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P u b l i c a t i o n Spotlight: Motorcycle Madness Profile: Love and Marriage in the Time of Covid History: Redwood City's Waterfront — Once an Escape
ISSUE SIXTY SIX • FEBRUARY • 2021
Loneliness The Other Epidemic
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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR•
I remember in grammar school every February all of us kids exchanged paper Valentines, and I can recite from memory the words to one I got from a boy I hoped against hope liked the nerdy girl with glasses: “A warm and tender Valentine, with thoughts of you in every line.” Sigh. But how, during the age of the Covid, does anybody, young or old, meet anybody, let alone fall in love? How, after almost a year of shelter-in-place isolation, can relationships form and deepen–not just the romantic kind but among friends, families and co-workers? This month’s issue includes two stories that touch on these very human subjects. The first is writer Elizabeth Sloan’s cover feature on loneliness, which had been identified even before the pandemic as something that is pervasive and destructive in our culture. Young people are said to struggle with high rates of loneliness, which is especially sad. Of course, it’s possible to be alone and not feel lonely, as her story points out, and introverts might be just fine without a lot of company. But most of us require and even thrive on companionship, on the job, doing volunteer work, or participating in sports or hobbies and of course at home. Liz’s story goes into the factors in American culture that seem to feed into the loneliness epidemic, as well as what we can do about the problem. The story is on page 8. Love, fortunately, will out, and this issue also presents the sagas of several local couples who’d fallen in love but encountered obstacles on the way to the altar as a result of the lockdowns. That put a lot of plans into suspense, and couples have had to navigate ever-changing rules. Their stories are sweet and love-affirming—and isn’t that something we can all appreciate? You can read about love and marriage in the time of the Covid on page 20. Last November, Climate was invited to a 90th drive-by birthday party for George “Bobo” Sepulveda of Redwood City, who’d been a famous motorcycle champion in the 1940s and ‘50s. Turns out the Bay Area has produced many other competitors and the local area boasted plenty of tracks where fans could go watch the action. Climate’s Creative Director Jim Kirkland got interested in this history and followed up. For his story about this exciting hobby, turn to page 14. What will Valentine’s Day hold for you this year? Even if it’s reduced to a romantic candlelight dinner (takeout of course) at the kitchen table, don’t let a virus come between you and honoring the one you love. Get creative and make the day special!
Janet McGovern, Editor
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FEATU RE Loneliness
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SPOTLIG HT Motorcycle Madness
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PROFILE Love and Marriage
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HISTORY......................25
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Every home should be filled with nutritious food
Photo: Silicon Valley Community Foundation 2020
This ad was provided as a courtesy of
NeighborsFebruary helping neighbors since 1938¡ 5 2021 ¡ -CLIMATE
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CLIMATE M A G A Z I N E Publisher
S.F. Bay Media Group Editor
Janet McGovern janet@climaterwc.com Creative Director
Jim Kirkland jim@climaterwc.com Contributing Writers
Elizabeth Sloan Jim Kirkland Jayme Ackemann Janet McGovern Jim Clifford Photography
Jim Kirkland 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 ©2021 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 570 El Camino Real, Ste. 150 #331 Redwood City, CA 94063. Printed in the U.S.A.
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Dinner & a Movie and More In the heart of the Theatre District, Redwood City.
Our restaurants, theatre and services are open and eager to serve you. Arya Steakhouse (650) 367-4939 Century Theatre (650) 701-1341 Chipotle Mexican Grill (650) 216-9325 Cyclismo Cafe (650) 362-3970 Dignity Health GoHealth Urgent Care (650) 381-0616 Five Guys Burgers and Fries (650) 364-3101 Marufuku Ramen (650) 257-3012 Pizza My Heart (650) 361-1010 Portobello Grill (650) 299-9918 Powerhouse Gym Elite (650) 369-6000 Sola Salon Studios www.solasalonstudios.com/locations/redwood-city Timber & Salt (650) 362-3777 Vitality Bowls (650) 568-1779 West Park Farm & Sea (650) 549-8620 2107 Broadway Street, Redwood City • shopsonbroadway.com
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Community Fund Grant Partners 2021 CHAN ZUCKERBERG INITIATIVE
Welcoming the 2021 CZI Community Fund grant partners — 56 local organizations supporting Belle Haven, East Palo Alto, North Fair Oaks, and Redwood City. · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·
Able Works Anamatangi Polynesian Voices Belle Haven Community Development Fund Boys & Girls Clubs of the Peninsula Building Skills Partnership Casa Circulo Cultural Catholic Charities Chicana Latina Foundation Community Overcoming Relationship Abuse (CORA) Dream Volunteers East Palo Alto Academy Foundation East Palo Alto Kids Foundation Eastside College Preparatory School Ecumenical Hunger Program Faith In Action Bay Area Five Keys Schools and Programs Fresh Approach Fresh Lifelines for Youth
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Generations United Girls To Women Golden State Opportunity Healthy Cities Tutoring Heart and Soul HIP Housing International Institute of the Bay Area JobTrain Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County Live in Peace Manzanita Works Multicultural Institute New Creation Home Ministries Nuestra Casa de East Palo Alto One East Palo Alto One Life Counseling Center Pangea Legal Services Peninsula Conflict Resolution Center Peninsula Family Service Raising A Reader
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Ravenswood Family Health Network Rebuilding Together Peninsula Redwood City Friends of Literacy Redwood City PAL Retraining the Village Rosalie Rendu Center San Francisco 49ers Academy Services, Immigrant Rights & Education Network Stanford Children’s Health – Teen Van St. Anthony’s Padua Dining Room St. Francis Center StreetCode Academy The North Fair Oaks Community Alliance The Peninsula College Fund United through Education WeHOPE Youth Community Service Youth United for Community Action
Community Fund partners receive grants up to $100,000 and access to programming to build capacity and infrastructure, and seed collaboration to accelerate impact. CZI works in service of a just Bay Area where people impacted by systemic racism and structural inequities have the assets and power to shape their communities. Learn more at www.chanzuckerberg.com/community/fund.
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The Other Epidemic
Prolonged lockdowns magnify feelings of loneliness and isolation
By Elizabeth Sloan
There’s an epidemic right now, and it’s not Covid. Virtually all humans experience it at some point. It is found the world over; in every country, class, age and demographic. Its stories echo through literature and history; it ranges from vague emptiness to crippling despair. It may be chronic or fleeting, but either way, it can wreak havoc on human health. Loneliness is the existential human condition. But what is it exactly? Who is at risk, and what is its cure? Do society, culture, technology, and now—a killer virus—combine to make it inescapable?
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• Most psychologists describe loneliness as negative emotions associated with perceived social isolation. The word “perceived” is important: One person’s sad isolation is another person’s blessed peace. How many human connections does it take to create a rich, satisfying life? The introvert will answer that differently from the extrovert. So will the widow, the newly divorced man, the high school student who has a lot of friends but still feels alone, and the senior citizen who has been shut in since March. Alone but Not Lonely Covid’s cancellation of just about all in-person contact not just in San Mateo County but throughout the state has exacerbated loneliness. For some. Many introverts (who constitute about a third of the population) find the pandemic a huge
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relief. With in-person socializing off limits, the pressure to perform is reduced. Covid has “de-stigmatized loneliness,” says Dr. Jeremy Nobel of the Harvard School of Medicine and founder of the Foundation for Art & Healing. “In a sense,” he said in a November interview with Next Avenue, an online affiliate of PBS, “We're all lonely because we're facing a common enemy.” Relief is not everybody’s reaction. “Being with other people is oxygen for extroverts,” says Joe Gutierez, an associate at One Life Counseling Center in San Carlos. “Their energy comes from being with others. Right now, if they do that, they risk getting a deadly disease.” Depression and anxiety have increased by 20 to 25 percent among his clientele, estimates Gutierez, who trained in marriage and family therapy and
substance abuse counseling. Admissions for drug and alcohol treatment are 10 to 15 percent higher than pre-pandemic. “Detox centers are full. Psychiatric emergency clinics are full. It’s really bad, and the holidays—already a hard time for many people, made it worse.” The isolating effects of the pandemic fall more heavily on some groups than others. “Loneliness has increased in our youth,” says Kae Papula, program director for Outlet, an LGTBQ+ youth program of Adolescent Counseling Services in Redwood City. “They miss engaging with their peers in person, they have virtual fatigue, and they find it harder to develop new friendships online.” Support they usually get from school-based GSAs (GayStraight Alliances) are largely missing now. The problem is especially acute, says
How many human connections does it take to create a rich, satisfying life? The introvert will answer that differently from the extrovert. So will the widow, the newly divorced man, the high school student who has a lot of friends but still feels alone, and the senior citizen who has been shut in since March.
A socially distant gathering of a coastside group called Meetup.
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Papula, “if their families are not affirming.” But there’s another effect in play right now, she believes: The socio-political climate in the country. “If you hear ‘Your identity isn’t valid; your existence isn’t valid; you don’t deserve to be protected,’ it is isolating,” she says. “We are seeing a lot of depression, anxiety, suicidality,” says Papula. The trend is national. In a recent survey by the Trevor Project (a national crisis/suicide intervention organization for LGBTQ+ youth), 86 percent of respondents said that recent political events have negatively affected their well-being. American Culture a Factor Stories abound about Covid’s links to loneliness. But national research suggests a more nuanced picture. Several 2020 studies, including one by Florida State’s College of Medicine, show that Americans were not reporting significantly higher levels of loneliness compared to the preCovid time. What research does say: Americans were lonely to start with, and culture itself may be to blame. Jacqueline Olds and Richard Schwartz, authors of the 2009 book “The Lonely American,” see Americans as worshiping at the twin altars of busyness and selfdeterminism. "People in our society drift away from social connections because of both a push and a pull,” they wrote. “The push is the frenetic, overscheduled, hyper-networked intensity of modern life. The pull is the American pantheon of the self-reliant heroes who stand apart from the crowd." In the past 60 years, the number of Americans living in one-person households rose from seven to 25 percent. Americans are not as likely to live in multi-generational households as in other countries. In the Cigna U.S Loneliness Index published last year, 61 percent of adults in the U.S. reported that they
“Before the pandemic, we were doing 25 lunches a week. Now, it’s 400 per day.” “sometimes” or “always” feel lonely. Certain life events are likely to kickstart loneliness, at least temporarily. The death of a spouse. A divorce. The last child leaving home. Moving to a new community. But loneliness ebbs and flows with the seasons of life, according to social scientists, and in fairly predictable ways. Data from the UCLA Loneliness Scale, among others, reveals the patterns. Youth is a time to seek out one’s identity; make choices about friends, partners, and careers. Interacting with a lot of people makes sense for this kind of experimentation, so young people may feel a need for many relationships—and suffer if they perceive their number is too low.
Quality Friendships Once established with families and careers, middle-aged people often winnow the quantity of their friendships and focus more on quality. They build deeper connections with fewer people, often around interests that dominate that time of their lives— the young mothers group; the golf club; professional organizations. Loneliness often becomes prevalent in older people, as they suffer declines in health and mobility, and friends die. Covid has been devastating for this group. “Before the pandemic, we were doing 25 lunches a week,” says Bruce Utecht, who directs the senior lunch program as one offering of Redwood City’s Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department. “Now, it’s 400 per day.” In normal times, the program offers clubs, classes, and social events, in addition to the food service. These are a lifeline for local seniors. Today, it’s mostly virtual, except for the lunches. “Now, it’s curbside pickup or drop off at their homes,” says Utecht, whose staff and volunteers managed the herculean ramp-up. Parks & Rec redeployed staff and volunteers from all over to pull it off; from March through early January, they had delivered 63,000 lunches. “We take a lot of pride in what we’ve been able to do,” says Utecht, “getting our seniors what they need.” Staff tries to make meal service fun, with costumes, holiday celebrations, take-home games, favors, exercise guides—-all within pandemic protocols. Making time to talk with seniors is one of the biggest challenges. “Sometimes, we are the only human contact they will have all day,” he says. “We try to visit—when they drive up, on their front porch at the drop off, on the phone. Some of them just need to talk.” The digital divide is a huge problem, Utecht adds. “We have a lot of people who February 2021 ·
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A Meetup group taking a socially distanced coastal hike.
Is all this connectedness a panacea for loneliness? don’t have a computer or a cell phone. We use Zoom some, but there is a huge amount of services they don’t receive.” Right now, city staff is trying to figure out how to help seniors with tax season—usually a big demand. After that? “Maybe vaccine delivery,” he muses. Technology: Blessing or Curse? In 2021, technology irrefutably fuels human interaction. Online dating (there are roughly 2,500 such sites in America) has eclipsed other methods for meeting romantic partners. Seventy-seven percent of Americans have some kind of social media account. Websites like Meetup, EventBrite and Groupspaces connect millions of people every year, often around common interests, and usually for inperson interactions. Today’s Gen Z-ers (born 1997-2015) are the first generation
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to grow up fully wired and fully mobile. They are voracious consumers of social media and online gaming. Is all this connectedness a panacea for loneliness? Sherry Turkle doesn’t think so. An MIT sociologist and clinical psychologist, Turkle has published extensively on technology and human interaction. “We are tempted to run away from the people we are with to the pleasures of our phones,” she writes in her book “Alone Together; Why We Expect More from Technology and Less From Each Other.” Turkle writes, “It might be a text or a game. It might be an Instagram or Snapchat or Twitter feed. … We content ourselves with a text or an e-mail when a conversation would better convey our meaning. … We settle for less empathy, less attention, less care from other
human beings.” She points to research that documents a 40 percent drop in the markers of empathy among college students over the past 30 years. “Since most of that decline occurred in the last decade of the work, it makes sense to link the empathy gap to the presence of digital communications.” Others insist technology is a blessing, especially when used to enhance existing relationships or forge new ones that are meaningful. Meeting Up Online Erin Dahl of Pacifica joined her first Meetup group almost 10 years ago. A school district data support specialist, Dahl was clear about her motivation. “These groups are not for desperately lonely people who have no lives,” she says. “I did it to supplement the great life I already have.”
• She loved the experience, and when she moved to the coastal city a few years ago, she started her own Meetup group—this one for women over 50. “Our group is about making friends,” Dahl says, “not just attending events. I wanted women who were at a certain stage in life—looking ahead at a next chapter, after careers, after kids.” The group now has about 70-80 members, who hike, have dinner, see movies, and go on outings throughout the Bay Area (or did, pre-Covid). Friendships have formed; the members see each other outside the events. Right now, the group “is a lifeline for some of our members,” says Dahl, “especially those who don’t work.” Except for socially distant walks, the programs have gone virtual. Gutierez, of One Life Counseling Center, thinks now is a time for parents to “lighten up on restricting screen time for their kids.” He believes technology can deliver connections they desperately need for mental well-being and normal development. He also sees a difference between “one-way” media like Facebook and Instagram, and interactive media, like Discord (a live chat platform). He lauds games like Minecraft, “where it’s less about the game and more about the social interaction. They often stop playing just to chat. I would tell parents to be careful about taking that away. There’s already a big sense of loss among kids who have sacrificed the prom, graduation, and other milestones. They are losing the freedom to become themselves.” Combatting Loneliness Mental health professionals say it’s difficult to tease apart loneliness from depression and anxiety, and harder still to disrupt the cycle. But there are strategies that work. “Activation therapy” is one Gutierez uses. “Get outside,” he says. “Walk around the block. Do push-ups; something active,
F E AT U R E • Many mental health professionals— themselves at risk for stress while serving the lonely—find solace in an unexpected place: the strength with which their clients face adversity. “I am in awe of our youth,” says Papula, “their brilliance; their resilience; how discerning they are. They are wise beyond their years because they’ve had to be. Things will be different in the future and they have great ideas about that. It’s our job to listen to them.”
Joe Gutierez of One Life Counseling Center
Gutierez, of One Life Counseling Center, thinks now is a time for parents to “lighten up on restricting screen time for their kids.” outside your room. Isolating is the worst thing you can do.” Groups like Dahl’s are helpful for getting through isolating times, even if they are largely virtual. “We cannot wait to get back together,” she says. In the meantime, members continue to build connections with online offerings. (Meetup is just one platform for creating social connection; visit meetup.com for more information.) Another recommendation: If virtual is the only game in town, don’t let perfection get in the way of good. “Zoom and Discord are essential right now,” says Papula of Outlet. “Our numbers are down because our clients have virtual fatigue. But those who do participate get a lot out of it.” She believes her organization will move forward with a hybrid of virtual and inperson options that will serve them well in the future.
Living by Example Utecht echoes this admiration for the older people he serves. “They really are the greatest generation. They are a shining example for volunteering, for helping. They don’t talk it about it much. But they are doers. They are frugal. They are stoic.” Commenting on the toughness of the times, one man Utecht spoke to shrugged and offered the observation: “I saw the flag raised at Iwo Jima. I went through two World Wars.” Difficult as the pandemic has been, now is the time to create new traditions, Gutierez contends. “Call an old friend you haven’t talked to in a while. Schedule Zoom sessions with family. Get in the car and drive down the coast. Host a virtual happy hour. Create a book club. Learn the ukulele. Make a list of 10 things you’ve always wanted to try. Look at this time as a gift.” His advice to those fortunate enough not to be feeling the loneliness blues? “Be on the lookout for people who seem isolated, anxious, depressed,” Gutierez says. “Watch for the signs. If you have not heard from someone in a while, give them a call. Check in. We should all be helping each other through this.” C
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SPOTLIGHT•
Motorcycle Madness Tales from the dirt
By Jim Kirkland
To all appearances, someone like Chris Rudy — a Santa Clara County Superior Court judge — wasn’t born to be wild. Yet appearances are deceiving: The son of a motorcycle racing champion, the proud owner of 14 bikes is an enthusiastic member of a fraternity which is carrying on a century-old Peninsula sports tradition. That still has miles to go. From its rough beginnings with bikers challenging mountain trails on the Skyline and dirt speedways, this thrilling sport has produced its fair share of champions from San Mateo County.
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SPOTLIGHT•
Main photo: George "Bobo" Sepulveda sliding around a corner. Photo courtesey Chris Rudy Left: Sponsor Sam Arena with his champion racer. Photo courtesy George Sepulveda
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Photo courtesy Chris Rudy
The motorcycle itself evolved over time, first appearing in 1867 when American Sylvester Howard Roper cobbled together a two-cylinder, steam-power “velocipede.” The coal-fired cycle couldn’t have been easy to ride, but the idea was born and took off from there. By the time William Harley, with partners Arthur, Walter and William Davidson arrived on the scene in 1903, racing was a marketing tool to promote motorcycle sales. As early as 1910 oval wood “motordromes” were constructed to pit riders on machines against each other. Demonstration of raw speed was the goal with banked turns making it possible to push full throttle until motorcycles either won or destroyed themselves in the attempt. Speedway racing was dangerous for competitors and spectators: Riders and even fencegripping fans seeking to be close to the action alike got killed. The wood tracks didn’t do much better. The Greater San Francisco Speedway, located in San Carlos, opened in May of 1922 and burned down the next month after only a handful of races. An oil-soaked surface was the likely culprit.
SPOTLIGHT•
Al Rudy
motorcycles and by age 16 had managed to buy an ancient Indian. In Al Rudy’s day, riders associated with others who owned the same make of motorcycle: Indian, HarleyDavidson, Triumph, BSN — brand loyalty was tribal. But during World War II, Sam Arena, a legendary racer known in his day as “King of the Flat Tracks,” formed the Victory Club, inviting all motorcycle enthusiasts to ride together, organizing races and fun rides throughout San Jose and the Santa Cruz Mountains. Impressed by how Al Rudy handled the old Indian, competing and beating older experienced riders on newer, more powerful bikes, Arena took him under his wing. “Sam became something of a second father to my dad,” says Chris Rudy. After his wartime service, Al Rudy got a job at a local motorcycle shop owned by another champion, Tom Sifton. “To the shock and dismay of his Indian buddies, Dad bought a Harley,” Chris Rudy recalls, “and Sam got him to try racing.” Al Rudy did so well that Sifton started sponsoring him. Racing for Al Rudy in 1948 and 1949 were big years but his career ended when he was just 22. He got hit by a car while riding on the street and lost his left leg at the knee. Losing one’s leg is bad enough, but in track racing the left was essential. Not one to give up easily, Al Rudy famously took a final shot at competing, at Bay Meadows in 1950, using a prosthetic leg that a friend had designed. It couldn’t take the punishment, and to no one’s surprise, Al Rudy didn’t place.
Racing in 1948 and ‘49 were big years for Rudy — until at age 22 when he got hit by a car while riding on the street and he lost his left leg at the knee.
Dirt Tracks With the onset of the Great Depression, dirt replaced wood tracks, and that required a whole new approach to racing. Gone were the banked turns. To keep speed at a maximum while sliding around the large turns at either end of a dirt track, riders borrowed a racecar technique, turning the front wheel the opposite direction. This was done while the rider tilted the bike like a sailboat under full wind, extending his all-important left leg as an outrigger. A steel plate on his boot functioned like a ski and was the only
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protection for the racer’s foot. Round and round the pack rode, always counterclockwise, jockeying for position, passing each other on turns, missing by inches — and sometimes not. All of this at 80 to 100 miles per hour. To further lighten the bike in order to coax more speed, brakes were removed. That left two ways to stop: downshifting (preferably) or crashing. In the 1940s and ‘50s, cycling’s daredevils could compete at several Peninsula raceways, chief among them Bay Meadows and Belmont Speedway. Moto fans and “gearheads” were entertained and followed their favorite competitors, many of whom would become local and national champions. Local Legends Judge Rudy’s father, Al, was among them. A San Jose product, he grew up riding
A Redwood City Champion Redwood City native George “Bobo” Sepulveda (a nickname bestowed by his older brother who couldn’t pronounce
“brother”) loved watching the races at Belmont. Al Rudy was his favorite rider. Sepulveda started competing at age 19 in 1949 in the “novice” ranking and discovered he was a natural. Riding a two-stroke, single-cylinder Matchless motorcycle, he often beat the likes of champion Joe Leonard, who rode a far more powerful Triumph. Sepulveda was so good that, as an amateur, he was made to race against riders at the “expert” level — and still won. At the end of his second year Sepulveda competed against Larry Hedrick at Belmont Speedway, leading the national champion the entire race until the stretch where Hedrick’s Harley-Davidson passed him to take the checkered flag. By his third year, prize money had become Sepulveda’s main source of income. “I got a Harley (that year) and started to clean up everything in my class,” Sepulveda says. Belmont, Tulare, Hollister, Stockton Mile, Bay Meadows and many others became lucrative California venues for him. Success didn’t come without bruises. “I was in a trophy dash on the tail of the guy leading in the first turn when he started to slide out,” Sepulveda recalls. “So I turned in to go underneath him, but he came right back in front of me. I turned to miss him but hit his rear wheel. It slammed me right down on my face and the rider behind me ran right over my back — I didn’t get a scratch on me.” A Family Man Sepulveda won the national championship in the amateur pro category at Sturgis, South Dakota, before being drafted into the Army in 1952. After his discharge, he picked up where he left off, competing as a “pro expert” until 1958, when he got married. Family responsibilities convinced him to park the Harley and get a job. Sepulveda, who recently turned 90, raised two children and had a 40-year, post-racing career with Piombo Construction.
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Photo courtesy Rick Sutton
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"Pappy" Sutton
“He was ornery, as a throttle twister he wasn’t graceful and would refuse to take no for an answer in a race. Often times he would do whatever it took to win or secure a top three placing.” Howard “Pappy” Sutton is another Redwood City competitor who shook up the local racing scene but he didn’t enter it until he was in his forties. His adolescent competitors took to calling him “Pappy,” a nickname that stuck for the rest of his life. A former Marine who was part of the landing force on Guadalcanal, Sutton was a gifted mechanical innovator and modified motorcycles in his garage, improving suspension parts and reducing weight. However, he was better known as an aggressive “throttle twister,” willing to elbow a competitor off the track to gain advantage or pass. “He was ornery,” says son Rick Sutton. “As a throttle twister he wasn’t graceful and would refuse to take no for an answer in a race. And often times he would do
whatever it took to win or secure a top three placing.” At 6’2” and 230 pounds, Pappy Sutton was larger than most riders. Though he was aggressive and could look big and angry on a bike, he was also known for his charm and wacky humor. “People could be mad at Pappy but not help but like him,” his son adds. A New Generation The 1960’s saw the surge of a different style of riding: Motocross. Lighter, highergeared “dirt bikes” with a long suspension and designed to climb and take a beating were the vehicles ridden to challenge the rough, muddy, craggy, sometimes billygoat-worthy landscape this sport loves.
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• The miles of steep trails made the Santa Cruz Mountains the true testing ground. Many a future pro and champion would cut his teeth on rugged open spaces there —Purissima, Skeggs and Corte Madera. Chris Carter was one of them. “I bought my first motorcycle in 1965 with paper route money,” the Menlo Park native says. He also liked to ride trails along the Skyline and at the end of Redwood Shores and adds that development has taken away a lot of the open land once available for racing. The 1971 Bruce Brown film “On Any Sunday” inspired many people to jump on a dirt bike, among them former pro rider Scott Davis of San Carlos. “As kids we didn’t have video games or organized sports. We would go into the garage and make stuff. Like small motor bikes made from snatched lawnmower engines. It kind of started there until I bought a small motorcycle as a teenager.” Both Rick Sutton and his older brother, Ron, took after their racing father. The Suttons grew up in the Marsh Manor area of Redwood City, and at age 12, when other kids cruised the streets on their Huffy bicycles, Rick Sutton was tackling local hills on a Hodaka 100 motorcycle. The Racing Spirit As they got older, Carter, Davis and Sutton began to challenge themselves by entering races. All three moved up through the ranks, from amateur to pro. Rick Sutton attained pro status at 17. Though the venues varied, most races were very organized. The Bay City Motorcycle Club Annual New Year’s Day Race, by contrast, was an outlier. Begun in 1936 and continuing to 1968, “It was totally illegal but no one ever got arrested as many of the riders were cops,” Carter says. The race, which started in Golden Gate Park and finished in Half Moon Bay, had an unmarked course that meandered through trails and back roads over the Skyline. Dick
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SPOTLIGHT•
Chris Carter atop one of his collection of 60 motorcycles.
Mann, a grand national champion says, “This is the only race where you couldn’t cheat — because there were no rules.” Europeans traditionally have dominated motocross. A particularly versatile racer, Carter competed on the U.S. team three years running at the grueling International Six Day Enduro, which is considered the Olympics of motocross. Riders race 200 miles a day for six days on a time-trial basis in all kinds of adverse terrain and weather conditions. In 1975 at the Isle of Man, Carter won bronze in his category and took home a gold in Austria the next year. “I was never a national champion, but more often than not, considered the guy to beat in a race,” Carter says. Physically and Mentally Fit Motocross is a physically demanding sport. Both man and machine take a beating and intense focus is required. “I would visualize a race weeks before. But you can’t have much going through your head during the race other than the terrain 200 feet ahead of you,” says Davis. Carter agrees. “Every move has a consequence. You could fall off or encounter any number of catastrophes.
Scott Davis astride a bike, similar to what he rode as a pro.
At the speeds we did over some pretty extreme terrain, you had to be in the zone when on the bike. It was mentally very challenging.” In other words, crashes happen. Sutton’s “ugliest injury” occurred on the first lap when he was racing once at Carnegie Park in Livermore. “I was leading up a very rough fast uphill,” he recalls. “My toes were pointed downward on my foot pegs to maintain proper weight distribution and keep the front wheel down. The suspension bottoms out. My right forefoot sticks in a hole with the arch of my foot still on the foot peg. Inside the boot, my foot snaps — compound fracture.” Like any professional athlete, motorcyclists train to stay in top shape, and that regimen didn’t end for Davis and
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Sepulveda, eventually turning a small get-together into a major event dubbed The Annual Racers Lunch. Typically, 25 to 30 loyalists would show up. Nowadays (pre-Covid) the lunch head count approaches 60, some coming from as far away as Oregon. The overseeing of the cycling reunion has been handed down to brothers Chris and Gordon Rudy and Carter. When he’s not on the bench, Judge Rudy still finds Rick Sutton in full flight in 1975. Photo courtesy Rick Sutton time in his busy schedule to 35 years. Likewise, in their day, Al Rudy compete in vintage races around California. A Ride for Life regularly lunched with his old friends Joe He likes to quote his father: “You don’t get The sport’s camaraderie has proven Leonard, Tom Sifton and Al Scaffoni at old and quit riding motorcycles, you quit long-lasting. Carter, Davis and Sutton Val’s restaurant in Alviso. riding motorcycles and get old.” C have remained friends even though racing Over the years other veteran throttle has been in their rear-view mirrors for over twisters would join them, including Sutton when they left racing behind. Both became elite road and mountain bikers. Carter owns Motion Pro, a business manufacturing innovative specialty tools and motorcycle products. Davis started German Auto Repair. Sutton became an organizer of local, national and international cycling races, including the Union Cycliste Internationale — more commonly known as UCI — Mountain Bike World Cup and the Sea Otter Classic in Monterey.
Photo courtesy Chris Rudy
All in the Family Even though he gave up motorcycles, Al Rudy remained close to his famous racing friends, which undoubtedly, influenced his children, Gordon, Chris and Jill. Says Chris, “Motorcycles were never a part of our family when we were young, but my older brother, Gordon, and I would sneak into Dad’s old photo albums from his racing days.” It dawned on the brothers that their dad was once a well-known track racer and it instilled the desire to follow in his footsteps. Their father, however, discouraged Left to right: Chris Rudy with sister Jill and brother Gordon at a race these notions. at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds in the 80’s. “I don’t really know why he didn’t want us to race, but I got the sense that he didn’t want us to feel we had finish his career for him,” says Chris, “and then there was the risk factor. A lot of his racing friends got killed. It’s a dangerous sport.” Chris, Gordon and later, sister Jill, started riding dirt bikes on trails in the mountains around their home in Boulder. Gordon and Chris ultimately got into flat track racing. The brothers began to move up in the amateur ranks becoming pro expert racers. Chris reached the pro sport expert level and raced for for several years, but after a bad crash decided to concentrate on his law studies at Santa Clara University. Gordon went on to a successful 10-year track racing career. Jill tried her hand at racing a couple of times as well. Chris has returned to racing on vintage motorcycles all around California. “I kind of went crazy and now own 14 motorcycles, but race a 1963 Harley KR750.” That would be the one without brakes.
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PROFILE•
Marie Martinéz-Goerger and her husband Gabriel
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PROFILE•
Lovein theand Marriage Time of Covid Social distancing rules challenge couples trying to get to the altar
By Jayme Ackemann and Janet McGovern
“Now you have time to simmer.” That was the silver lining Tasha Bartholomew’s stepdad, Keith Bodwin, offered up when she and her fiancé, Ryan Carrihill, had to postpone their destination wedding last August due to coronavirus travel restrictions. It turns out, step-fathers also know best. Bartholomew, who is communications manager for SamTrans and Caltrain in San Carlos, had known Carrihill since childhood but their courtship had been brief. The Covid pandemic that put a timeout on their wedding plans has also given opportunity for their relationship to deepen before they tie the knot.
Love
and marriage in the time of Covid has upended wedding plans everywhere, forcing would-be brides and grooms to adapt. For some, that’s meant rescheduling the big day more than once. For others, it’s meant downsized, livestreamed or even Zoomed nuptials. There have been some unexpected blessings too. Wedding vendors, counselors, and ministers have provided the support systems that helped prospective newlyweds navigate tough decisions.
Numbers Down The falloff in the number of weddings has been dramatic. According to Bowling Green State University’s Center for Family and Demographic Research, which released analysis for five states that provided data for marriage and divorce statistics in 2020, the number of couples marrying dropped by a third during the pandemic. The San Mateo County’s Clerk Office marriage application data supports national trends: Between March and December last year, just 2,144 marriage licenses were approved – about a third less than in previous years. Tasha Bartholomew and Ryan Carrihill
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• “Love is patient,” the Bible says in 1 Corinthians, but waiting out a global pandemic to get to “I do,” has presented its own challenges. Couples placed deposits with florists, caterers, event venues and musicians for wedding celebrations that didn’t happen in 2020. “It was early in the year when things shut down so we didn’t have a lot of deposits on the books but some vendors had a lot of couples requesting refunds,” said Robin Maffei of San Carlos’s Granara’s Flowers. Maffei said couples often chose to reschedule their events rather than cancel. Bartholomew and Carrihill had a whirlwind romance that followed more than 30 years of friendship. They met in fourth grade in Oakland. In later years, they shared a first kiss and they went to the junior prom together. “He was that one person I always thought about,” Bartholomew said. But Carrihill got married in the early 2000’s and the friends lost touch. “I used to look for him on Facebook,” Bartholomew said, “but he didn’t have one.” A Wedding Delayed Eventually Carrihill did sign up for the social media service. “The first thing I did was look Tasha up and send her a message.” An employee at Abbott Laboratories in Menlo Park, he was single again after 17 years of marriage and things moved fast. Carrihill proposed in the fall of 2019 before the pandemic struck. They planned to have a destination wedding with their families in Hawaii in August 2020. But quarantine requirements and worries about the virus forced them to delay their wedding, now planned to take place there in April. Among the silver linings is that more family members will be able to attend. “Ryan has family that will be able to make it now,” Bartholomew said. The extended time before the wedding has given the couple, both 47, a gift and a challenge. “We had really deep conversa-
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PROFILE•
Angie Ibarra and Keith Miller
“I got an Airbnb, and we made a weekend of it, spending Saturday together, dinner at Cascal in Mountain View, and the Super Bowl (at the Canyon Inn) the next day.” tions about the way we grew up – our family lives – because we had the time to have them,” Bartholomew said. “It has brought patience and faith,” Carrihill added, with a laugh. He’s a musician and plays the drums among other instruments. “You get an inside look at what being married is like. I’m noisy.” Couples connecting later in life might have a more relaxed attitude when it comes to wedding planning, according to Carolina Navas of Redwood City of Belle Journée Wedding & Event Design. “A lot of my couples are second weddings and they are usually more interested in putting their money into great food and music – they want it to be fun.” Long-Distance Love For Emerald Hills resident Angie Ibarra, the coronavirus could have thrown a wrench into her budding new relationship. She had known Keith Miller for several years before they decided to have their first date during Super Bowl weekend in 2020. It required some planning for Miller because he lived in Vancouver, Wash-
ington. “I got an Airbnb, and we made a weekend of it, spending Saturday together, dinner at Cascal in Mountain View, and the Super Bowl (at the Canyon Inn) the next day,” Miller recalled. Social distancing actually helped their long-distance relationship blossom. Since he could work remotely and his kids don't live near him, the virus gave Miller the freedom to move into an Airbnb near Ibarra. Her role as CEO of the nonprofit Generations United during the pandemic has been both demanding and emotionally draining. Her organization works to empower families and children in Redwood City and the North Fair Oaks area. “The underserved community has been hard hit by the virus with many people out of work and parents struggling to get their kids support for online schooling,” Ibarra said. “I don’t think I could have survived this year during Covid-19, doing what I do, without a partner in my life.” By the time they decided to get married, coronavirus guidelines proved challenging to plan around so on June 20 the couple exchanged private vows with their pastor. Marking the occasion with friends and family was important to the couple looking to blend children from past marriages, families, and friends. “We got lucky that we dropped down to a low tier in the fall, so we were able to have a small outdoor event,” Miller explained. Salsa dancing is an important outlet for the couple, who hosted a fiesta wedding in the Rustic Oyster’s parking lot in San Carlos. Though it was a much smaller event than they originally planned, Ibarra considers it perfect. “Our wedding planner did such a great job decorating you couldn’t even tell that’s where we were. It was like a perfect window of opportunity that opened up during the pandemic for us to celebrate finding love.”
Livestreamed Wedding Marie Goerger, 27, and Gabriel Martinéz, 32, managed to get married last May, after surmounting one pandemic-related obstacle after another. She hails from North Dakota but had moved to the Peninsula eight years ago to go to Stanford University and stayed on; he’s from Puerto Rico and had relocated because of work. They’d planned for a June wedding at Peninsula Covenant Church in Redwood City with a reception in the backyard of the Los Altos home of some friends. The shelter-in-place announcement came down the day they were scheduled for a premarital meeting with the minister. Plans for reciting vows in the church surrounded by family and friends evaporated. They were determined to get married, but found local county clerk’s offices initially weren’t issuing marriage licenses. (They had to get theirs in Santa Cruz County.) Goerger and Martinéz ended up having both the wedding and the reception in the friends’ backyard. Members of the host family made the cake and took the photos. The pastor’s wife did the needed wedding dress alterations. The ceremony was livestreamed to family and friends all the way to Puerto Rico, which allowed for an expanded “virtual” guest list. Not being able to have a traditional wedding “obviously it wasn’t what I had wanted or what we had wanted, being surrounded by everybody you thought you’d be surrounded by was kind of sad,” Goerger acknowledged. “But I think it was surprising how encouraging and understanding our families were. They were like, ‘Do what you have to do. We’re in a crazy time right now and if you want to get married, you go ahead and do that.’” Never Too Late With Menlo Church off-limits for weddings because of the Covid, Associate Pastor Frank Vanderzwan has worked with couples who decided to postpone,
PROFILE•
Kimberly Junqueiro-Rustic Blue Photography
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Abbey Wilkerson and Josh Morey
As the months wore on, they—and those vendors— kept hoping restrictions would ease, but “every month kept dwindling by.” reschedule, downsize or try new venues. “Everybody’s made changes to accommodate what can be done,” he said, “and everybody tries to the degree that they can to stay within the rules and regulations. You know weddings are really really hard so I’m very proud of these folks.” Vanderzwan officiated at backyard weddings and for a small one held in a church in San Francisco. He also performed a wedding for an elderly couple (the groom was about 90) who “had been together a long time and finally decided to make it legal. They couldn’t invite their kids and their grandkids so I went and married them in their apartment, and they got a special license that allows with no witnesses. … They got all dressed up—as I did—and treated it like a normal important event in the life of the church family.” A Menlo Church pastor for 34 years, Vanderzwan said the ceremonies he has performed under Covid restrictions have been like normal ones—except for wear-
ing a mask right until the time of the ceremony. Looking out over a masked audience has also been an adjustment: “I can’t see how people are responding. … All I can see is eyes.” Two Wedding Dates Some couples who missed out on a traditional wedding are planning receptions once the Covid restrictions are gone, among them San Carlos newlyweds Abbey Wilkerson, 24, and Josh Morey, 23. Last year at this time they were making plans for a November wedding at a rustic venue in the Santa Cruz Mountains, with about 130 guests. They’d made deposits for the venue and other vendors. As the months wore on, they—and those vendors—kept hoping restrictions would ease, but “every month kept dwindling by” Wilkerson said. The vendors didn’t offer refunds and the couple’s only real option was to pick a later date, which they did, postponing it one year. They decided in October to have a small wedding in Palo Alto on their original November wedding date, with only family in attendance. Though they very reluctantly made the decision to downsize the wedding, the couple appreciated how things worked out in the end. “It was really nice to have just immediate family,” Morey said. “We got to be present more and experience more intimacy,” his wife agreed. They’re undecided about what to do at their postponed wedding/reception in November. “I think we are leaning towards a one-year vow renewal,” Wilkerson said, and added, “We are so excited to celebrate with everyone. One big party.” Goerger also felt the disappointment of seeing her wedding plans shrink, but “Now I realize, we can wait until everybody gets vaccinated and we can just have a huge party and hug everybody and be together. So we’re still planning to do something like that.” C February 2021 ·
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Redwood City’s Waterfront, Once an Escape for Boys Gone Fishin’ Boyhood in Redwood City during the late 1920s was living the carefree life of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, according to a memoir left by a man who grew up to be more like Tom Sawyer. Francis Hutchinson, who passed away in 1989 after a long career in education, recounted a time when he fished within walking distance of his home, trekking to an area that today is the Bair Island wildlife refuge. “The purpose of the fishing was its time honored challenge,” he wrote in the reminiscence that appeared in the Spring 2013 issue of the Journal of Local History published by the Archives Committee of the Redwood City Public Library. “It was also getting off by ourselves, where we could speak freely, swim without a bathing suit and avoid any time-consuming activities our parents – loath to see us idle in the summer – might think up.” The fish included perch, sharks and stingrays that were “heavy and getting them ashore took some effort for 12 year olds.” Teamwork was needed to bring the fish to land where they were “knocked on the head and admired.” The boys fished at two spots – Smith Slough and Smith’s Landing “even though the wharf structures had long since rotted and drifted away.” Hutchinson, who retired as principal at Woodside High School, recalled how the boys in his neighborhood thought of the marshes as their own wilderness. The boys, who lived in the area known today
as “Tank Park” because of the World War II tank that stands at the edge, crossed arid landscape to reach the tidelands, a trip usually spoken of as “going out to the creek,” pronounced as “gunowd’crick.” Archives committee member John Edmonds decided to publish Hutchinson’s essay because it reminded him of his own experiences as a youth who fished and ex-
plored in the creeks and marshes of San Francisco Bay. “I have noted to people that at one time Redwood Creek came inland much farther than it does today,” Edmonds explained. “We used to throw rocks about the size of our fists into the creek mud and watch the oysters squirt. Sometimes they got really high.” The oyster beds were the work of entrepreneur John Stilwell Morgan, a former sea captain who formed the Morgan Oyster Company in 1887 and planted oysters in the mud of three Redwood City creeks and Greco Island, just east of the docks of the Port of Redwood City. According to Edmonds, Morgan lived in a house at the junction of Steinberger and Corkscrew creeks. Over time, Morgan’s oyster beds ranged between San Bruno all the way south to Alviso on the tip of San Francisco Bay.
Codfish was also a big business in Redwood City when Hutchinson and his friends frolicked in the mud, which he recalled did not please their mothers. One pal’s grandfather worked at the cod fishery located at the mouth of Redwood Creek “and from him we got the heavy fishing lines and big hooks used by commercial fishermen in the Gulf of Alaska.” According to Edmonds, the Alaska Codfish Company’s Redwood City plant consisted of 30 buildings on Greco Island along with six Alaska trawlers that each year brought in 3,000 tons of fish that were cleaned, chopped, packed in cans and sold to wholesalers. The processing was done by women workers in what seems reminiscent of a chapter from John Steinbeck’s “Cannery Row,” the Monterey novel set during the Great Depression. The women, who boarded boats during the dark morning hours, were taken to the island where they remained until the catch of the day was canned. Tastes change. The demand for codfish dried up after World War I and the boats of the Alaska Codfish Company sat idle at the docks. In 1921 a fire broke out on the vessels and rapidly spread to the buildings ashore. Arson was suspected, Edmonds wrote in an article for the Journal of Local History. “There were no fire department boats in those days so the plant was left to burn down” which took several days.
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TOGETHER, WE DESIGN PLACES THAT INSPIRE PEOPLE
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2011 Broadway • 650-368-2841 • ralphsvacnsew.com
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650.619.9311 suelehrmitchell@gmail.com suelehrmitchell.com DRE# 01087715
SPONSOR AND CHAIR, HOMETOWN HOLIDAYS Downtown Redwood City Office located at 555 Middlefield Rd. Each office is independently owned and operated.
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