Sunday, May 26, 2024

A NEW BEGINNING

The first book the Book Club read was One Summer: America 1927 by Bill Bryson. By the way, the book club was named The Edge and members were charged $15 for each three book section.

One Summer is a bit lengthy at 456 pages, but Bill’s prose is easy reading. The year 1927 included Charles Lindbergh’s solo flight across the Atlantic, Babe Ruth’s record setting home run season, Al Capone’s coming to power in Chicago, and Al Jolson’s as The Jazz Singer. Bryson also wrote A Walk in the Woods, which was made into a movie starring Robert Redford. 

If you are a fan of Bill Bryson and/or linguistics, Bill also authored The Mother Tongue and Made in America. Further, fellow book club member, Patricia suggested History of English podcast, which covers the history of the English people and their language.

So, I selected One Summer instead of a book detailing the Julian Petroleum scandal in Los Angeles. That story was too detailed in its explanation of the intricacies of the oil and gas business and accounting and finance in the era before regulation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

As I remember it, the book was well received by our initial members, including Mary and JIm. And so it began…

If you remember Saundra recommended Manhunt, a fictionalized story of Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton, and his hunt for presidential assassin, John Wilkes Booth. Manhunt featured Stanton’s firing by President Johnson, the proximate cause of his impeachment, which we read about in The Impeachers by Brenda Wineapple. Stanton was portrayed by Tobias Menzies, who also played Prince Philip in The Crown. I wish Tobias could have grown a wacky beard like the real Stanton.

That’s it for now. I’m glad I kept all my notes from the beginning!

Tony Ciarriocco
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Friday, May 22, 2020

Many guests come to the Homestead Museum seeking connections to the past. The historic houses and the artifacts provide guests with these connections. Guests have related to the 1920's GE refrigerator or the California cooler shelves next to the cold storage units. Some remember the old fuse boxes on display during the Behind The Scenes tours. Others have memories of making adobe bricks for their homes in Mexico.
As a volunteer for the last twelve years I have made my own connections and observations.

1. Sheet Music
About four years ago I posted a blog entry on the Homestead Museum's website about the importance of "paying attention" to everything around us, a concept drilled into us by parents, teachers, et al. The idea for the article came to me when I noticed sheet music in the Music Practice Room in LCN during a tour.

2. Don Julian Road
Many times I drove by the Museum wondering if Don Julian Road in the City of Industry was named for the 1950's doo wop singer of that name. Maybe Don Julian and the Meadowlarks were local talent. I was wrong.

3. Davidson Bricks
While leading a Behind The Scenes tour, I noticed a pile of red bricks in the basement of the Workman House. Those bricks were rescued from a property owned by Walter Temple and stored for later use. The bricks were made by Davidson Brickyard located in what is now Monterey Park. I had driven by the brickyard many times since I was a youngster.

4. Pyrennes Castle 
The "Castle" in the city of Alhambra was built by Walter Temple's business associate, Silvestre Dupuy. Before it attained notoriety as the sight of a murder by Phil Spector, the Castle was briefly owned by my wife's godmother, the "anonymous woman" mentioned in the KCET article.


5. Orange Orchards
In the west room of the Workman House, there are several photos of Los Angeles and environs in the 1870's. One photo is of an orange grove, depicting the growing agricultural presence of Los Angeles and Southen California. One guest on my tour remarked to his daughter that her grandpa picked oranges. I told her that my grandfather had also picked citrus fruit and was listed as such in the 1930 Census in Corona, CA.

We all have many connections to people, places, and events here in Southern California, in other states, and in other countries.
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Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Greeting everyone, I hope you all doing fine.

Paul Spitzzeri, Museum Director, has extensive experience in collecting artifacts used to enhance our understanding of the Museum's interpretive period, 1830 through 1930. He has told us that artifacts are able to tell us a story about people place, or things. For example, a photograph of Los Angeles in the early 20th century may reveal clues about how people dressed, entertained themselves, grieved over a lost loved one, or transported themselves. A photograph might provide clues on how buildings were constructed, the type of work performed by men, women, or minorities. In this way we learn more about the time, place, and people of Los Angeles.

I was thinking along these lines when I examined a decorative item my wife purchased over thirty-five years ago. The item is a wooden mallard duck decoy that hunters use to attract migrating ducks. Examining the decoy, I noticed it was signed by its maker, Leo Koppy. Thinking I might have a valuable object (a la Antiques Roadshow), I Googled "Leo Koppy" and discovered similar decoys of his listed for about $40. Beautifully painted decoys go for a great deal more.


However, there was another Google hit listing an article published in the Los Angeles Times with the following headline: Huntington Beach: Man Found Guilty of 2nd Degree Murder
It's a story of a love triangle that goes very bad. Although fate dealt Leo Koppy a fatal blow, it provides me with an interesting story of what we can glean from an apparently mundane artifact.


Stay safe. I hope we can meet again in the summer.
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Three years ago, the Book Club read and discussed The Great Influenza by John B. Barry. The book was written in 2004 and the paperback version, including an Afterward on the H1N1 (Swine) Flu, was published in 2009.

In the Afterward, the author noted that he was a consultant with both the Bush and Obama administrations. In 2009 Barry stated that the nation was not ready for a moderate pandemic, much less a severe one. He also added: "In 1918 humans gave that year's H1N1 virus to swine. We believe novel H1N1went the other way, that it had been circulating in swine and crossed the species barrier in 2009, sparking the first human pandemic in forty-one years."

In his analysis of the potential impact of a pandemic, Barry was concerned that our nation's social behavior has greatly changed since 1918. We eat a much greater percentage of our meals outside the home and consume more perishable food. In addition American business has adopted "just-in-time" delivery of inventory, which means that problems with a large supplier could disrupt or shut down the supply system. He also predicted that the "most mild pandemic will likely overwhelm the health care system. Seasonal influenza often shuts down emergency rooms."

The author advocated a vaccine to protect us. There are problems with this solution. All influenza vaccines are manufactured by growing viruses in eggs, so it can take at least five months to make 60-80 million doses. Not only is this insufficient for the U. S., but less than one-third of the quantity is produced here.

What do we do if there is no vaccine? The author recommends hand washing, cough etiquette, and proper use of masks. If the pandemic is severe, he recommends telecommuting (more reliable today than in 2009), closing schools, and canceling sporting events (in 1919 the Stanley Cup finals were cancelled).

Barry closes with the following: 
   "So the final lesson of 1918, a simple one yet one most difficult to execute, is that those who occupy positions of authority must lessen the panic that can alienate all within a society. Society cannot function if it is every man for himself. By definition, civilization cannot survive that.
   Those in authority must retain the public's trust. The way to do that is to distort nothing, to put the best face on nothing, to try to manipulate no one. Lincoln said that first, and best.
   A leader must make whatever horror exists concrete. Only then will people be able to break it apart."

Until we meet again...Stay happy.
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At this time I would normally send out the first of three notices about our upcoming book club meeting. The coronavirus has changed our schedule. The Homestead Museum's website shows the revised dates for the next theme starting in July. However, that schedule was published before Los Angeles County's latest version of safer at home order. I will keep you apprised of any changes to the schedule of book club meetings. 

Meanwhile, I hope everyone is doing great as we wait for a vaccine to rid us of this virus, which reminded me of a recently read book Why Did The Chicken Cross The World? The Epic Saga of the Bird That Powers Civilization by Andrew Lawler.

Lawler states "The domestic fowl is the world's most ubiquitous bird and most common barnyard animal. More than 20 billion chickens live on our planet at any given moment..." The chicken is the only animal we eat before it's born (i.e., eggs) and after it's killed (e.g., McNuggets).

As important as chickens are for food, they also are critical for medicinal purposes. The meat of chickens contains cysteine, which is an amino acid related to the active ingredient in a drug that treats bronchitis. Other chicken parts contain hyaluronan, which helps reduce inflammation. Pharmaceutical companies use various chicken parts to extract compounds that treat rheumatoid arthritis and sagging skin (a la Botox). 

Every day GlaxoSmith-Kline in Dresden, Germany, receives a shipment of about 180,000 eggs from nearby farms, whose locations remain secret. The eggs will be used to produce the vaccines that will inoculate us from the flu (if we are lucky). The author notes that "the chicken today provides us with our main source of the world's vaccine supply for a disease that continues to cycle between birds and humans." He adds further "since each dose requires an average of three eggs, however, the process remains complicated and expensive. One egg infected with a pathogen can render useless an entire batch of vaccine." You wonder how we could produce enough doses of vaccine for our entire country with a population of about 328 million people.

In 2012 the FDA approved an eggless vaccine that grows the virus in mammalian cells. Other approaches to flu vaccines are in the works, but the bottom line is that we do not have the capacity to produce flu vaccines for everyone; therefore, countries prioritize the distribution of the vaccine, such as to the elderly and healthcare workers.

Finally the chicken has invaded our language. We are cocky or we chicken out; we're henpecked or walk on eggshells. We hatch a plot; we get our hackles up; we rule the roost. We brood; we crow; we have hen parties. We count our chickens before they're hatched.

Stay happy.
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Wednesday, May 06, 2020

The current crisis has placed heightened focus on sanitation. Since we are a history book club, today's feature is the history of sanitation in the home. The article linked below mentions hallway sinks where people entering the house could wash themselves.


The Vanderbilt Mansion (not to be confused with the Breakers in Rhode Island, the Biltmore in North Carolina, nor their Manhattan mansion) in Hyde Park, NY, has a powder/coat room just inside the front door as shown in the diagram linked below. 


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Friday, April 03, 2020

Warren G. Harding by John W. Dean

Today the Book Club was scheduled to discuss Warren G. Harding by John W. Dean.

As I previously mentioned, the Dean's book is a part of the American Presidents Series published by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., General Editor, who stated that the American system is "based on the on the tripartite separation of powers has an inherent tendency toward inertia and stalemate. One of the three branches must take the initiative if the system is to move." Over our history the inertia has been overcome by Presidents who took the reins of government and plotted a new direction. Harding was not one of those Presidents. An example would be Theodore Roosevelt about whom we discussed in Unreasonable Men during our March meeting. 

In Warren G. Harding, the author stated that after the Civil War, the Senate thought itself more important than the President. We can see that the Presidents from Andrew Johnson through William McKinley were not in the top tier of U. S. Presidents. Only Grover Cleveland and William McKinley achieved the second tier. The Senate held sway during the last half of the 19th Century.

Warren Harding's campaign for President was modeled after that of William McKinley. Harding spoke from his front porch to visitors from around the country and those speeches and accompanying photographs were used by Albert Lasker who pioneered advertising techniques for candidates.

I was startled by the fact that Harding's cabinet was approved by the Senate in less than ten minutes. 

The highlight, or maybe lowlight, of Harding's administration was the Teapot Dome Scandal, which the Book Club discussed a few years ago, mentioned in Dark Side of Fortune. Even with that, John Dean had a somewhat favorable approach to Harding. We have seen in our lifetimes the reputations of Presidents change as more information becomes available and new scholars probe their lives. 

I hope that the Museum will be open for us to resume our book discussions scheduled as follows:
June 5: Feminism and Suffrage The Emergence of an Independent Women's Movement in America by Ellen Carol DuBois.
July 10: California Women and Politics: From the Gold Rush to the Great Depression Edited by Robert W. Cherny, Mary Ann Irwin, and Ann Marie Wilson
August 7: A Woman's Crusade: Alice Paul and the Battle for the Ballot by Mary Walton

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Friday, March 27, 2020

Warren G. Harding

Hello everyone. I hope you are all doing well during these unusual and trying times.

Now, back to Warren G. Harding...

1. Book Club Reading from 2016
In 2016 we read 1920: Year of the Six Presidents by David Pietrusza. The author discussed the confluence of six men who were focused on the Presidential election of 1920. They were Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, and Franklin Roosevelt. Death and illness eliminated Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, while the time was not ripe for Herbert Hoover and FDR. So Warren Harding, the unlikely candidate, became the unlikely President with the taciturn Calvin Coolidge as his Vice-President.

2. Official End of World War I for U. S.
Perhaps we will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I next year.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S.–German_Peace_Treaty_(1921)

3. Another Book Club Read
In the first year of the Book Club we read Dark Side of Fortune by Margaret Leslie Davis. Of course the main event of Edward Doheny's life was his prosecution for attempting to bribe Harding's Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall. The famous bribery, linking these two men, is known to history as the Teapot Dome Scandal, although Doheny had nothing to do with the Teapot Dome Oil Field. Doheny's involvement was related to the Elk Hills Oil Reserve in the San Joaquin Valley. The results of the trials for bribery and conspiracy were the conviction of Albert Fall and the acquittal of Edward Doheny, although the trial left him a broken man.

Emerging as a powerful force in her own right was Carrie Estelle Doheny, wife of Edward. Her eye problems led her to endow the Doheny Eye Institute. Margaret Leslie Davis has written another book, The Lost Gutenberg. This is a must read for book lovers. "For rare-book collectors, an original copy of the Gutenberg Bible - of which there are fewer than 50 in existence - represents the ultimate prize. Margaret Leslie Davis recounts five centuries in the life of one copy, from its creation by Johannes Gutenberg, through the hands of monks, an earl, the Worcestershire sauce king, and a nuclear physicist to its ultimate resting place, in a steel vault in Tokyo. Estelle Doheny, the first woman collector to add the book to her library and its last private owner, tipped the Bible onto a trajectory that forever changed our understanding of the first mechanically printed book."-Amazon
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Saturday, March 14, 2020

Warren G. Harding by John W. Dean

Due to COVID-19, the City of Industry, which owns and funds the Homestead Museum, has asked the Museum to suspend all public programs through the end of May. The Book Club will, therefore, not meet on April 3rd. I will keep you posted as I get more information.

As for Warren G. Harding by John W. Dean, I have listed below, for your enjoyment, the links that I would normally send in my weekly reminders. I hope that you will have the opportunity to read the book.

Please stay safe and heed the advise of the CDC.



History of McGuffey Readers























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