Ben Lee Properties — July 2019 Newsletter
This Month's Article
By Ben Lee H ello, July! It’s hard to think about the seventh month of the year without conjuring up images of beautiful fireworks, barbeque cookouts and an endless array of red, white and blue.
Where June still signifies the end of the school year, July is universally recognized as the official start of summer and incidentally, one of my favorite holidays of the year: the Fourth of July.
I was doing a little bit of research and found a handful of interesting facts about this special, patriotic day.
Feel free to regale your friends with your incomparable knowledge while presiding over the grill.
They’ll be so impressed (unless, of course, they’re neighbors who happen to be reading this, too).
Did you know… The delegates of the Continental Congress actually signed the Declaration of Independence on July 2, 1776.
A letter was found written by (future) president John Adams to his wife Abigail believing that July 2 would forever be celebrated as a great day, incorrectly linking it to our day of independence.
He wrote: “The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America.” He went on to add: “It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty.
It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.” We celebrate the holiday on July 4th because that’s when the Declaration of Independence was printed in newspapers.
A handful of the delegates claimed to have signed on July 4th, however, most did not.
In fact, legend has it that it took over a month to get all 56 of the delegates to sign the Declaration of Independence (so those famous oil paintings depicting the gentlemen signing together are basically just using a whole lot of artistic license).
Two presidents died on July 4th, 1826: fifty years after signing the Declaration of Independence and only five hours apart.
Thomas Jefferson was 82 and John Adams was 90.
The only president to be born on July 4th was Calvin Coolidge in 1872.
Today we associate the holiday with red, white and blue however that wasn’t always the case.
Most of the material using those colors was used and destroyed during the Revolutionary War and more wasn’t readily available for the first few years of celebrating the holiday.
Revelers had to make do with green instead.
Canons left over from the war were originally used to convey celebratory joy until they eventually fell apart and stopped working.
Fireworks replaced canons for a much more colorful (yet potentially just as dangerous?) method of expressing happiness at being free from England.
It wouldn’t be a proper 4th of July celebration without waving the American Flag but did you know the flag we all recognize today was designed by a 17 year old high school student named Robert G.
Heft in 1958? The design was in response to a school assignment to redesign the flag to also incorporate the two new states: Hawaii and Alaska.
Robert protested his original B- grade and his teacher responded by saying if Congress liked it, she’d change his grade.
According to legend, Robert sent his design to Washington and it was personally selected as our country’s new flag by President Eisenhower, himself.
His teacher, true to her word, changed his grade to an A!
And no helicopter parenting in the Heft household.
Apparently Robert’s mother was a professional seamstress but she refused to do the sewing for him and said he had to do it himself.
That’s one hard earned and well deserved A!
And what list of trivial facts about Fourth of July would be complete without a mention of everyone’s favorite topic: food!
It’s interesting to note that July is also known as ‘National Hotdog Month,” and more hotdogs are consumed on July 4th than any other day of the year (150 million, to be exact).
Ironically, this most American of all foods didn’t originate here at all.
Our hotdog most closely resembles Germany’s frankfurter and it was introduced to our country in the late 1800s.
Hotdogs quickly gained popularity after Chris Von der Ahe, the owner of the St.
Louis Browns and a German immigrant, added them to the menu at his ballpark.
From then on, hotdogs and baseball games have been, pardon the pun, a real home run It makes sense that America’s pastime and birthday would both embrace the hotdog as its’ food of choice.
So, there you have it: a few facts about Independence Day to delight your guests while you’re grilling and swimming.
Here’s wishing you and yours a very happy and safe 4th of July holiday!
Wherever you’re celebrating this year, I hope there are some fireworks in the sky and hotdogs on your plate.
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Community & More
Beverlywood happenings By Michael Harris F or the architectural buffs a visit to the Los Angeles Airport theme building and Johnie’s Coffee Shop at 6101 Wilshire Blvd at Fairfax would be rewarding to see.
But alas in neither place is it any longer possible to eat.
Although both started out as basically available as public restaurants they are now just empty monuments to an earlier time and sensitivity with their kitchens shut down.
Both are built in the style of architecture known as Googie.
The name was given to this form of design based on the original Googies restaurant on Sunset Blvd which was originally by the modernist, John Lautner.
Thereafter, many coffee shops and other buildings used this style to emulate the origins of the space age of the 1950s and 1960s.
The features were soaring roofs, and details that simulated a space ship and which harked back to the moderne style of the 1930’s.
The theme building at the Los Angeles International Airport was created by the team of Pereira and Luckman in 1961.
Johnie’s was built in 1956 by Amot and Davis who also designed the Norm’s on La Cienega as a further project based on an automobile oriented clientele.
As one might imagine both of these locales have been favorites for motion picture producers.
While the airport is shown in over 200 features some of the ones that one might recall using this backdrop would include, Die Hard, Jerry Maguire, Speed, Diamonds are Forever, Easy Rider, Beverly Hills Cop, and City Slickers.
As for Johnie’s it is shown among others in The Big Lebowski; Reservoir Dogs; City of Angels; and Miracle Mile.
Westside Places If you enjoy reading these vignettes each month, you may want to check out my father-in-law’s book, Westside Stories.
It’s a memoir/history of growing up on the Westside of Los Angeles in the 1940s and 1950s with great photos, anecdotes and stories.
Perfect for the history buff/enthusiast in your family!
It’s available for purchase at http://www.americasgroup.com/Westside-Stories-Book.html New Changes on Robertson By Ben Lee S o many exciting changes are about to take place on Robertson Boulevard!
Back in 2014, Mayor Garcetti launched the “Great Streets Initiative” which was basically a way to say every neighborhood should have a great Main Street that brings neighbors together.
In 2017, South Robertson was successfully awarded a grant as one of the proposed Great Streets and 500,000 dollars (possibly more) has been earmarked for the build out of Robertson between Cadillac/Hillsboro and Kincardine, just south of Hamilton High.
After months of input from residents and business owners in and around the community, ground has officially been broken and phase one of construction is set to begin.
Goals for this phase of the project include: roadway improvement to calm traffic; increase pedestrians’ walkability experience to encourage foot traffic among businesses; and there will be general safety improvements between pedestrians and drivers (including new traffic lights).
There will also be curb bump outs and sidewalk widening which will encourage slower speeds on the streets and more outdoor seating for restaurants and gathering spots for neighbors.
New trees are going to be planted and benches around them installed, too.
A more comprehensive plan and the best way to stay on top of the process is to go online: soroblvd. com.
CPR kiosk brought to LAX by Beverlywood resident By Ben Lee L ongtime Beverlywood resident and dedicated safety professional Marci Sandell recognized an opportunity to better serve her community, now on a global scale.
Marci explains how while traveling recently she noticed a contraption that could literally be a lifesaver: “As a Travelers Aid volunteer at LAX and American Heart CPR Instructor I saw this CPR Kiosk at an airport and knew we needed this at LAX.” So, upon returning to Los Angeles, Marci connected with contacts she has at LAX and, along with veteran American Heart Association Instructor Sonia Berman, worked with Anthem Blue Cross to fund the first CPR kiosk at the Thomas Bradley International Terminal at LAX.
This is the third machine in the state and first in Los Angeles.
Now, thanks to the efforts of Marci and Sonia, busy travelers can learn in three minutes and two easy steps how to be real lifesavers.
In fact, these machines have already proven to help save lives and have been instrumental in teaching many travelers important lifesaving skills.
So, the next time you’re about to fly, take three minutes and learn the basics of CPR.
You never know when you may have to use it and hopefully you never will.
But nice to have the knowledge, just in case.
Pictured here - Sonia Berman and Marci Sandell By Ben Lee W e’ve gotten a lot of fantastic entries to our photo contest.
It’s been so much fun seeing all the great places our newsletter has been!
There’s still plenty of time to get in on the action.
newsletter anywhere you’d like and take a picture of it.
Then email the photo to me: ben@ benleeproperties.com and write ‘PHOTO’ in the subject line.
That’s it! We will pick the lucky winner of the $500 dollar prize after the Labor Day holiday.
Have fun and keep the entries coming. $500 PHOTO CONTEST
