The Secret Village
Behind those cottage doors and along the quaint streets real village life is revealed in unexpected ways. My first ever column was not written as a column. I was just so amazed with what had happened that morning in 1996 that I wrote it down. I had to share it with someone so I sent it to Stu Saffer who was editor of the local paper at the time. He printed it and several years later invited me to do this column.
Now 394 columns later I want to give thanks for this village life and recount more spontaneous and “what are the chances” incidents.
That first story involved John Bostic, trained in landscape architecture at Berkeley, who had served in Italy in World War II. My experience of him was as an aide in the Lang and Wood office who ran prints, did errands and bought cookies for the staff. When we would complain about his cookie choices and asked for better ones his reply was, “If I get good cookies you will just eat them too fast.” Eccentric, lonely, and moody, today we might say post-traumatic stress might have been a factor that affected this once-promising designer.
I was walking to work down Third Avenue and a sign at the house next to the Thai Restaurant called out, “Estate Sale.” There was a treasure of slides of South Laguna in the 1960s from the man who had died and I selected one of my office building when Martha Ray real estate occupied it. But most astounding were two paintings John Bostic had done of North Africa and Italy from WWII. I had no awareness of his living in that house or even what he had done since I left the office in 1981. I bought a painting with a complete explanation on the back, “Villa Rustica del Barone de San Miguel Gargano, Amendola, Puglio.” “Bomb Squadron in house (officers), Weather in Barn, most facilities in wine caverns below ground…” Then there were his design drawings. “Do you want these?” the heirs wanted to know. Now I have the complete collection of tissue paper designs in my flat files. The remains of John Bostic’s life. If I hadn’t been curious enough to be diverted, to walk through that neighbor’s gate, these reminders, now more precious than I had ever anticipated, would have been lost forever. (And I might not be writing this column.)
Then there was the encounter with Tom Breese of Laguna Asphalt Paving. He did parking lots and street paving for years in Laguna. It’s a rough and tumble job working with hot sticky asphalt, using expensive specialized equipment and coping with high expectations for your finished product. It’s a challenge to get jobs lined up and keep crews busy. Someone had told me to call him because we needed a parking pull-out area paved at the Community Garden. This was 2009 and we were just building the upper garden. The shed was in and many of the planter boxes were already planted. I showed him the area we needed paved and we sat at the bench on the side of the shed looking out at the developing garden. I asked about the cost of the paving. As he gazed at what we had done so far, he must have captured our vision. An almost angelic expression came over his weathered face. “I think we can do this for you.” And he did, at no charge. Recently I tried to call him because we need the street paved in front of our house. No luck. So I asked city staff if they had contacted him recently. The word was, “Tom is no longer with us.” His former workers are now with another company, his equipment sold. “Everything left to his church.” But he left a touching memory with me.
Every morning on our walk we go past Willa Gupta’s “Free Corner.” It’s like a garage sale with no prices. People just bring things they no longer need and anyone can take what strikes their fancy. One morning there was a handsome large photographic portrait of a woman in a formal red dress, her arm draped over a chair, her hand holding long white gloves. Curious I looked at the back. “Flora Ohanesian Grand Matron Eastern Star Boston Massachusetts 1970-72.” Many of us know neighbor Dr. Roger Ohanesian, Ophthalmologist. Some may know of the Armenian Eye Care Project that he founded, that provides eye care services including all types of restorative surgeries in Armenia. When we went to have our eyes checked he told us about restoring the sight of a grandmother who had been blinded by cataracts. When they took off the bandages she was able to see her grandchildren for the first time. This story led to our visiting Armenia with a group of supporters in 2017.
Could the woman in the portrait be related to Dr. Ohanesian? I took a photo of front and back, asked Willa to set the portrait aside for us, and emailed the pictures to Roger’s wife Eileen. Within an hour—“That’s my mother!” he said. A story with a happy ending as Roger came immediately to pick up the picture. “Roger and Flora…” he said as memories must have been flooding back.
The Village gives so many chances for amazing encounters and almost impossible things to happen.
Ann is a landscape architect and former Laguna Beach mayor. She is also a long-time board member of Village Laguna, Inc.
To gather the memories that are left as gifts to us from people like John Bostic [the veteran] and Tom Breese [the paving contractor] we have to dive deeper into our neighborhoods beyond mere driving in our cars or online exchanges. Exploring our neighborhoods on foot allows us to hear the birds chirping, the dogs barking, and the chickens clucking. And sometimes we smell the pleasant aromas of food cooking and flowers in bloom. But the all-important second step is to actually engage those in our neighborhoods by checking out their yard sales, as an example, to find out more about them. Or, just to ask them how things are going. That personal interaction is where the magic lies, and how new memories are created. Thank you, Ann, for a lovely column to help us remember.