Climate RWC – November 2020 Edition

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P u b l i c a t i o n

Spotlight: Remembering the Circle Star Theater Profile: Rafael Garcia — From Busboy to Boss Micro Climate: Redwood City Man Rebounds Transition: Jerry Hill's Next Act

ISSUE SIXTY THREE • NOVEMBER • 2020

So Why Can’t We

“All Just Get Along?”

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR•

This month’s cover story deals with something most of us, I think, lament, namely the inability for so many to have civil conversations with those we disagree with, especially about politics. My parents were very interested in government and I can remember as a kid having lively and informative discussions about current events around the dinner table. I can also remember, at other people’s homes, hearing debates about the two unmentionables – politics and religion – get shut down by other, prim grown-ups when things were just getting good. Nowadays rollicking discussions by people with different viewpoints seem a lot harder to come by. Blame social media. Blame the cancel culture. Blame self-censorship. Blame still wanting to have any friends. Whatever the cause, what would it take to have the kind of conversation where someone can test his arguments against his opposite, maybe modifying each other’s views, and still be friends? We asked writer Scott Dailey to delve into how we can be peaceful combatants in the field of politics. His story is on page 8.

The topic is definitely timely as winners and losers emerge when ballots are finally counted in this year’s election. The November issue also focuses on a long-time elected official, State Senator Jerry, whose name is not on the ballot because he’s retiring because of term limits. Writer Don Shoecraft interviewed Hill about his career – and future plans – and the story begins on page 28.

You don’t have to have been around in the days when the Circle Star Theatre brought nationally known talent to San Carlos to enjoy writer Antonia Ehlers’ nostalgic look back at the landmark theater. Climate’s Creative Director Jim Kirkland was one of those who saw lots of amazing entertainers like The Beach Boys, Bill Cosby, Johnny Carson, Burt Bacharach and more: “It was such a wonderful venue, as there wasn’t a bad seat due to the revolving stage. It was a sad day when we lost the Circle Star.” I can still remember how Bob Hope almost literally had ‘em in the aisles when he performed for a Sequoia Hospital fundraiser. Famed photographer Michael Collopy, who got his start at the theater, also shares his reminiscences and some of his great celebrity photographs to illustrate the Spotlight on the Circle Star.

Jim wrote this month’s Profile about Rafael Garcia. An immigrant from Mexico, he worked his way up from being a bus boy to becoming a partner at Pete’s Harbor House. His is an inspirational story about someone who was able to realize the American Dream through hard work – and an important mentor.

I hope you enjoy the magazine and remember to celebrate (or bewail) the election results – civilly – around the Thanksgiving table.

Janet McGovern, Editor

November 2020 ·

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TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S •

FEATU RE

I'm Not Listening!

8 SPOTLIG HT

Remembering the Circle Star

16

PROFILE

From Busboy to Boss

24

CHANGING CLIMATE 14 AROUND TOWN ���������21 MICRO CLIMATE...........22 TRANSITION.................28 HISTORY......................29

4 · CLIMATE · November 2020

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C L I M AT E •

CLIMATE M A G A Z I N E Publisher

S.F. Bay Media Group Editor

Dinner & a Movie and More In the heart of the Theatre District, Redwood City.

Janet McGovern janet@climaterwc.com Creative Director

Jim Kirkland jim@climaterwc.com Contributing Writers

Scott Dailey Antonia Ehlers Janet McGovern Jim Kirkland Don Shoecraft Nicholas A. Veronico Jim Clifford Photography

Jim Kirkland Michael Collopy Editorial Board

Janet McGovern Jim Kirkland Adam Alberti Advisory Board

Dee Eva Jason Galisatus Connie Guerrero Matt Larsen Dennis Logie Clem Molony Barb Valley CLIMATE magazine is a monthly publication

by S.F. Bay Media Group, a California Corporation. Entire contents ©2020 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 303 Twin Dolphin Drive, Redwood City, CA 94065. Printed in the U.S.A.

6 · CLIMATE · November 2020

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F E AT U R E •

Why Can’t

I'm not Lis I’m not listening! (because you’re stupid.)

By Scott Dailey

The Facebook post laid it out there: “There’s no end to the evils of the Republican Party. Not working for the people of the country, working for their own pockets.

Disgusting! And the few friends I have that are Republicans, keep your mouths shut if you ever want to share a meal with me again because I am so over this bulls—t!”

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F E AT U R E •

We Talk?

istening!

I’m not listening (because you’re evil.)

It’s a distressingly familiar scenario, with both liberals and conservatives spewing volumes of venomous rhetoric – and not just on social media but in venues ranging from debate halls to dining rooms and college dorms. It may not be true that the country is more divided than ever; those in their sixties recall the violent decade of the same name, and the nation lost more than 600,000 lives during the Civil War. Still, with the coming of both the 2020 election and the often-tense holiday season, people increasingly want to know, “Why can’t we talk with each other anymore?”

November 2020 ·

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• Perhaps it begins with perceptions. The chair of the San Mateo County Republican Party, Christina Laskowski – who is Filipina – says when people discover her party affiliation, they automatically assume she’s a racist. Emily Bender, a San Carlos singer and voice teacher, is a liberal Democrat. She’s also gay. In her experience, political discussions with conservatives quickly become personal and threatening. She says, “There’s definitely a way in which it feels like people on the right think of me as less of a person because of being gay and being a woman.”

F E AT U R E •

held values or, worse, people lose the ability to think and contheir own humanity. verse coherently.

“How do I protect Getting personal, rather than focusmyself from you either ing on the issues and listening to the othdiscounting me, disre- er side, causes discussions to deteriorate specting me, attacking rapidly. Navarra says research at the Seme, or even stripping me attle-based Gottman Institute, co-founded of that which I value and by John Gottman and his wife, Julie, shows that which defines me?” that “if there isn’t a self-corrective mechaDale asks. “People re- nism in the first three minutes, the convertreat to those positions, sation will end badly.”

Rev. Warren Dale and the anger goes up to Taking a Timeout “How do I protect myself from the point where it even How to kick in that auto-correct? Navaryou either discounting me, becomes hate.” ra recommends hitting the pause button disrespecting me, attacking Dr. Robert Navarra, a and focusing on what one needs in a sitme, or even stripping me of licensed marriage and uation, rather than engaging in an ad hofamily therapist in San minem attack. that which I value and that Carlos, links the decline “There’s a huge difference in the trajecwhich defines me?” of conversational civility tory of a conversation,” he says, “when to the “Four Horsemen” it moves from a description of the other of failed relationships, person, which is typically as described by emeritus Name-calling criticism or contempt, to psychology professor John Perceptions can quickly turn into nasty, saying, ‘Here’s what’s imGottman of the University simplistic labels and dehumanizing steportant to me and why I of Washington. reotypes. In Redwood City, Russian-born think this is something that Those four elements attorney and real-estate broker Maria should be addressed.’”

-- criticism, defensiveness, Rutenburg says her support of Donald Beyond stating one’s contempt and stonewallTrump has earned her epithets including, own position, Navarra and ing – often drive vicious “Putin whore,” “Nazi” and “anti-Semite.”

Dale agree it’s even more arguments about politics (Rutenburg is Jewish.) important to understand and other sensitive sub More escalation follows. Disagreethe other person’s point of Dr. Robert Navarra jects. Navarra, a certiments that begin as simply political or view. That takes a willingfied Gottman therapist, philosophical devolve into emotional batGetting personal, rather ness to listen and probe, explains that criticism tles between good and evil. And that’s even when the other side’s departs from a mere dis- than focusing on the issues when friends, colleagues and family memconvictions are deeply held agreement and attacks an and listening to the other bers stop speaking to one another. or may seem repugnant. individual (“only an evil side, causes discussions Two local experts agree, however, that “That’s a difficult poperson could think that”). to deteriorate rapidly. long before people stop speaking, they’ve sition to take when you Defensiveness – the natualready stopped listening. think or feel that the other ral response to criticism – revs the engine The Rev. Warren Dale, co-founder of person has such strong feelings that they louder. Next, contempt introduces belthe Peninsula Conflict Resolution Center may never listen to you,” Dale says. Noneligerence, sarcasm, mocking and a smug and current pastor of First Church of Redtheless, he continues, it can be done, espesense of superiority; Navarra calls it “the wood City, says people are often so intent cially when one listens from the point of single-biggest predictor” of a failed conon proving their point that they refuse to let view of an impartial third party, and asks versation and, ultimately, a relationship. in an iota from the other side. Moreover, he questions that explore beliefs and experiFinally comes stonewalling, a psychologisays, they frequently seek refuge in strong ences rather than rebut arguments. cal and physiological shutdown in which positions through a fear of losing closely

10 · CLIMATE · November 2020

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F E AT U R E •

Especially vital, Na It cuts both ways. Daisy Segal – Pastor Feeling Isolated varra adds, is the ability Gary Gaddini’s administrative assistant and Fearful to see the similarities

In the overwhelmingly at Redwood City’s Peninsula Covenant – both good and bad blue Bay Area, conservatives Church – holds views that many might – between oneself and often report their colleagues consider contradictory; she’s both a liberal the other side. When and families express both and an evangelical Christian. That somethat happens, he says, astonishment and dismay times puts her in tricky situations. “you’re not coming when they find out people “I’ve had conversations with fellow confrom a place of superithey presumed were liberal gregants who have assumed I was Republiority. It’s an emotional actually lean right. Laskow- can, and have gone down a path of tearing leveling of the playing ski says that on discovering down things that I believe in,” she says.

Daisy Segal field, as opposed to she was a Republican, one For certain people, such comments “I hesitate to say this, but I saying, ‘You’re an idiot family member even “phys- would demand a response. But Segal usufor thinking differently think there is a sense that if ically started to react, like he ally refrains. from me.’ The key, ulti- you are conservative and was going into shock.”

“I have a hard time confronting people mately, is that you don’t Christian, you feel that people As a result, many con- about things like that,” she admits. “I genstate your position until servatives go underground. erally just try to change the subject.” with a liberal political stance you can adequately deRutenburg isn’t one of them; Staying Silent cannot be real Christians.” scribe the other person’s in July, she asked to create a Keeping quiet about contentious topposition.”

“MAGA” mural beside the ics is a conscious strategy not just for Segal, A feeling of moral superiority often “Black Lives Matter” that the City of Redbut for many, including San Carlos busifuels disparaging comments and opin- wood City had allowed nessman Peter Hartzell. ions, even among people who think of another resident to paint Hartzell’s business themselves as tolerant and broad-mind- on Broadway. The city reinterests include a maned. Elizabeth Sloan, who considers herself sponded by eliminating the ufacturing facility in the a political progressive and belongs to the “Black Lives Matter” mesCentral Valley town of Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Red- sage. The incident made Tracy. When it comes to wood City, in 2017 delivered a reflection national news, and sparked prevailing ideologies, the that challenged other members to examine controversy throughout city of more than 82,000 their views and actions. the community. and the Bay Area might as “Over the years, inside these walls, I In an email, Rutenburg well occupy different planhave heard individuals and groups deni- says, “I’ve had countless Maria Rutenburg ets. Hartzell, a strong libgrated and demonized in ways that seem people approach me and eral, nonetheless keeps his completely antithetical to our Unitarian tell me that they support “I’ve had countless people opinions to himself around Universalist values,” Sloan told the con- and admire me, but they approach me and tell me the factory floor. gregation. “Republicans, George W. Bush, cannot do so publicly, as that they support and admire “There’s just a line that (former defense secretary) Donald Rums- that would mean they me, but they cannot do so you don’t cross,” Hartzell feld, (former vice president) Dick Cheney. would have to leave the says. “And as long as you Mormons. Christians. Sean Hannity. Fox Bay Area. This extreme publicly, as that would mean stay on this side of that News. Donald Trump. intolerance for anything they would have to leave the line, everyone’s very civ “I’m not talking about strong criticism, short of ultra-liberal views Bay Area." il. Everyone wants to talk which we’re allowed,” Sloan continued. has created an atmosphere about why the A’s lost the game last night, “I’m talking virulent, corrosive dismissal of cultural terror for a very sizable political and family affairs and this and that. But of people as people, as not worthy of our minority in the Bay Area. Putting an Ameryou don’t bring up politics. And you don’t regard. And – this is the really insidious ican flag on your house is considered an act bring up religion.” thing – a blanket assumption that if I attend of heroism. People call me to say, ‘I came Asked about his willingness to engage church here, I must feel the same way.” out; I put a flag up,’ as if they were on a suiin self-censorship, Hartzell says of himcide mission.”

November 2020 ·

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F E AT U R E •

self and his co-workers, wrong, only exists in per- bulk of their information. Frequently, it “I think we all do. We’re son or a very successful- comes from ideological soulmates, through employees together. We’re ly moderated online chat “shares” of opinions or news feeds that part of a team. We’re trygroup.” promote an already agreeable viewpoint. ing to get important things “Clickbait” – the arousing teasers that Social Media’s Role done for this business. And lure people into a story – often attempts to For better or worse, there’s no benefit to picking horrify or outrage readers from the start. social media is where bilscabs. I mean, there’s some Throw in fake news or half-truths calculatlions of people exchange light teasing. But, frankly, ed to get a rise, and little wonder people information, ideas and it’s too serious for much get angry. serious trash talk. As one teasing, at this point. And Through sophisticated algorithms that Dr. Albert Mehrabian person recently posted on so we stay focused on the track users’ online activity, search engines Facebook, “Life is short; be In an oft-cited study, UCLA work to be done.” may even be delivering various versions of sure to spend as much time Staying mum can emeritus psychology profesthe same topic, on the basis of the viewer’s as possible arguing on the also be a useful tactic for sor Albert Mehrabian found presumed attitudes. For example, the reInternet about politics with everyone at the holiday cent film, “The Social Dilemma,” showed only 7 percent of a message strangers.” dinner table – especially, two searches for “climate change” – with was conveyed by words Many believe it’s that as Mountain View envithe same provider – that yielded different stranger factor – the relalone.

Tone carried 38 perronmental activist Bruce results apparently designed to appeal to ative anonymity of the Karney observes, “when cent, and body language and the user’s beliefs.

Internet – that emboldens facial expression, 55 percent. there’s been lots of wine.”

When even computers become sycopeople to shoot from the Karney, his wife, Twana, Consequently, the worst posphants, people find it harder to get opposlip. (Others question that; and their Midwestern rela- sible place to make a point ing opinions. They also become confident Rosenberg says Mountain tives (around equally split – especially a sensitive one View residents still talk- of their convictions; after all, they’ve done between liberals and contheir homework, and they’re convinced – might be an email or a ed churlishly online even servatives) have agreed to they have the facts. when they had to divulge social-media post. avoid subjects such as polBut the full set of facts can be hard to their names and the streets itics and climate change. come by, even in the mainstream media. where they lived.)

Still, divergent opinions are inevitable Most networks and newspapers tilt their What seems certain, however, is that in public, if not private, life. Earlier in the coverage toward the political tastes of their written communication lacks the richness decade, Karney’s friend, former Mountain audiences. And research of face-to-face conversaView Mayor Ken Rosenberg, established shows that the most extion. In an oft-cited study, Mountain View’s Civility Roundtable Distreme readers and viewers UCLA emeritus psycholocussion Series. The events aimed to get on both sides now tend gy professor Albert Mehraquarreling residents out of their neighborto get their news mainbian found only 7 percent hood associations’ Internet chat rooms and ly from the sources they of a message was conveyed into a forum where they could meet faceagree with. by words alone. Tone carto-face and talk more amicably about their In a 2014 study titled, ried 38 percent, and body differences.

“Political Polarization language and facial ex “You’re looking at your neighbors, and Media Habits,” the pression, 55 percent. Conand you have an opinion, maybe a strong Pew Research Center consequently, the worst posBruce Karney opinion,” Rosenberg says of the meetings. cluded, “When it comes sible place to make a point “But now you’re confronted with the realto getting news about – especially a sensitive one Staying mum can also be ity of decorum and social graces and proxpolitics and government, – might be an email or a so- a useful tactic for everyone imity … You just have to behave differentat the holiday dinner table liberals and conservatives cial-media post. ly. And I think the opportunity to be heard inhabit different worlds.”

The Internet and so- – especially, "when there’s for what your opinion really is, as opposed Pew researchers found 47 cial media are also where been lots of wine.” to just attacking (another) person for being percent of conservatives people increasingly get the

12 · CLIMATE · November 2020

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F E AT U R E •

“Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neill fought like cats and dogs all day and could still be friends at night.” relied on Fox News “as their main source for news about government and politics,” and that 88 percent trusted Fox News. For liberals, NPR, PBS and the BBC were the most-trusted sources.

Getting the Whole Story But if Americans are becoming more and more narrowly informed, the full picture was what Hartzell and his Redwood City friend, retired attorney and fellow liberal David Vallerga, wanted when they struck out for Racine, Wisconsin, and environs in 2017. The northern half of the state had been pivotal in President Trump’s victory the previous November. The two men wondered why a traditionally blue state had recently turned red.

Both Hartzell and Vallerga say they went mainly to listen, rather than express their own opinions. With one exception – an encounter with a combative Republican politician – they describe their talks as cordial and often warm.

“Listening is powerful,” Hartzell says.

“It’s powerful for the listener, and I think it was powerful for the people who we

listened to.” Adds Vallerga, “It all boils down to one word and what flows from that word, and that’s ‘respect.’”

San Carlos City Council member Laura Parmer-Lohan finds “empathy and respect” essential in serving the town’s 30,000 residents. She adds that she ran for the council in 2018 in part “because I observed at the time, and still do, that people on opposite sides of the political spectrum are divided, and that many are in pain and feel excluded and unheard.”

In addition to – and connected with – the death of George Floyd, that sense of being “excluded and unheard” may have created the flash point that ignited the unrest of 2020. In the words of retired Rear Admiral John Bitoff, a San Francisco resident who speaks frequently about civility, “We all desire to be treated as worthwhile human beings.” When that doesn’t happen, it’s unsurprising that people become alienated, cynical and ultimately violent.

But, Bitoff says, mutual respect and congeniality can keep communication and productivity flowing, even between ideological adversaries. The late Supreme

Court justices Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg were close friends, despite their sharply differing legal philosophies.

And in a commencement address at Suffolk University Law School in Boston, political columnist and television commentator Chris Matthews described the fruitful relationship in the 1980s between Republican President Ronald Reagan and the Democratic Speaker of the House, Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill, Jr. “Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neill fought like cats and dogs all day and could still be friends at night,” Matthews observed. The two political veterans, he said, “were always trying to get along, even though they were 180 degrees opposed.”

How to Get Along So there it is – once again, that plaintive appeal from Rodney King in 1992: “Can’t we all just get along?” Whatever the outcome of the election, Segal, the liberal evangelical, thinks it will be hard.

“We will definitely need a healing process,” she says. “I think all leaders in companies, in religious institutions, and especially in the government – we are going to need them to call people to come back together as a nation.”

Whether it can happen is anyone’s guess. Following the unexpected election of Donald Trump in 2016, crowds rioted and chanted, “Not my president!” even as the outgoing Barack Obama attempted to soothe the nation by saying, “We are now all rooting for his success in uniting and leading the country.”

In the end, it all comes down to Americans as individuals. Can people set aside their differences, or at least agree to address them civilly? Or will this Thanksgiving, Chanukah and Christmas provide settings for yet more slammed doors, raised voices and shattered wine glasses? One can only hope for the former. But if it’s the latter, then the country’s post-holiday hangover may last longer than most. C November 2020 ·

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Redwood City Ghost Signs … And Then There Was One

By Nicholas A. Veronico Wikipedia defines a “Ghost Sign” as an “old, hand-painted advertising sign that has been preserved on a building for an extended period of time. The sign may be kept for its nostalgic appeal, or simply indifference by the owner.”

Redwood City has had a number of ghost signs through the years; however, in the past five years two signs were lost and today only one remains.

One of the city’s most colorful ghost signs was lost during the early months of 2015, when the structure that housed the Joy Meadow Restaurant and Charm’s Chocolate Chip Cookies was converted into an upmarket office building. It was a bright red “Drink Coca-Cola” sign nearly seven feet tall, on the rear of 701 El Camino Real at the corner of Brewster Avenue and the alley that is Commerical Way. This sign was hidden from view when additional square footage was added to 701 El Camino in the late 1950s or early ’60s. The sign was finally uncovered in 2014, when the rear addition was removed to make way for six onsite parking spaces with handicapped access.

Behind the former Young’s Auto Parts at 925 and 929 Main St. was a ghost sign advertising the business. This address began life as Sunshine Grocery Stores in 1922. The location was sold to Purity Market, Inc., which operated the location from 1927 to 1946, before moving to 2629 Broadway.

The property was sold to E.W. Young, who opened an auto parts store in one half of the building and an automotive machine shop in the other. Young painted an advertising sign on a rear addition to the building, which could be seen from Maple Street. After more than 70 years in downtown Redwood City, in April 2016, Young’s moved to a new location at 1669 Industrial Road in San Carlos. This sign was recently lost when nearly 4,200 square feet was added to the rear of the building. Note that the original 1922 front façade of 925 and 929 Main St. was not modified, maintaining the historic character of that block.

The sole survivor, the Holmquist Hardware sign, can be seen one door in from the corner of Main and Stambaugh streets downtown. The building at 114 Stambaugh St. was built around 1919 and is the former

Holmquist Hardware machine shop, an annex to the family-run business, then located around the corner at 838 Main St. Rudolph C. Holmquist acquired a plumbing business where he worked in 1895, changing the company’s name to R.C. Holmquist Tinning and Plumbing. The business passed to H.E. Holmquist in 1940.

After a fire at the business in 1956, Holmquist built a two-story, 24,000-squarefoot hardware retail shop at 875 Main St., which opened in 1963. The building is now Savers Thrift Store (for the benefit of Partners and Advocates for Remarkable Children and Adults – PARCA). The machine shop was in business until 1962.

Because the former Holmquist Hardware machine shop is constructed of unreinforced masonry brick, updating the structure may be prohibitively expensive.

Hopefully the building will be further protected by its inclusion in the Expanded Main Street Historic District, which stretches from just below Broadway to Heller St. For now, it’s still possible to enjoy the last remaining ghost sign, a tribute to a longtime Redwood City family. C

Photo by Betty S. Veronico

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C L I M AT E •

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A Look Back at the

SPOTLIGHT•

circle star

"For three decades, the venue welcomed many of the world’s most famous performers. From the Rat Pack to Motown, from comedy to country music, people came from all over the Bay Area to pack the house for a magical evening."

Photo: Frank Sinatra sings before a Circle Star audience in 1992.

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SPOTLIGHT•

The theater that brought big names to a San Carlos stage

By Antonia Ehlers Photography by Michael Collopy

The lights dimmed and the crowd went wild, waiting for jazz legends Count Basie and Ella Fitzgerald to grace the stage of the Circle Star Theatre. The year was 1973. Jeff Filippi went to the concert with a few of his Sequoia High School classmates, as well as his music teacher, Ed Harris.

November 2020 ·

CLIMATE · 17

• “What a phenomenal event,” said Filippi, who grew up taking drum lessons at the old Goetz Brothers department store.

“We all got dressed up. The guys wore corduroy bell bottoms and platform shoes, and the girls wore nice dresses. The Circle Star was a great place because it wasn’t too big.

Count Basie was my most favorite concert.

If you’ve ever seen them live, you’ll remember it for the rest of your life. I was a fan of the Count Basie drummer, Sonny Payne.

I met him after the show and got his autograph, which was really exciting.”

Filippi also remembers having a blast grooving with his pals to Chubby Checker, Chuck Berry and James Brown, who “brought the house down.”

His wife, Beth Ann, saw a few big names at the Circle Star as well, including the Four Tops and Frank Sinatra: “In 1987, I saw Kenny Rogers, who introduced a new girl who was only about 17—Trisha Yearwood. He said, ‘I think she’s going to be someone.’”

A Rotating Stage The Circle Star opened in 1964 with Jane Powell starring in “My Fair Lady.” None of the 3,743 seats was more than 50 feet from the circular, rotating stage. For three decades, the venue welcomed many of the world’s most famous performers. From the Rat Pack to Motown, from comedy to country music, people came from all over the Bay Area to pack the house for a magical evening.

Longtime Redwood City couple Kristi and Dennis Royer remember glamorous concerts evenings, where people dressed to the nines for a night out on the town.

Romantic dinners were followed by energetic shows with notable headliners.

“We saw some big names there, including Liza Minnelli, Tony Bennett and Neil Diamond,” Kristi Royer said. “It was much more convenient than Tahoe, and every bit as good.”

18 · CLIMATE · November 2020

SPOTLIGHT• BB King (left), Mickey Rooney (below), Count Basie, Chuck Berry, the Beach Boys and James Brown were just a few of the top acts that performed at the Circle Star Theater.

Mickey Rooney played a joke on Collopy and his crew by showing up for a photoshoot in his underwear.

Those were the glory years, for Collopy, and every night was different.

Pete and Paula Uccelli, locally famous for their Harbor House restaurant and marina featured on page 24 in this month’s issue, had their first date at the Circle Star.

“The Circle Star had it all,” Paula Uccelli said, “and you didn’t have to go to San Francisco. We were just heartsick when it closed.”

Although the Circle Star was known as a classy venue with notable class acts most of the time, it wasn't always the case. Former San Carlos resident Pat Bennie served on the San Carlos City Council from 1978 to 1987 and was mayor twice. Although she has fond memories of seeing Rosemary Clooney, Frank Sinatra and Bob Hope with her husband, Joe, it was a particular night in January 1978 that she will never forget.

"I was out campaigning and I happened to be doing a ride-along with the police," she said. "We were up on Crestview [Drive] when the police officer said to me, 'There's a riot going on at the Circle Star—are you okay going there right now?'

We flew through the town, down Brittan Avenue with the lights flashing. We rolled through every signal, over to the Circle Star. All hell had broken loose. The concert was a rock ‘n’ roll event, which drew a very large group of young people who got into fistfights. As an observer, I had never experienced anything of this nature. I was shocked but unafraid.”

Bennie will never forget the young girl who came back to the police car that night.

She had blood on her face and a tooth hanging loose. “Her parents had just spent a substantial amount of money on getting her teeth fixed, and she was so worried about their reaction,” Bennie said. She reassured the girl that everything would be okay.

• Photographer to the Circle Stars World-famous photographer Michael Collopy got his start at the Circle Star. He met an eclectic bunch of musicians from 1978 until the theater closed in 1993. According to Collopy, Reba McEntire was one of the nicest souls to cross the stage. BB King liked to stay up talking until the wee hours of the morning. Mickey Rooney played a joke on Collopy and his crew by showing up for a photoshoot in his underwear.

Those were the glory years, for Collopy, and every night was different.

“The Circle Star was such an intimate place to see an artist,” he said. He got to meet countless entertainers and ended up working for one of the biggest stars of them all – Frank Sinatra – after meeting him there. Sinatra and his pals, Sammy Davis Jr. and Marvin Gaye, visited out-of-theway San Carlos to perform on the circular

SPOTLIGHT•

stage. Collopy remembered a night when the stage actually broke down during Roy Orbison’s performance, and all hands on deck had to physically turn it clockwise.

Another night, Collopy was almost hit in the head when Jerry Lee Lewis threw a chair across the stage.

“We had about three or four acts per week,” he said, “and there was such a variety. We would have a rock ‘n’ roller one night—Chuck Berry or Jerry Lee Lewis— followed by Gladys Knight and the Pips, then a comedian like Jay Leno or Milton Berle. Patti LaBelle would grab you by the hand and bring you into the prayer circle.

Tom Jones had such a funny sense of humor. And I always found the country music stars to be really lovely. For the most part, all of the performers were great to work with and fascinating to be around.”

A Doodle Wall Sinatra started a trend at the Circle Star.

He asked for colored marker pens and then drew a clown on the wall of his dressing room, which Collopy photographed. Other musicians later added their own doodles.

“When the theater was torn down, a construction guy cut it [the wall] out and kept it,” Collopy said. “One of the last memories I have of Frank happened on a rainy summer night. I brought an umbrella out for Mrs. Sinatra, and he was appreciative of that. As he walked out to the limo, he looked up at the moon glistening over the bay. He turned to me and said, ‘Someday, I’m going to be playing up there,’ and I’m sure he is.”

“Frank was one of my favorites,” said San Carlos resident Daphne Ealson, who was the backstage manager for 30 years. “He was so easy to get along

Sinatra started a trend at the Circle Star.

He asked for colored marker pens and then drew a clown on the wall of his dressing room... Other musicians later added their own doodles.

November 2020 ·

CLIMATE · 19

•

SPOTLIGHT•

Top: The Circle Star nearing completion in 1964. Photo by Reg McGovern, courtesy Janet McGovern.

Left: Seating layout and a program, courtesy of the Museum of San Carlos History.

with, and he always made sure that his people had food.”

Ealson also worked at the English Rose tearoom on Laurel Street, where she’d cook during the day and then hurry off to the Circle Star to manage rock stars and comedians at night.

“I loved my job at the Circle Star because it was always different,” she said.

“There were big personalities and demands . . . all the things that went on . . . but I loved it all. I took care of whatever their little hearts desired. We worked long, long hours.

“Sometimes, I’d get home at 2 a.m. I was usually the first one in and the last one out. What I found most interesting

20 · CLIMATE · November 2020

was that most of the performers had two sides to them. Some were quiet and just very nice people, and then they were completely different people onstage. Of course, we had a few run-ins—the stage managers were usually the hardest to deal with.”

Fancy That Two serendipitous moments occurred when Ealson, who had moved thousands of miles away from her hometown in England, met two of her former neighbors at the Circle Star—Tom Jones and Petula Clark.

“I knew them quite well from Weybridge, so it was ironic that they would visit San Carlos, my new hometown,” she noted. “The last time I saw Tom, he asked for Cornish pasties from the English Rose.”

Ealson has spent a good part of the Covid-19 pandemic sorting through old

Circle Star programs. She plans to write a book one day about her experiences backstage with some of the world’s greatest musicians.

One of her favorite memories is of her very first show—"The Three Stooges.”

According to Ealson, “they were very quiet in real life.”

For San Mateo County theatergoers, it was a big loss in 1993 when the Circle Star Theatre closed. A five-alarm fire in 1997 caused about $500,000 in damage, and the original structure was demolished shortly after that. Today, an office complex on the site houses businesses including Opportun and Softbank.

Although the landmark is long gone, for people who were entertained or employed there, memories of the Circle Star Theatre have a life of their own.

“I still get a lot of people today who tell me how much they miss the Circle Star," Ealson said. "I miss it. When I drive by and see that sign on Circle Star Way, so many memories come flooding back. I think, Oh dear. What a wonderful venue the Circle Star Theatre was for all of us. There will never be anything quite like it again.” C

•

AROUND TOWN•

Farmers Market Returns — For Now For years, the downtown San Carlos Farmer’s Market has been a go-to place for residents shopping for fresh produce. The closure of parts of Laurel Street for outdoor dining and other issues caused the market to shut down temporarily but in September it reopened on Sundays at Bayport Avenue and Varian Street in the Industrial Arts District of the city.

The market was on a temporary pilot program in September and October but has been extended until the end of November.

The Market is on Sundays 10-2pm .

Little Learners find a Way Little Learners, a Redwood City Library program funded by the Friends of the Library, has been very popular ever since Youth Services Librarians Jan Pedden and Christine Koehnke came up with the concept three years ago. The threat of Covid and closing of the library did not deter the former teachers from finding a way to continue to educate kids ages 3 to 6 in the areas of math, science, reading and engineering. Each week their team pulls together 100 bags, stuffed with thematic materials — books (the theme is often driven by the deal made on books), crafts, worksheets and videos.

Bags are available every Wednesday at 3 p.m. and often are gone within the hour. Note: there will be a hiatus coming up in mid-November with plans to start again in the new year.

In the current fiscal year, the Friends of the Library has raised over $94,866 to further youth and adult education. To donate go to: friendsofrwclibrary.org

Right: Cars line up as Jan Pedden hands out one of the 100 bags stuffed with books, crafts and worksheets.

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•

M I C R O C L I M AT E •

Redwood City Man Rebounds with Help from Family and Friends

Left to right: Custodio Guzman, wife Maria Jimenez and son Jose.

Custodio Guzman celebrated his 55th birthday Oct. 1, surrounded by many who helped him rebound from a devastating illness that had left him paralyzed on Christmas Day 2018.

An otherwise healthy and fit gardener, Guzman suddenly came down with Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare disorder in which the body’s immune system attacks the nerves. What began with numbness and weakness in his hands progressed over two days, leaving him paralyzed from the neck down. His condition was correctly diagnosed at Sequoia Hospital, where he spent a month before being transferred to Seton Hospital for another two months.

The whole family came too, bringing air mattresses and sleeping on the floor. “Right after we got home from school we changed and then we’d go to the hospital,” son Jose, recalls. “Every day. I think it just comes from what my parents taught me. You’ve got to take care of your family.”

Custodio Guzman returned that spring to the two-bedroom apartment in east Redwood City where he lives with wife Maria Jimenez and four sons, Jose,

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Kevin, Christian and Jesus (now ages 15, 17, 19 and 21). He had help from a physical therapist for about a month, but it’s thanks to his family, friends and neighbors—and a steadfast determination to get back on his feet—that he was able to get out of bed and walk again. Neighbor Bonnie Miller says people in the community rallied around Guzman.

One gave him an unneeded hospital bed that was moved into the first floor of his apartment. His wife became his fulltime caregiver. Miller and City Councilmember Janet Borgens, who lives in the same Friendly Acres neighborhood, serve on the Salvation Army board. Though rental assistance funds were low, the Army covered the family’s $1,500 rent for three months. Church members also helped out at a hamburger fundraiser at Spinas Park, which raised another $1,900. Borgens also visited the bedridden Guzman to help him with his physical therapy and instructed his sons what to do as well. She even managed to secure a motorized scooter for him and bought a new battery for it.

Regaining strength and muscle tone has been a slow process, manipulating fingers, raising up on an overhead pulley, then transitioning to a wheelchair and a walker. Braces securing Guzman’s lower legs have helped, and he’s been able to walk since January 2020. He can get from

his apartment to Marsh Road, about a mile unaided. The last vestiges of impairment are his curled fingers and toes, and Guzman can’t return to his work and support his family until that comes back. Maria works as a motel maid and two sons also have jobs.

Like many Mexican immigrants who settled in Redwood City, Guzman came 21 years ago from Michoacán. “They lived in poverty in Mexico and just came for a better life and to work,” according to Jose, who translated for his parents. Dire as his condition was, Guzman always had hope he’d recover and he thanks God, his wife, family and friends—Miller and Borgens in particular – for sticking by him on his journey back. “It’s crazy what happened,” Jose adds … “I feel like this made us a stronger family because we were all there for my dad. It just brought us all closer together.”

Not many have had reason to see the gorgeous curtain at the Fox Theatre, which is pictured on this page, because it’s a fire curtain—meant to drop down in the event of a fire on stage. Unlike a theater’s big red curtain which is slowly lowered, a fire curtain comes down rapidly, at the press of a button, to protect the audience from flames escaping out into the theater.

• It’s curtains for this beautiful curtain, however. As part of routine maintenance, theater management recently had all the Fox’s curtains inspected. Unfortunately, the fire curtain contains asbestos and has to be removed, according to General Manager Ernie Schmidt, “a pretty significant process.” It involves sealing the stage from dust escaping while workers in protective suits bag up the fabric. Before the fire curtain with its beautiful early California scene disappears into history, Schmidt asked Climate’s Jim Kirkland to photograph it so there’ll be a record of what it looked like. As part of the theater’s upgrades, by the way, the rigging system will also be updated so it’s motorized, not operated by hand.

David Shearin

God moves in a mysterious way, so the poet William Cowper wrote, and then along comes a story like this one to illustrate. At the beginning of the year, David Shearin, lead pastor and executive director of Redwood City-based Street Life Ministries, became president of the Downtown Business Group. Shearin initially joined the board to make connections for the ministry and to serve as a liaison in dealing with homeless-related problems, together with the police. But when the DBG’s president moved away late last year, the pastor to the homeless was elevated as his replacement.

M I C R O C L I M AT E •

Though his office is at a church across town, Shearin relies on the business group’s energetic Executive Director Regina Van Brunt for being downtown almost daily, advocating for business owners and being a go-between with them and the city.

“It’s hard for an owner to be at the City Council meetings and voice their opinion because their whole life is wrapped up in the business. And she’s that voice,” Shearin says. His own role as president is to be a sounding board and give direction and ideas. Van Brunt has been an advocate for restaurateurs dealing with coronavirus-related restrictions in getting more outdoor space. But she also lets them know if they are violating rules, which might bring back tighter controls.

“We are doing everything we can do keep the businesses open,” Shearin says. “I think the part that’s really hard is watching a lot of the businesses just struggle so much.” He credits local residents for buying takeout when restaurants were closed and taking advantage of the option to eat outdoors when it became available.

And about those “mysterious ways?”

Street Life Ministries, which serves free meals to homeless people five nights a week, has seen a huge drop off in food formerly received via corporate cafeterias.

Shearin came up with an idea to purchase meals from downtown restaurants at a substantial discount and launched a fundraiser. About a half dozen restaurants – ones equipped to prepare large to-go trays –are partnering with Street Life in providing the meals. The goal was to raise $20,000 —but almost $50,000 has come in. Shearin says two restaurant owners have said they’ll be able to keep an employee working “by us buying food from them.” Lordy!

The shutdown’s economic toll definitely registered with Olivia Sze, an eighth-grader at Crocker School in Hillsborough.

Left to right: Wade Painter, Olivia Sze, San Mateo County Supervisor Dave Pine.

Wanting to help others, she cleaned out toys and other items she no longer needed but might be right for someone else. This became her inspiration for the creation of a fundraiser, using the NextDoor platform, to get other people in the San Mateo/Burlingame area to donate items and then to find buyers for them. The 13-year-old philanthropist created quite an impressive website at www.HiddenTreasuresFundraiser.com to feature the recycled items neighbors contributed – Barbies, Legos, books, action figures and household items like curtains and aprons. Olivia took the photographs of the items and wrote the postings. She also did any required touchup and cleaning to get the items into shape for selling.

In less than two months, she managed to collect $1,085 for the San Mateo County Strong Fund, to which the San Mateo County Credit Union in Redwood City added $500. “All of us at SMCU are so inspired by Olivia’s passion and enthusiasm for our community,” said Credit Union President Wade Painter. The youngest of three children, Olivia says the fundraiser was a lot more successful than she thought it would be. She ended up selling over 100 items from 25 donors. “The experience was really great,” she adds, “because I got to meet so many in my community who were really generous and very supportive.” C November 2020 ·

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24 · CLIMATE · November 2020

PROFILE•

•

PROFILE•

From Busboy to Boss

An immigrant’s dream is realized through hard work, listening and learning

By Jim Kirkland

Fifty some years ago, Rafael Garcia made the journey from Mexico to Redwood City to grab hold of the American dream.

Over the decades, generations of émigrés from his village of Aguililla in the state of Michoacán have made the same migration to Redwood City, many of them settling in the North Fair Oaks neighborhood. Like them, Garcia arrived eager to work — in car washes, in kitchens — whatever it took to secure a rung on that fabled ladder of success.

H

e made it. Today, age 78 and comfortably retired, Garcia can look back on a life of remarkable achievement, especially for someone who had had to quit school after the third grade to work fulltime on his dad’s farm. An unwavering work ethic and an ability to listen were crucial. But Garcia also got a lucky break, when Pete Uccelli, owner of Pete’s Harbor, spotted him and mentored the young immigrant.

Uccelli eventually made Garcia a partner in his waterfront restaurant, where they worked side by side serving good food – with a side of hospitality.

“I have been very fortunate in my life overall,” Garcia said, “but meeting Pete Uccelli was a gift from God.”

His opportunity to go to work with Uccelli was all the result of a chance encounter in 1972, when Garcia was working at one of his restaurant jobs, busing tables at Scotty Campbell’s in Atherton. The harbor owner would often come in for dinner.

“Pete saw something in Rafael that he thought amazing,” Paula Uccelli, Pete Uccelli’s widow, recalled. He asked the personable, hustling busboy to come work for him at Pete’s Harbor and run what at the time was a small hamburger shack at the marina. “That was a big decision for me to make,” said Garcia. “It was a little place and I had to quit my job at Stickney’s Restaurant to work there.”

Ordained the cook, Garcia protested, “But I don’t know how to cook.” To which Uccelli replied, “Me either. Let’s learn it together.”

November 2020 ·

CLIMATE · 25

• This challenge left Garcia unfazed. “I was always willing to learn and wasn’t afraid to ask questions. When I came to the United States, I learned English one word at a time and was never afraid to be wrong. All of the trade abilities I have picked up I learned by doing them.”

The youngest of 12 children, Garcia learned the value of hard labor, working fulltime on his father’s farm. But he dreamed of opportunities found in the United States of America. With a cousin already established in Palo Alto, Garcia, then 20, traveled to Mexico City and applied for a passport and visa. It took a year but he secured the proper documents and in 1964 made his first trip to the promised land.

Working Two Jobs Garcia lived with his cousin and got his first job at a carwash, earning $1.50 per hour. Before long he added a second job, bicycling between them and working 14 hours or more a day. The determination to earn and save came with a purpose: to return home and marry the girl he left behind.

There was a Sunday night mating ritual in Aguilillia’s town plaza. The girls would form a ring and move clockwise.

The boys made an inner circle, walking counterclockwise, carrying a flower. If a fellow spotted the girl of his fancy he would offer her the flower. Acceptance indicated a mutual attraction. The promise of romance.

“But sometimes they said no,” Garcia said, “and you had to go around again and give it another try.” Some girls would keep their would-be suitor spinning for several laps before accepting the offering.

The apple of Garcia’s eye, a young beauty by the name of Carolina, took the flower on the second pass. To further solidify the union, she gave him a flower as well, signifying the intent for a relationship.

26 · CLIMATE · November 2020

PROFILE•

Rafael Garcia with his wife Carolina.

“I was always willing to learn and wasn’t afraid to ask questions. When I came to the United States, I learned English one word at a time and was never afraid to be wrong. All of the trade abilities I have picked up I learned by doing them.”

After 10 months in Palo Alto, he’d saved enough to marry Carolina and bring her with him to start a life together in a rented apartment. He continued working back-to-back shifts at restaurants for the next four years, all the while keeping a sharp eye out for a better opportunity.

In addition to Scotty Campbell’s and Stickney’s, Garcia also worked in the Stanford Hospital kitchen and had studied what chefs did. When he came to work for Uccelli, the first menu contribution he cobbled together was a Thousand Island dressing (onions being the key ingredient)

applied to the burgers. The shack wasn’t serving more than 16 people a day and Garcia worried how Uccelli was going to pay him based on such a small clientele. “I was thinking I had made a mistake going to work for Pete.”

Customers liked the burgers. Then Garcia added a weekly “Mexican night” special to change things up. Business at the shack suddenly began to pick up — so much so that Garcia had to hire more cooks. He and Uccelli were struggling to keep up, Garcia recalled. “That’s when Pete decided to build the restaurant.” Located at the end of Smith Slough and Redwood Creek, the Harbor House restaurant opened in 1973 and for decades was a popular community haunt.

Family Responsibilities Meanwhile, Garcia’s responsibilities were growing at work and home. By then, he and Carolina had two children: Caroline and Bobby, with a third child, Laticia born that same year. By 1975 the family would round out with a fourth child, Jaime. Still, after working in the kitchen from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., Garcia would hang up his apron, pick up a hammer and help Uccelli add onto the Harbor House.

“My father was always busy working,” said daughter Caroline Gomez. "He worked from 7 a.m. till 11 p.m., so we didn’t really see him until Sunday, which was family day. Then we would drive up to the mountain, beach or park, have lunch and play. Sunday was an important day for us because he worked all the time.”

One day Pete Uccelli turned to Garcia and said, “You’re the one making this business grow, how about becoming a partner?” Over the years other partners would come and go: restauranteur Leo Giorgetti; Mario Biagi, a Redwood City mayor; Chuck Major, formerly with the city’s police department; and nephew Scott Uccelli. But Garcia was a constant at the Harbor House for 26 years.

•

PROFILE•

Left to right: Rafael Garcia, Pete Uccelli, Mike Villanueva, Leo Giorgetti and Sam Peres

Though he felt best-suited for overseeing the kitchen staff and planning the menus, Uccelli wanted Garcia engaging the customers. “Look, Rafael, you need to be in the front so you can see what is going on,” he said.

“Rafael was congenial as hell and easy to talk to. Just like Pete. From the first time I met him I could tell he was a go-getter,” said John Copeland, an old friend and longtime Harbor House customer.

Uccelli also mentored Garcia in money matters. “He was always telling me to invest in some kind of property,” Garcia said. “He saw my growing family.”

Money Talks “One time we went with him to Mexico to look at property,” said Paula Uccelli. “He had to open an account at the bank and asked Pete, ‘Can you come with me to the bank to make sure I open the right account?’ Pete asked him if he had a relationship with this particular bank, to which Rafael said, yes, that the tellers even called him by his first name. Pete told him, ‘After you make this deposit they will be

calling you Mr. Garcia.’ And that’s exactly what happened.”

Garcia owns a home in Mexico and recently sold his 150-acre farm and ranch there. With contractor friend Danny Wong, he also purchased a condemned historic building in Morgan Hill. Together they renovated the structure, which today provides Garcia with retirement income.

Once Paula Uccelli got angry with Garcia at his daughter’s graduation.

“Laticia was on stage receiving her diploma with honors from Santa Clara University,” she said. “Rafael turns to Carolina and says how amazing it was that their daughter could be so smart coming from two stupid Mexicans. That’s when I said, ‘You may not have a formal education, Rafael, but you are not stupid!’

Rafael is so good at listening. He took every opportunity to learn from others and he’s incredibly smart. I wasn’t going to let him get away with that comment.”

After retiring from the Harbor House in 1998, Garcia finally found time to travel with Carolina. Pete Uccelli died in 2005,

and the Harbor House closed its doors in 2011. Today the Blu Harbor apartment complex occupies the site where the restaurant and marina used to be.

Carolina Garcia died in 2016, and after 52 years of marriage Rafael struggles to fill the void. “My mom was everything to my father,” Caroline Gomez said. “He misses her — he’s just not the same without her.”

That said, she added, he is hardly idle in retirement, and always has a project to work on.

A U.S. citizen since 2003, Garcia can reflect with gratitude on being able to come to America with nothing and “make something of myself. I never took that for granted.” The majority of would-be immigrants today, he believes, “are simply trying to make a better life for themselves.

This great country was built on the backs of people like me: hard-working Mexican, Irish, Italian or whoever. So, I don’t understand those who say they don’t want us here … But I always got along great with the customers at the Harbor House. They never treated me badly. C November 2020 ·

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28 · CLIMATE · November 2020

TRANSITION•

•

TRANSITION•

Next Act Jerry Hill’s

An unwritten script as the state senator prepares to leave office

By Don Shoecraft

It will be a shock to those who know him as a loquacious and eloquent speaker and sometime chatterbox that with only one month left in the last year of 30 years of elected public service, Jerry Hill still can’t articulate what it is he’s going to do or be when December arrives and he’s termed out of the California Senate.

R

"

ight now, I don’t see that there’s anything that I’m anxious to do or looking forward to do. We’ll just have to do the nothing for a while,” he said.

“I’ve got a lot of interests that I’ve been wanting to do … I dabbled in magic and I enjoy that. Sitting in my office at home and around me I have probably two dozen tricks that I’ve purchased over the last few years that require a certain level of skill and dexterity that I need to practice a lot on. So I’m looking forward to doing things like that. I want to learn a language. I want to learn Italian. I’ve wanted to do that for a long time.”

Not exactly nothing, but definitely not what his fan legion might have had in mind.

They’ve speculated about making Jerry Hill Mayor of San Mateo County, should that obscure job ever come to be, a prospect that appears more unlikely than Hill mastering the Left-Hand Riffle.

Elective Options Talking him up as San Mateo County Mayor, however, does show respect for the man who’s been called Energizer Bunny, mentor, sage of Sacramento and high priest of county politics.

The fact is that Sen. Hill has at least four years to kick back should he actually have his sights set on one or even two elected offices conceivably he could run for. Each of them would involve a step down from the Senate.

He’s been a council member and mayor of San Mateo, president of the Board of Supervisors and represented the 19th Assembly District from 2008 to 2012 before moving up to the Senate.

He lives in Carole Groom’s supervisorial district.

Groom is termed out of office in 2022. Some have speculated that he might consider running for her seat, speculation that he confesses to enjoy watching from the sidelines. For the record, he has denied wanting to run.

It’s conceivable. Hill says he learned his legislative chops during his supervisorial tenure, enjoyed it very November 2020 ·

CLIMATE · 29

• much, and it would be an easy fit. He appears to know every person in San Mateo County by first name and is the most popular nonprofit fundraiser master of ceremonies and charity auctioneer the county has ever seen. Before the coronavirus banished mass gatherings, he entertained many a 400-person audience while generating hundreds of thousands of dollars in charitable donations.

If being supervisor, again, doesn’t strike his fancy — or even if it does and he runs successfully — Hill still could serve two years and then go back to the state Assembly in 2024, when his good friend and colleague Kevin Mullin is termed out of the 22nd Assembly District.

He’s very familiar with the precedent, having served with Wesley Chesbro, who went up the chairs from Arcata City Council to Humboldt County Supervisor to District 2 Assemblyman to Senate. Two years after being termed out of the Senate, Chesbro successfully returned to the Assembly.

Asked the question directly, Hill said, “Let’s put it this way: On the record, at this point, since I’m still doing this job as a senator, I haven’t had an opportunity to not do it and to then reflect on what I want to do after that.”

So maybe.

TRANSITION•

Though it’s only slightly more populous than San Mateo County, San Francisco is a charter city and county with an 11-member board of supervisors and a directly elected mayor. Santa Clara County has a similar five-member board of supervisors that appoints a county executive, but it’s a county twice San Mateo’s size with many times its clout.

teo County leverage, “but of course there would likely be resistance.

“San Mateo County is the only county I know really well,” Hill said. “These cities are independent, and I learned early on in public life … there’s a reason people live in the cities they live in. A culture, a value system, demographics, geography, all of these things come together, and they fit your comfort level, and that’s why you move to these cities, that’s why you live there. You have a lot of independence in those 20 cities. They should be part of the conversation, certainly, but I do think we’re losing out on a lot of opportunities and we would be taken a lot more seriously.”

Asked directly if he’d run — if on the remote chance the county charter were changed by a majority vote to establish a directly-elected mayor — Hill said, “I have no idea.”

“Let’s put it this way: On the record, at this point, since I’m still doing this job as a senator, I haven’t had an opportunity to not do it and to then reflect on what I want to do after that.”

Mr. (Maybe) Mayor Mayor of San Mateo County is but a longing at the moment, a concept that higher-ups in the county’s legislative circles — having felt scorned, taken for granted and financially abused by the City and County of San Francisco and San Jose for decades — think might give San Mateo County leverage in the perennial dogfight over regional money allocations and other matters.

30 · CLIMATE · November 2020

Told that county leaders have associated his name with the idea, Hill admitted to being “flattered and touched.”

Then he told a story of how a few years ago then-Metropolitan Transportation Commission Executive Director Steve Heminger briefed legislators in Sacramento about bridge toll increases proposed under Regional Measure 3, and how they would be distributed — to county officials unfairly — among Bay Area counties.

“I took a piece of paper,” Hill said, “and wrote ‘San Mateo’ on it in big letters.

When he was finished, I held it up and said, ‘Steve, can you spell this?’”

Hill agrees that a bigger board of supervisors and a mayor directly elected by 766,000 people would give San Ma-

Miles to Go His future may be vague, but expressions that he still has a future somewhere and somehow are easy to find.

County Manager Mike Callagy said, “He’s got too much gas in the tank to hang it up at this point. He has served this county for so long in so many different capacities in so many ways, to me he’s at the peak of his career and still has more to give.”

A county Democratic party leader, who requested anonymity, said, “I have no bad words … He’s a sought-after advisor and endorser, what (the late Congressman) Tom Lantos was. A lot of people want to be that but, to quote [San Mateo Daily Journal editor] Jon Mays, you can’t out-Jerry-Hill Jerry Hill.”

Hill compiled a superb legislative record. He authored, cosponsored or carried 199 bills signed into law over 11 years in

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TRANSITION•

the state Legislature. Almost all, 154, came from bankruptcy, is a better-regulated, No filings show up in California Fair out of his own mind and his own pen. more consumer-oriented and safety-con- Political Practices Commission records to Subject matter is all over the map: scious company because Hill got so mad indicate he may be forming a new camWorker’s comp, sexual harassment, balco- he dogged it and its supposed regulator, paign organization. Things may be differny inspections, drones over state prisons. the California Public Utilities Commission, ent in two or four years, but for now the Several, such as his successful legislation for years. He filed, and won, reform bill af- Jerry Hill potboiler is on low simmer. banning flavored tobacco products, kicked ter bill. It’s his legislation that will convert Hill acknowledges that he will miss off statewide battles by special interest the utility into a publicly-owned nonprofit being part of the mix, being in the know, groups that are still being played out. should it ever bankrupt again. trading punches with big money, wres In retrospect he observes that tling with regional agencies, the record was written because he but, with characteristic canignored conventional wisdom. dor, also disparages rife leg “They always tell you when islative mendacity. you first get there: Don’t get mar “The sad part, one ried to your bills, because you’re thing I’ll share, is when Gene going to lose them. They’re going Mullin was elected to the Asto change. They’re going to be sembly and I was a superviamended in ways you don’t like. sor we were at the old Villa They’re going to die. If you’re Hotel at Good Morning San passionate about it, it’s a problem.

Mateo or something and I My problem is I get married to evasked him what had been his ery one of them,” Hill said. biggest surprise.

“They’re all different, they’re

“And he said politics diverse and in all areas. But the trumps policy 80 percent one thing that ties them together of the time. Those were his is I got mad … I got mad about a words. As I look at it, he’s ablot of issues.” solutely right. And that is to Sky and Jerry Hill with their daughter, Taryn, son-in-law, Keegan, and Unprompted, Assemblyman me the worst part of our sysgranddaughters, Kennedy and Kampbell, in Hawaii.

Mullin noted the same thing. tem that I see in Sacramento: “He always legislated from a place I Looking forward he claims not to be Politics. And when I say politics, I mean would call righteous indignation,” Mul- interested in a “fulltime job without a pub- money. Money is the biggest downfall and lin said. “You saw that with PG&E, his lic-interest aspect” (he is independently the biggest driver of policy in Sacramendogged determination to respond from a wealthy and still runs the pool business his to. And we’re not talking about corruption legislative standpoint to that crisis. He’s father started), rejects out of hand any sug- money, we’re talking influence money.” one of these guys who get emotionally gestion that he might consider being the No one has accused Senator Hill of beinvested in his legislation. Some folks up public safety officer at PG&E, an ombuds- ing for sale; the record indicates most often there take more of a passive approach, a man slot his legislation helped create and he’s the target of moneyed special interests detached approach. That’s really the oppo- some have suggested would be a perfect — big tobacco, PG&E, the state medical site of how he operates.” fit — “I do not want to work for PG&E” — profession — not the beneficiary. He will and definitely will never become a lobbyist wind up his Senate career with reputation A Drive for Reform (with some fondness he calls legislators “a intact.

When a PG&E gas pipeline explodpain the backside.”)

What comes next he declines to deed 10 years ago, destroyed a San Bruno Checking in with leaders in the non- scribe as “retirement.” neighborhood and killed eight people, Hill profit, governmental and private sector in “I guess I’ll call it ‘I’m not a legislator thought it was an accident. Then he uncovthe county turns up no Jerry Hill feelers, anymore,’” he said. “I don’t know what to ered mismanagement, criminal misuse of no scuttlebutt about a Jerry Hill job search. call it. I think I’m going to call it a change.” funds, poor maintenance and corporate If he’s been testing the job waters, it’s left It’s not likely to be a disappearing act. dissembling. PG&E, having just emerged few ripples.

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•

HISTORY by Jim Clifford•

The Sea Shadow Was Redwood City’s Cold War Secret A super-secret stealth ship called the Sea Shadow, a vessel with slanted sides designed to deflect radar probes, was built in Redwood City during the Cold War. The Sea Shadow’s name was somewhat of a misnomer in that it sailed mainly at night and, hidden by darkness, could not cast a shadow. If all this cloak-and-dagger intrigue wasn’t enough, the boat was assembled inside another top-secret ship, a submersible barge used in one of the Cold War’s more interesting episodes. The barge took part in Operation Jennifer, a CIA attempt to raise a sunken Soviet submarine in an effort to recover code books and other valuable intelligence items.

The 164-foot-long Sea Shadow, the inspiration for the bad guy’s seagoing lair in the James Bond film “Tomorrow Never Dies,” was built by Lockheed Martin inside the barge following the clandestine Jennifer episode in the 1970s that reportedly obtained at least part of the Russian submarine from the Pacific Ocean, about a thousand miles from Hawaii.

The twin-hulled Sea Shadow, which looked like an A-frame houseboat, was under wraps until 1993 when it was unveiled to wide media coverage. The ship became so “unsecret” there is now a plastic model kit available of the vessel, which had a speed of 10 knots and a crew of 10.

According to a Lockheed Martin account of the sea trials in 1981, the crew discovered the vessel’s motor propellers were

Photo courtesy of the U.S. Navy

improperly installed. “They quickly corrected the problem and continued to make progress, proving the ship’s capabilities,” the company report stated. The installation error caused the Sea Shadow to produce unexpectedly large wakes that were easy to spot on radar and from the air.

The Sea Shadow never sailed beyond testing. The company account reported the ship’s technologies were applied to parts of submarines as well as the Navy’s new class of destroyers. The sleek, sloped sides inspired by the Sea Shadow are seen in superstructures of many of today’s Navy ships. Old salts, who sailed when “bulkheads” were at right angles, could testify to the structural changes.

During the tests, the Sea Shadow was launched from the barge into darkness.

“We operated during the night with impunity,” a crewmember told the Washington Post. “We could disappear and sneak up on whomever we wanted. Nobody thought we could do that.” The sailor recalled watching a glass of soda on the bridge barely ripple as the Sea Shadow rolled through 12-foot waves.

Both the Sea Shadow and its mother barge, which resembled a floating airplane hangar crossed with a drivein movie screen, would go on to spend years as part of the mothballed Reserve Fleet near Suisun City.

The Navy tried to sell the Sea Shadow or even give it away to a museum but there were no takers and it was sold for scrap in 2012. During the effort to rid itself of the once-secret ship, the Navy public affairs people were very forthcoming with information about the Sea Shadow.

For instance, a Navy news release in 2003 revealed the barge would leave Redwood City and “go out to sea in the dead of night and, halfway submerged, let the Sea Shadow out to be tested without being overly exposed to public observation.”

The Sea Shadow “was never intended to be mission-capable,” said Paul Charterton of the Naval Sea Systems Command, noting that it lacked traditional rudders and instead relied on stabilizers to control steering. The Navy billed the vessel as “the premier test platform for ship stealth and experimental technologies.”

So, the Sea Shadow ended up on the scrap heap, but what of the barge? When last heard from, it was being used by Bay Ship & Yacht, a private company based in Alameda, as a floating dry-dock. According to a company statement, the vessel is “the only covered dry-dock on the West Coast,” adding that it can handle vessels with a beam of 76 feet. C

November 2020 ·

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