors like a normal seaside community.

I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to find out. spt Joshua Stecker is publisher/editorin-chief of San Pedro Today. Letters to the Editor can be emailed to contact@sanpedrotoday.com.

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JUNE 2021

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

ADVERTISING:

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Patricia Roberts (562) 964-8166 | patricia@sanpedrotoday.com

ART DIRECTOR/PRODUCTION

Melissa Hay (310) 707-3872 | melissa@sanpedrotoday.com

Joshua J. Stecker Lori Garrett

Joseph A. Castañeda

AT-LARGE CONTRIBUTORS

General Inquiries: ads@sanpedrotoday.com

Sanam Lamborn, Mike Lansing, Ricky Magana, Steve Marconi, Jennifer Marquez, Angela Romero, Sophie Schoenfeld, Lee Williams

EMPIRE22 MEDIA LLC OWNER/PUBLISHER

PHOTOGRAPHER

San Pedro Today publishes the last Thursday of every month and is produced monthly

by Empire22 Media LLC. No portion of this publication can be reproduced without written permission by Empire22 Media. 25,000 copies are delivered to San Pedro and portions of Rancho Palos Verdes. San Pedro Today is a product of Empire22 Media LLC. Empire22 Media LLC, their subsidiaries and affiliates are released from all liability that may involve the publication of San Pedro Today. Copyright 2009-2021, Empire22 Media LLC.

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CONTACT INFO:

Phone: (424) 224-9063 Email: contact@sanpedrotoday.com San Pedro Today P.O. Box 1168 San Pedro, CA 90733

VOLUME 13 | NUMBER 5

Joshua J. Stecker

ON THE COVER: Jim Callon, owner of JDC Records. (photo: John Mattera Photography)

6 I SAN PEDRO TODAY I JUNE 2021

JUNE 2021 I SAN PEDRO TODAY I 7

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

HEADLINES

NEWS BRIEFS: SEBASTIAN'S IS RELOCATING; LAKERS HONOR SPHS TEACHER compiled by SPT staff

Pedro Pet Pals is heading to downtown.

Buscaino urges sale of San Pedro butane tanks for ‘alternative use’ L.A. City Councilman Joe Buscaino is urging the owners of the Rancho LPG site on Gaffey Street to sell it for another use, saying it “would bring a huge sense of relief to an entire community.”

Neighbors have long been alarmed by the facility, which stores millions of gallons of liquid butane.

The huge tanks, which sit close to homes, schools, and stores, have been a long-standing concern for San Pedro residents who fear they could cause deadly explosions and fires during an earthquake or terrorist attack. In a recent letter, Buscaino said he had learned that the San Pedro property might be up for sale and urged the company to sell it to a “non-petroleum” or “alternative use buyer” in order to end the anxiety over the facility. A representative for Plains All American Pipeline, whose subsidiary owns the site, did not respond to messages seeking comment on the letter and whether the company was considering selling the Rancho LPG property.

Low-cost vet care planned for building on Downtown San Pedro corner Fundraising is underway for a pet wellness center that would be housed in a two-story building on the corner of Mesa and Seventh streets in Downtown San Pedro. Theresa Sardisco, the founder of the nonprofit, all-volunteer Pedro Pet Pals group, which supports the L.A. city animal shelter, has gathered a few well-positioned friends and benefactors as partners to purchase the building for $1.1 million, with plans to transform it into a facility that will offer low-cost vet care, pet adoption events, and even a cat cafe.

The mission is to provide much-needed affordable pet care to the community, according to Sardisco.

Fundraising is on a fast track and donations can be made at the group’s website, pedropetpals.com.

Sebastian’s Mediterranean Cuisine plans move to new location Sebastian’s Mediterranean Cuisine has announced plans to move to a new, larger downtown location.

Owner and head chef Nima Karimi announced on social media that the current location would close as of May 10 and reopen at the new location at a later date to be announced. Meanwhile, the menu from Sebastian’s will temporarily be available at Karimi’s other restaurant, La Bocca Felice (located at the former Pappy’s Seafood spot). The new Sebastian’s location will not only be larger but will be equipped with their new beer and wine license. Karimi enthusiastically expressed gratitude to the community for their support which helped allow for this expansion to happen.

As of press time, the location and opening date of the new Sebastian’s are yet to be disclosed.

San Pedro High School teacher named Educator of the Month by L.A. Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers has named San Pedro High School’s Anthony Rogosic as one of their May 2021 Student and Educator of the Month winners.

Rogosic, a SPHS athletic director, basketball coach, and PE teacher, was honored for demonstrating an outstanding commitment to academia and the community, and in particular, for having “worked tirelessly to ensure the return of as many athletes as possible to Safe Play during the pandemic, keeping a positive attitude the entire time.” The nominations for the May Student and Educator of the Month were submitted by administrators, principals, and teachers of each school based on exemplary teaching efforts, academic achievement, or extracurricular activities.

Each winner is honored on @LakersCommunity social media and receives a special Lakers gift. spt

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Good evening Mr. Marconi, I've no doubt you get lots of hate mail. This ain’t one of them.

People talk about “speaking truth to power” and “showing courage” by speaking out on one’s convictions, but they have no idea what that really means until they take a contrarian position to the powerful and elite, which is what you do in San Pedro Today.

Please know that for each hateful email you get, there are ten of me. We just don’t normally make much noise.

Please take note, Mr. Stecker. And thank you for publishing such a terrific monthly journal.

Pete Lacombe Rancho Palos Verdes

In your last issue, a reader asked why Steve Marconi should have a full-page column in your paper. My response to that reader is because readers like myself enjoy and applaud his point of view.

Mr. Marconi has the right to post his views, it’s called freedom of speech. Suppression of Mr. Marconi’s viewpoints would not serve San Pedro, it would yet make another strike to silence those of us who do not support the woke/cancel culture which seems to be prevailing throughout our great country, not just in San Pedro.

Mr. Marconi, keep up the good work, and if we do not hear from you again, we will know that even here in San Pedro, the flame of freedom of speech is also being extinguished.

Rick Alvidrez Letters to the Editor can be emailed to contact@sanpedrotoday.com. Letters may be edited for length, grammar, and clarity. Letters must include your full name in order to be considered for publication.

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VOICES

SAVING OUR LOCAL TIDEPOOLS

by Jennifer Marquez

On an overcast Monday morning, Drew Leach is leading a group of homeschooled children and their parents on a tour of the tidepools at Royal Palms. Her focus is sustainability and teaching the youth about the damage being done by people taking sea life from the tidepools.

Last summer, Drew noticed people going to the tidepools at low tides with buckets. It became a regular occurrence with notable reductions of sea life left in the tidepools. Drew formed a volunteer group called the White Point Patrol that began to combat the problem by working with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW). White Point Patrol alerted them when poachers were present. This resulted in citations for taking without a fishing license, which is needed for some species and taking over the limit. White Point Patrol documents the poaching activity and trains volunteers to educate people on tidepooling versus poaching.

“When you overharvest the

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Local Warden Andreas Gilbert confiscates two blue buckets filled to the brim, totaling 1,486 turban snails. The legal limit of invertebrates is 35 per person. After citing the subjects for violations related to the unlawful possession over limits of turban snails, he carefully returned them to the ocean in an undisclosed location. (photo: courtesy CA Dept. of Fish and Wildlife)

intertidal, you dramatically reduce sea life, since there are fewer species to reproduce, and they become more susceptible to viruses,” states Jim DePompei, program manager, Cabrillo Marine Aquarium. “This is an urban beach at the tail end of a large city with millions of people and regulations that were created under different circumstances. We need to consider if a habitat can be sustained with the amount of people who want to collect.

We can also lobby to help create closed or open take seasons or reduce the bag limit due to the number of people coming to collect from the tidepools without being militant about it.”

According to Linda Chilton, education program manager, USC Sea Grant, “This is a complex issue where people can legally harvest sea life from the rocky intertidal if they have a fishing license and follow regulations.

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result is loss of important ecosystems.”

CDFW does not have the authority to make this a protected area that prohibits the removal of sea life. That can only be done by legislation or by regulation adopted by the California Fish and Game Commission. To start the process, a petition needs to be created by a person or an organization and submitted to the commission for review.

“White Point Beach and Royal Palms tidepools have been under intense pressure over the past year, as more poachers have been caught taking egregious amounts of wildlife,” states Patrick Foy, law enforcement captain, CDFW. “Wildlife officers have cited subjects regularly walking out with four times the daily bag limit of mussels and ten times the legal amounts of invertebrates, such as turban snails, hermit crabs, and sea urchins. CDFW does educational outreach in the area and installed signage to educate the

public of the regulations regarding the take of tidal invertebrates.”

All coastlines in San Pedro should be reviewed if new regulations are created.

If there are limitations at Royal Palms, then Cabrillo Beach should also be taken under consideration so poachers do not move there instead. spt For more information about White Point Patrol, visit whitepointpatrol.org or email whitepointpatrol@gmail.com.

Training will be held for volunteers on Saturday, June 12 at 9:30 a.m. at White Point Beach; registration is required. To report poaching, contact 1-888334-2258, and to advocate for legislative change, contact senatorbradford@senate.ca.gov.

To find out how to start a petition to create protected tidepools, email fgc@fgc.ca.gov.

VOICES

OPPORTUNITY

by Mike Lansing After an unprecedented year, our youth deserve more investment and commitment.

As we continue to take steps to a more normal way of life, now is the time to address the needs of our youth, who have taken the biggest hit from our pandemic. With over 75 percent of K-12 students having not been in a classroom since last March, now is the time to double down on their needs so that we do not exacerbate the learning and career pathway losses they have already endured.

Higher Education Opportunity: In all honesty, I am tired of hearing from folks that not all students should go to college. Usually, those espousing that mantra the loudest sent all of their own children off to college — obviously a double standard. What is true is that all students should have the opportunity to attend college, and that opportunity should not be limited due to lack of resources, lack of family higher education history, or lack of college pathway support at the high school level. At the Boys & Girls Club, we began our College Bound program 19 years ago. Any youth who wanted the opportunity to attend college had the one-on-one and year-round college pathway support they needed to compete with their more affluent peers who can afford a college coach. This past year has maybe been our most impactful — with high schools closed to 93 percent of students since March 2020, they have had basically no college pathway support since that

face it, our K-12 and especially elementary students have lost so much learning opportunity since last March.

Virtual classrooms were the only option until recently, and pretty much everyone agrees that our students do not learn well virtually while sitting at home and looking at a computer screen.

Since last August, we kept our Boys & Girls Club sites open (8 a.m. to 6 p.m.) to support students and parents who needed a place to go for connectivity and support. And while that effort was successful, we understand that the 600 K-8 students were far too few and that even with our support, this mode of instruction was far too limiting, and these students were falling further and further behind each day and week. Therefore, come August, when schools are to resume: 1.) All students and educators must be back in the classroom, and 2.) Providing a hybrid or virtual instruction must not continue.

No excuses — our education system must fully open in August. MorePast students of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Los Angeles Harbor College Bound program. than-adequate safety protocols can (photo: Boys & Girls Clubs of the Los Angeles Harbor) continue (maybe not testing students ties in the year and years ahead to level tion and welding certification program. every week). In addition, community nonprofits, such as Boys & Girls Clubs the playing field and better prepare But like College Bound, the numbers and others, must collaborate with the our students for an opportunity for engaged are far too small. Before he LAUSD to best support students during higher education. passed, I had several discussions with the summer and after school when it Workforce Development Opportu- Harbor Commissioner Dave Arian on resumes in August. All hands on deck! nity: For those high school graduates his vision for a port-funded training/ not on a higher education pathway, skills center in Wilmington. That would Our youth deserve nothing less. spt there must be much better training and be a great investment, and we need Mike Lansing is the Executive support systems in place for them to to lobby our harbor commissioners to Director of the Boys & Girls Clubs have a solid career pathway beyond finally complete Dave’s dream. ≠≠≠If of the Los Angeles Harbor. high school. There is a great need we want options and opportunities for already in entry and mid-level positions our youth, that type of investment and in the medical field, IT support, codcommitment is sorely needed. ing, and especially construction, given “Brain Gain” Opportunity: Let’s time other than what we have been able to provide at our five College Bound centers. And while we are proud of the 1,155 high school students and 604 seniors we have been serving while their schools have been closed this year, this is far too few to receive this important support for an “opportunity” to attend college. We invest well over one million dollars in our College Bound program annually. Still, there needs to be a much larger investment by many more enti-

that Washington will eventually pass hundreds of billions of dollars for infrastructure projects. However, we have eliminated workforce-developmentrelated classes in our high schools over decades, and we have very limited highlevel training opportunities otherwise.

Harbor Occupational Center is one avenue, but there is much less investment and opportunity than there was decades ago. Kudos to POLA High School for implementing their successful construc-

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VOICES

MEMORIES OF SAN PEDRO’S REAL HEROES DON’T DIMINISH WITH TIME

by Steve Marconi Another Memorial Day is upon us, and when I happened upon what I thought would be a perfect column to mark the occasion, I didn’t know San Pedro Today would be honoring Yuri Kochiyama’s centennial in last month’s edition.

Yuri, the former Mary Nakahara while growing up in San Pedro, sent the following to News-Pilot sports editor Mil Chipp in 1950, and it appeared in his “Fan Fare” column on May 19 with the byline Mary N. Kochiyama. It is a timely tribute to fellow Pirate alum Doug Adams (S’40) who died in World War II at the age of 22. Mary graduated the previous year, but obviously knew Doug well; besides sharing the same birthday, she was, as noted last month, an avid sports fan and sportswriter. The column is edited solely for length with my comments in parentheses: Today is May 19th…Doug Adams’ birthday.

The date may not be significant, but the person is. Thousands of San Pedro residents, former chums, neighbors, schoolmates, sports fans and townspeople will recall this name with their respective associations of him.

I’d like to recall the memory of Doug Adams, partly in remembrance of his influence in San Pedro athletics, and also in remembrance of the number of

other harbor youths whose lives were cut short in service of their country.

Doug would be a good cross-section of the Mike Godfreys, Jack Rados, Jerome Stambuks, Joe Lucidos, Rudolph Preciados, John Oggs, Bob Bauers, George Benders, Bob Bryans, Atsushi Sakamotos and Hugh Kuhls. (All of those mentioned, contemporaries of Yuri, were San Pedro High alumni killed in World War II.) He lived in the neighborhood of Eddie Farrell, Ed Abney, Bill Avarell, Raymond Stewart, John and Bob Larson, Jackie Meier and Hal Robb. They all fought, played and grew up together.

Doug loved sports, all sports. He excelled in boxing and gymnastics; carved a niche for himself in football, swimming and diving; was a good track man, softball player, and weightlifter.

He and his sports-loving gang rigged up their own rings and hi-bars, set up parallels and other apparatus, and practiced together.

Doug was at his peak in 1941 as a promising boxer. His early matches were KO’s in the first or second round.

He was also considered at Compton Junior College as a potential Olympic bid in gymnastics, being groomed by a former national champion. While in service, he entered the Oklahoma state championships where he fought his way into the finals. There he lost his only fight, and it was by a decision.

He never reached the top rungs in college, amateur or pro athletics. He

never hit a national rating. But what he contributed to local athletics and inspired in younger boys is something that could probably never be equaled by any singular San Pedro athlete.

On Sept, 8, 1942, he volunteered for service and was called in December for pre-flight training. Three years later, on Feb. 12, 1945, his parents received the heartbreaking telegram, that he was missing in action.

For eight months his parents prayed and waited, always clinging in the hope that he might somehow be alive.

Finally, after the long days of waiting, the War Department notified the Adamses that Doug was killed on Jan. 4, 1945, in the Sulu Sea when the (aircraft carrier) Ommaney Bay was hit (by a kamikaze). Doug, with 15 other pilots, was trapped in the ready room.

Thus ended the life of a war hero and local star athlete.

But if Doug were alive today, he still would say: ‘There’s a reason for everything that happens.’

Doug’s life is proof. He didn’t live long, but he lived to the fullest. He never became a national figure in sports, but he will figure prominently always in the advancement of local athletics.

He never became a champion, except that he championed the cause for many a little guy. He never quite hit the top, but he hit deep into the hearts of all who knew him.

The great affection and respect

V

accorded him is shown by the fact that five couples have named their sons after him…the Ed Abneys, the Terry Croskerys and Hal Robbs, all San Pedrans…and the other two are his flying buddy and his wife, the Leal Lennerts, and his sister and brother-inlaw, the George Fyffes.

Perhaps his best friend, Ed, can best describe Doug: ‘Doug was the cleanest-minded guy I’ve ever known, but he wasn’t a sissy; he was plenty rugged but not a bully.’

Doug’s greatest contribution to San Pedro was not in his own achievements, but what he inspired in others.

His mother, still living at 714 W. Twenty-eighth St., grieved as she is, must be proud to have raised such a son.

Chipp’s introduction said it was “a column I think mothers of young men in our community should read aloud tonight.”

Seventy-one years later, we can still embrace that sentiment. The San Pedro Fallen Veterans Memorial project at the USS Iowa will keep alive the memories of Adams and the nearly 200 other San Pedrans who died in World War II, World War I, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. To make the memorial a reality, support its bid for part of the Buscaino Community Grant Program by voting online through May 31 at bit. ly/BGSanPedro (direct link available at sanpedrotoday.com). spt Steve Marconi can be reached at spmarconi@yahoo.com.

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VOICES

REINVENTING RANCHO SAN PEDRO

by Lee Williams

With the San Pedro waterfront redevelopment finally gaining momentum, it’s time to consider the next major project to move San Pedro forward: redeveloping Rancho San Pedro. For those who don’t know, Rancho San Pedro is the public housing that borders Harbor Blvd. in the east, 3rd Street in the south, Santa Cruz to the north, and Mesa to the west.

There are currently 478 units on the 21.5-acre site. The first 284 homes were built in 1942 on 12.5 acres of land developed to attract and house shipbuilders and their families. After WWII, with housing still in short supply, nine more acres were purchased, and 194 additional homes were built. In 1952, the property management was transferred to the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA), which receives much of its funding from HUD. Safety is the number one concern for the residents and surrounding community. In the ‘60s and ‘70s, Rancho San Pedro started to fall into disrepair and saw a rise in gang activity along with drugs and violent crime. Much of that remains today and has escalated in recent months.

In 2015, HACLA commissioned a study to determine the highest and best use for the property. The conclusion?

Tear it down and replace it with a mix of property types that expand the number of units and benefit various incomes of workforce housing.

What is affordable housing and why is it needed? The average monthly family income in HACLA housing is $2,035 ($24,424 annually), with rent capped at 30 percent of income. Sixty-six percent of these families have jobs, and their income is from wages, while 7.6 percent receive public assistance, 21.4 percent receive veteran’s benefits, SSI, or social security, and 5 percent receive income from other sources. Thirty-eight percent of the residents are minors, 50 percent 14 I SAN PEDRO TODAY I JUNE 2021

Artist rendering of the Rancho San Pedro public housing redevelopment, slated to begin construction in 2024. (photo: HACLA)

are adults under 60, and 12 percent are 61 and older. There are over 45,000 families on the HACLA waitlist for affordable housing. Without affordable housing, most of our restaurants, hotels, retail, and small businesses wouldn’t be able to retain local employees that keep their doors open.

In 2017, HACLA held more than 90 meetings and town halls in San Pedro to get input on how best to reimagine Rancho San Pedro from the ground up.

Conversations around crime, safety, parking, public transportation, education, job training, open space, beautification, retail shops, a grocery store, and connecting Rancho San Pedro with the rest of the community provides the vision for the project. Also, constructing new units to replace the existing housing with minimum disruption of the current residents is key.

The following year, HACLA selected a team of developers that was most engaged in the community outreach and provided a working plan to deliver on the vision. This team is now known as the One San Pedro Collaborative. It includes some big names in affordable construction that specialize in building and maintaining housing, improving the quality of life for the residents and the surrounding community.

One San Pedro is currently working on the Specific Plan to submit to the L.A. City Council. The plan is expected

to include 694 affordable units, 134 affordable units of senior housing, 478 new market-rate rental units, and opportunities for ownership with 45 affordable and 32 market-rate units for sale. These are estimates, with the final total number of units likely to fall between 1,250 and 1,500. Expect a lot of underground parking, better connections to public transit, and better bike and pedestrian access to help move people around.

The plan includes about 85,000 square feet of residential amenities for community space, youth sports and recreation, a health clinic with wellness care, small business incubation, and workforce development facilities.

Another 49,000 square feet could be dedicated to retail/commercial space, making room for a grocery store, pharmacy, laundromat, and small shops.

There will be over two acres of open space that will include community gardens that could produce food for the residents and opportunities to sell at the San Pedro Farmers Market.

The buildings and spaces incorporate crime prevention through CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design), which employs strategies that reduce opportunities for crime by creating a defensible space while increasing community engagement and ownership. Adding marketrate housing helps with financing the

project and diversifying the mix of residents that often become isolated and disconnected from the rest of the community.

Attention is being paid to the views, massing, and height of the new buildings. The intent is to add additional units to conform with the San Pedro community plan and fits into the community as a whole. The construction will be very slow to reduce the amount of displacement of the existing residents. The intent is to build in the current open spaces and nearby land so they can move folks to the new housing and then replace the old buildings as they go. There are expected to be job opportunities for residents and other San Pedrans to participate in the construction.

So, what’s the timeline? The Specific Plan, along with the city, state, and federal reviews — including CEQA, Environmental Impact Reports, studies, and mitigation measures — are expected to be released this fall for approval by the L.A. City Council. If all goes well, we could see construction begin in 2024 and end in 2037 (yes, about 14 years).

Initial phases will focus on replacing the existing housing with the first finished units delivered in 2025. Later phases will include additional units, community amenities, and homeownership units.

The new Rancho San Pedro could be transformational in terms of crime reduction, addressing our homeless crisis, and offering workforce housing, and could help many residents by offering the resources, education, and tools to break the cycle of poverty with new businesses and opportunities. It may not get here quickly, but we are indeed moving in the right direction. For more information, visit OneSanPedro.org. spt Lee Williams is board chair of the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce and leads The Williams Group at Keller Williams PV Realty. He can be reached at leewilliams@kw.com.

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JUNE 2021 I SAN PEDRO TODAY I 15

THE RETURN OF

VINYL

JIM CALLON’S JDC RECORD STORE KEEPS THE TUNES SPINNING IN DOWNTOWN SP

by Joshua Stecker

Jim Callon, owner of JDC Records, sifts through the bins of his record shop in Downtown San Pedro. (photo: John Mattera Photography)

In a world where everything old is new again, it’s no surprise that vinyl albums are making a comeback.

Last year, vinyl albums outsold compact discs for the first time since 1986.

Fueled by audiophiles, hipster culture, and nostalgia seekers, vinyl album sales were up 46 percent in the United States compared to 2019, with a whopping 27.5 million LPs and EPs sold, according to the Recording Industry Association of America’s (RIAA) year-end report.

“Vinyl is here to stay,” says Jim Callon, 78, owner of JDC Records on Sixth Street in Downtown San Pedro. “I don’t think it’s going to go away. It’s not going to get huge like it once was, but I think it’ll be around.”

Callon would know. As someone who’s spent his entire adult life in the music industry — as a musician, engineer, record label owner, distributor, and retailer — he’s experienced firsthand all the trends and technologies.

From the death of disco to the digital streaming revolution and everything in between, Callon’s career has ebbed and flowed with the times.

THE GLASS FAMILY Born in Arizona but raised in Los Angeles since he was a baby, Callon grew up with a love of music. That passion carried over to UCLA in the mid-sixties, when he and some college friends started a psychedelic rock 16 I SAN PEDRO TODAY I JUNE 2021

would break up just before recording group, The Glass Family.

“We played fraternity parties and their second album. whatnot,” recalls Callon. “And I went on “I didn’t want to be on the road to get my Masters in English Literature anymore. It’s not glamourous. It’s really [as a fallback career], but during that hard,” says Callon. “So, I got married [to his now-late wife Dacie] and had a time, my band got signed to Warner Bros. in 1967.” child and had to find a stable lifestyle. I After releasing their debut album, got a job producing a record, and then I Electric Band (1968), the band went started getting more interested in profrom college parties to venues like the duction and the studio. In the seventies, Troubadour I became a and the recording Whiskey engineer.” a Go-Go, Working sharing mostly out the bill of Holwith some lywood legendSound ary sixties Recorders, groups.

Callon was

engineer“We were ing albums pretty sucfor acts like cessful for Captain Callon (r) in a promo photo from the first Glass Family album. Beefheart a B-rated (photo: Phil Kaufman) band. We and Glen toured and played with The Doors, the Campbell before discovering his passion Grateful Dead, and Janis Joplin. I have and expertise with funk music. a lot of great stories,” laughs Callon.

“In the mid-seventies, I started to get “When we played with the Dead, [their really good at this,” says Callon. “One soundman] Owsley Stanley would leave night, one of the other engineers said, ‘I LSD in little cups on the amplifiers. It got this crazy band from Detroit coming was a whole different time. But we also in tonight. I don’t really want to work had the Vietnam War to contend with.” with them. Will you take my slot?’ I For myriad reasons, and in typical said, ‘Sure.’ It turned out to be George rock ‘n’ roll fashion, The Glass Family Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic

before anybody knew who they were.”

Callon immediately took a strong liking to Clinton and his band, eventually becoming their exclusive mixing engineer.

“I fell in love with these guys. The other guys didn’t want to work with them. [They said], ‘They’re too crazy.

They’re too flamboyant,’ whatever. No, it was magic,” recalls Callon. “And so, for the next three years, I became their exclusive engineer. I’m really proud of my work on Mothership Connection.”

In particular, one Parliament track, “Get Off Your Ass and Jam,” began receiving a lot of attention at these new popular dance clubs called “discos” that were popping up across the country in the late seventies. Curious to hear how the track sounded in a club, Callon recalls the night he went out to a disco in Los Angeles and was shocked at the size of the crowd and their passion for this new style of music.

“I go to this big disco in town, Studio One, and I hear [the song] over this huge sound speaker with the lights and everything going. I said, ‘Man, this is happening!’ So, I went and cut a disco record with my band.”

This second iteration of The Glass Family lasted just long enough to produce two disco albums in 1978, both landing on the Billboard charts.

“We sold the rights all over the world. We were riding high with it,”

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Clockwise l to r: The JDC Record Store staff (l to r) Lina Mejia, Zoe Silva, and Sasha Sudo; the record store's interior and storefront. (photos: John Mattwera Photography)

says Callon. “I quit engineering and started our own label; everything was going well. And then disco died. Remember that?”

Disco exited just as fast as it entered pop culture, leaving behind a trail of velour tracksuits and bellbottoms and warehouses full of unsold disco albums.

“When disco died, that was it [for the band],” says Callon.

single, “Candy Girl.” The success forced the business to move to a larger 7,000 square foot warehouse on Fifth Street, across from McNerney’s Mortuary.

“That’s when we morphed into this huge distribution company all through the eighties,” says Callon.

As the music industry started to go digital with CDs in the late eighties, it was the rise of hip hop and dance club DJs that kept vinyl, and JDC Records, JDC RECORDS IS BORN relevant.

With The Glass Family done again “Everything was going great until (for now), Callon and his wife turned 1990,” says Callon. “That’s when vinyl their attention to running the new died.” record label, JDC Records, named after The major record companies were the couple’s initials (Jim and Dacie forcing record stores to return all their Callon). The Callons discovered that vinyl albums and replace them with while disco was dead in the minds of CDs. Vinyl sections were disappearing the music industry, disco/dance albums across the country as demand tanked. It were still in high demand across the was clear the music industry was going country. Callon saw an opportunity and all-in on CDs and wanted to be done went around to as many disco labels with vinyl. as possible and bought their entire “This was very disturbing to me inventories. because vinyl sounds better than CDs,” “It was good stuff, really good music,” says Callon. “When the first CDs came he remembers. “I started selling it to out, I knew all the top guys in town stores. That’s how I became a distribu— the engineers and mastering guys — tor of disco and dance records in 1979.” everybody thought it wasn’t going to The couple started JDC Records’ last. Well, the convenience of it [proved label and distribution in a small us wrong].” building on a corner across from Fort MacArthur. They even opened a record THE RECORD SHOP shop on Pacific Avenue for a short time When JDC Records struggled in the called Dance Music Forever. Dacie nineties, the business bounced around would only stay with the business for a the South Bay, settling in Hermosa year before letting Callon take the reins, Beach for a while. When Hermosa lost leaving her to take care of the family, its charm, Callon returned to San Pedro which would eventually grow to five in 2013, relocating JDC’s label and dischildren. tribution business to a small warehouse In 1983, lightning struck when in the downtown district. He would JDC became the exclusive west coast open the record shop three years later. distributor for New Edition’s smash hit “The record shop has been open five 18 I SAN PEDRO TODAY I JUNE 2021

years, and I still get people coming in saying, ‘I didn’t know you were here,’” he says.

For music lovers, walking into JDC Record Store is like walking into a hug.

Two rows of (mostly) new and (some) used vinyl albums take up most of the floor space, with cassettes, turntables, and various other related items displayed on the wooden slatwall shelves.

The atmosphere is inviting, and the staff is always blasting great music. Also, as an homage to San Pedro’s notable punk history, the very first album bin you see as you walk into the store is the punk section, with, of course, a good selection of Minutemen albums.

“When the retail space in front [of the warehouse] became available, I thought, yeah, let’s do a record store again,” says Callon. “There’s so much interest in vinyl. This is the time to do it.”

Callon’s vinyl retail philosophy is simple. He makes sure to have as many of the best-selling albums in stock at all times across as many genres as he can sell. And if he doesn’t have what you’re looking for in stock, chances are he can order it for you. The shop’s prices are also competitive with other indie record stores in the South Bay. Customers can also order online at jdcrecordstore.com.

While the pandemic certainly hurt many local businesses, including JDC Records, Callon says his distribution business has taken off again now that the economy has opened up.

“All of the stores we sell to, especially in Southern California, they’re all buying our stuff again like crazy. We can’t even keep up with it,” he says. “Everything got really good again for us.”

Now that things are getting back to normal and family and friends are gathering again, Callon has gotten The Glass Family band back together and is currently working on a new album, tentatively titled Fifty Years Later, a follow-up to their debut record from 1968.

The band, made up of new and old members, has been practicing in the JDC warehouse for the past couple of years. The pandemic put a hold on things, but Callon says that after two years of writing and recording, the new Glass Family album will be out in three months, alongside a new third pressing of their debut album.

“We’ve had all these unfinished tracks and a lot of interest in the band over the past few years,” says Callon.

“Our original album got repressed on vinyl and sold out of two pressings. The third pressing is coming again, and now we’re finally putting out our follow-up album.”

There’s something special about owning a vinyl album for Callon, aside from its superior sound quality. With the large cover art and liner notes, the physical nature of the media and the fact that most vinyl collectors listen to the entirety of an album and not just a single track make the vinyl music experience unique to itself.

“When it comes to good music, the albums you really treasure, you want a vinyl copy of it,” says Callon. spt JDC Records is located at 447 W. 6th Street in Downtown San Pedro.

For more info, visit jdcrecordstore. com.

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JUNE 2021 I SAN PEDRO TODAY I 21

FOOD

PEDRO PARKS & SANDWICHES, PT. I

by Sanam Lamborn

CAPRESE SANDWICH FROM A1 IMPORTED GROCERIES AT PECK PARK: This sandwich makes you dream of Italy. The bread is perfectly soft, but not the kind that gets stuck to the top of your mouth. The sliced Roma tomatoes are seasoned with salt, pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil, while the fresh mozzarella is topped with an abundant amount of very fragrant basil. The unexpected ingredient is a stack of prosciutto slices that takes this sandwich to next-level delicious. All the flavors come together perfectly. Visually, this is a colorful sandwich, while the taste is very satisfying.

Walk the trails along the lush woody canyon and back before eating in the grassy area along Summerland Avenue or at the picnic tables.

22 I SAN PEDRO TODAY I JUNE 2021

THE CUBAN FROM THE SANDWICH SALOON AT AVERILL PARK: I generally don’t gravitate toward hot sandwiches, but this one had me at “hello” when I first tried it last year. Don’t expect a traditional Cuban, but be prepared to be impressed by the subtle sweetness from the pork and coleslaw, the saltiness of the thin slices of ham, and the neutral white cheese. The tenderness of the pork is countered by the slight crunchiness of the cabbage in the coleslaw, while the pork’s juices are absorbed by the bread, which heats the ham slices and slightly melts the cheese.

Walk the perimeter of the park and inner paved trails, making sure to stroll around the stream to visit the ducks and turtles. Then, eat your sandwich on the grass or at one of the picnic tables.

BELLY BUSTER FROM BUSY BEE MARKET AT POINT FERMIN PARK: Living up to its name, this sandwich is big enough to share with a friend. A generous helping of two meats of your choice (hot or cold) are laid in between the cut halves of a soft roll, brushed with mayonnaise and yellow mustard. This is a very messy sandwich, the kind that you do not have on a first or second date, due to the cheese, avocado, shredded iceberg lettuce, and of course, the meat jockeying for space on the delicious bread.

The combinations are endless, but my favorites are mortadella with salami or capicola. All of their sandwiches come with pepperoncini.

Ask for extra avocado for a truly luxurious experience.

Walk along the paved path around the park to admire the spectacular views, then enjoy your sandwich at one of the picnic tables. As far as I am concerned, the tables along the cliffs are the ideal place to enjoy your sandwich because you’ll have an uninterrupted view of our beautiful coastline.

(photos: Sanam Lamborn)

In the past year, I have spent time at our local parks for exercise and takeout or picnic adventures.

These experiences have made me appreciate our town even more because we are fortunate to have many beautiful green spaces. For this column, I invited our local historian and fellow San Pedro Today contributor Angela Romero to join me for a few sandwich-in-the-park outings. In my column, you’ll find four of my favorite sandwiches, while in hers (on page 24), you’ll learn some interesting facts about the parks we visited.

DRY SALAMI SANDWICH FROM SORRENTO’S ITALIAN RESTAURANT AT FRIENDSHIP PARK: I can’t resist a good dry salami sandwich; this is my favorite option at Sorrento’s. A stack of dry salami is topped with slices of white cheese, tomatoes, and shredded iceberg lettuce. The bread is dry, but the red wine vinaigrette provides a flavorful tang with a nice amount of moisture. You’ll also find a few pepperoncini to enjoy with your sandwich.

Walk from the parking lot to the top of the hill and back, then eat on the grass. Or — even better — dine at one of the picnic tables overlooking all of San Pedro. spt Sanam Lamborn created the Eat in San Pedro Facebook group and Instagram account in April 2020 to entice people to patronize San Pedro’s eateries.

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JUNE 2021 I SAN PEDRO TODAY I 23

HISTORY

PEDRO PARKS & SANDWICHES, PT. II

by Angela Romero

(photos: John Mattera Photography, Yelp)

As a San Pedro historian and enthusiast, I am always looking for new ways to experience the town, so I jumped at the chance to join Sanam Lamborn on her outdoor eating adventure. San Pedro excels at both sandwiches and parks, so it’s a match made in heaven for me.

Please enjoy these morsels of history to take along with you as you replicate Sanam’s fabulous pairing choices.

PECK PARK: Peck Park is named for George H. Peck, the man who donated the nearly 90 acres of land that make up the park.

Peck was present at the park’s dedication in 1933, which was a grand ceremony to celebrate the man who also gifted San Pedro with Leland Park and Alma Park (named for his two youngest children). Peck Park includes a recreation center, swimming pool, tennis courts, baseball diamonds, a gymnasium, a playground, and a series of hiking trails that were improved and dedicated in 2013 as the Ray Patricio Memorial Trails.

Ray Patricio lived next to the park, overlooking the Miraflores Canyon that runs through the center of the park. It was this proximity that led to Patricio’s activism for its preservation and the trails being named in his memory.

AVERILL PARK: Averill Park was the crown jewel of the Vista Del Oro housing development created by the Averill-Weymouth Company in the 1920s. The Averill brothers, George, Horace, and Herbert, and their brother-in-law, Harry Weymouth, hailed from Maine and were firm believers that access to green space made for better citizens. Herbert Averill was most responsible for the layout of the park, including its famous ponds. Although they are on a pump system, the ponds follow the flow of a natural spring that runs throughout the Vista Del Oro tract. Over the years, Averill Park has been lauded for its beauty, making national lists as well as being considered the most beautiful park in the City of Los Angeles.

There are so many local rites of passage that take place within the park, including feeding the ducks, catching crayfish, ice blocking down the big hill, taking photos for special occasions, scout bridging ceremonies on the bridge, and even weddings in the gazebo.

FRIENDSHIP PARK: Deane Dana Friendship Park is a county park with origins that date back to the POINT FERMIN PARK: Point late 1950s. Locals had pushed Fermin Park has always been one for the park to be named “Caof the most beautiful scenic parks brillo Historical Park” to honor in San Pedro. However, it hasn’t explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, always been a public park. It was but county officials decided that once familiarly called Peck’s Park there was nothing historical about because it was privately owned by the park and preferred it to be a famed developer George H. Peck. welcome gateway to Los Angeles In 1923, the citizens of San Pedro (this was before the upper reservaapproved a bond to purchase the tion of Fort MacArthur was turned park, and Peck agreed to their apinto Angels Gate Park). Friendship praisal price of $95,000, although Park was a welcomed name relocal real estate agents thought it placement because an All Nations would fetch more than double that Cultural Center was included in if sold for commercial developthe early plans for the complex. ment. At the time of the acquisiThe park almost didn’t happen tion, a third of the park was federal when, in 1965, the site was under land controlled by the lighthouse consideration for the location of authority. In 1925, when the lamp in a new campus for the California the lighthouse became electric and State University system (Dominguez required less maintenance, it was Hills was ultimately chosen). The easier for the lighthouse keeper to park was renamed Deane Dana be replaced by a park employee.

Friendship Park in 1995 in honor of Two years later, the lighthouse was retiring County Supervisor Deane manned by a park superintendent, Dana, who enjoyed hiking through and the grounds surrounding it the park. spt were leased to the City of Los Angeles to be included in the park. Angela Romero is the president In 2018, the lighthouse became the of the San Pedro Heritage Museum. She can be reached at official property of the City of Los angela@sanpedroheritage.org.

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For more info, visit sanpedroheritage.org.

24 I SAN PEDRO TODAY I JUNE 2021

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The world is opening back up.

The masks are coming off, and it seems like life might be returning back to normal. And for many, this feels like it’s high time to wipe the Cheeto dust from our chins and get back into a fitness routine.

This is exciting. We are entering a honeymoon phase in which we can’t wait to experience the mundane realities of the pre-pandemic life we took for granted, like finally getting to the fitness club and using your gym towel to wipe the sweat from three dudes who used the bench before you or waiting in line for a treadmill to open up at gym rush hour.

There are those for whom the pandemic was the stated obstacle to living a healthy life and staying in shape. Their reasons being “gyms are closed,” “I’m on Zoom calls all day,” and “the world is shut down,” etc., “so I simply can’t do what I need to.”

And I can say with a high level of certainty that once gyms are open, Zoom calls are over, and the world is fully functioning again, many of these same people will have a different but equally plausible excuse that’s keeping them from living a healthy life. Namely, that once life returns to what it once was, you will find your plate full of obligations that make finding the time to get to the gym, grocery shop, meal prep, eat healthily, and the myriad of habits required for a healthy life very difficult. Things like weddings, parties, happy hour, dinner dates, conferences, business meetings, and the like will all be clamoring to fill up your calendar.

And knowing this, it got me thinking about a mindset shift I’d encourage you to make before you begin your quest for health and fitness coming out of the pandemic: Own your results. Good or bad. Stop saying it’s something “out there,” like the pandemic. And

turn the locus of control inward to you. Fitness is not the result of circumstances. It is the result of the decisions one makes continuously regardless of circumstances. It does not mean circumstances are irrelevant, quite the opposite. It just means that, at the end of the day, your response to those circumstances is what ultimately matters.

Take, for example, the common belief many people who struggle to get in shape have: “I don’t have the time.”

Specifically, their belief is that they don’t have the time to eat healthily or exercise. Well, let’s work through that for a bit. When you walk to your kitchen, does it take more time to grab a Greek yogurt or an apple than it does to grab a bag of chips? When you order delivery, does it take more time to order salmon than a pizza? Does it take more time to steam veggies than it does to make pasta? Sure, one could argue that grocery shopping and meal prep is time-consuming, but to them, I’d say the junk they’re eating now had to be bought somehow. It doesn’t just appear in your kitchen. Everyone has to buy food. The only difference is the decision to buy some types of food instead of others. What we’re really saying is that we don’t want to plan for eating healthy; we’d rather default to what’s easier, eating poorly.

Accepting this doesn’t mean you need to change it. In fact, if you’re happy/confident/healthy, then, by all means, keep doing what you’re doing. You do you. But if you have a nagging sense that things aren’t how they should be, stop hoping for fair weather. Stop waiting for the perfect moment. It ain’t coming. So make do with what you have and do something to change it.

And now that the gym is open, stop by and join me for a workout. spt Ricky Magana is co-owner of Heyday Elite Fitness. For more info, visit heydaytraining.com.

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JUNE 2021 I SAN PEDRO TODAY I 27

MENTAL HEALTH

LET’S REFRAME SEX

by Sophie Schoenfeld, MFT A disheartening truth about the realities of being a woman in the U.S. is that, statistically, 40 percent of women in our country experience some form of sexual violence, and 80 percent of these females are under the age of 25.

Being a mental health provider, the statistics in my own practice of sexual assault between men and women break down as follows: Approximately 80 percent of female clients that have sought therapy over a 17-year window of clinical practice have had sexual trauma, approximately 10 percent of men have reported sexual trauma, and 100 percent of these males were assaulted when they were underage. In addition, national statistics also indicate that only 20 percent of sexual assaults are being reported to the authorities, which drives these numbers up to a shocking range that clearly indicates a social crisis. Something we are doing is obviously not working.

We have a justice system that fails to adequately protect and consider its female population. We have a multibillion-dollar sex industry that objectifies, dehumanizes, and actively promotes violence against women. We have a popular culture that advertises double binding and conflicting messages about femininity and female empowerment by projecting either overly sexualized images of women or promoting victim mentality

and equality stance that repeatedly backfires. These unresolved and unattended issues have ultimately culminated into what appears to be the dark ages for women in modern society.

Despite the publicized sexual scandals of the Me Too movement in the past few years, young women and children continue to be hunted in staggering numbers, not only out in the greater world but at home with their families and supposed “loved ones.” In 2019, 1.5 million women were raped by their intimate partners, and to spare you the heartbreak, I won’t go into the statistics of child sexual abuse and incest. This issue has so many complex and deep roots in our psyche that this article can’t possibly wrap its arms around it. However, what is of paramount importance is that we, as a society, understand that there is a critical need to reframe sexuality.

We urgently need to reexamine our relationship to sex to educate and develop a new language for honest, non-shame-based dialogue. We need to understand and invest funds in more research about the differences in sexual behavior between genders so we do not fall into the trap of either demonizing men or victimizing women. If we as a culture could understand and respect these differences, then perhaps we would have a clearer path towards protecting our children and women.

There needs to be an active effort in reforming the justice system so that the response is not solely rooted in the victim’s ability to provide physical

(photo: Valentin Antonucci/Pexels.com)

evidence. Amongst other things, addressing the impact of premature exposure to pornographic material on our children in the digital era plays a huge role in how sexuality becomes internalized in young men.

We, as parents, need to open doors for these dialogues.

In ancient Rome, crowds gathered and cheered as they watched gladiators getting devoured by beasts. This was entertainment to us back in the day. We have, however, evolved to a society where this is unacceptable and disturbing. If lynching and public executions are horrifying, why can’t we attempt to evolve to feeling aversion versus excitement from watching violent sex on our computer screens?

If we are to evolve our sexuality, it cannot come from canceling or censoring thoughts and feelings about sex. Quite the opposite — it must come from exploring and talking about it with empathy and curiosity. Most of us cringe when we talk about sex, especially with our children. Men are afraid to broach the subject with their daughters altogether. Couples have a

hard time opening up and exploring their fantasies and likes and dislikes with each other. We are still struggling with the most primal aspect of our biology. And while sexuality resides in the shadows, this shadow self is terrorizing our world.

Unprocessed sexuality represents the biggest dissonance between the idea of who we are and the reality of who we are. We impose monogamy, yet infidelity is rampant in committed relationships. We talk about respecting women, yet the majority of us are being raped and violated. We talk about sexual freedom and tolerance, yet we cannot talk to our children about sex.

We try to normalize sexual anomalies, yet we cannot figure out how to be truly intimate in our most natural state. It is time, mothers and fathers, that we start to talk to our children about sex, not only in the context of preventing pregnancy and STDs but in the context of what it actually means to be human. spt Sophie Schoenfeld, MFT is a local marriage and family therapist. For more info, visit sophiemft.com.

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THE BACK PAGE

The SS Princess Louise moved to Berth 94 in 1979 and was a popular floating restaurant until its close in 1989. (photo: San Pedro Bay Historical Society)

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