November 8, 2025 • 31 mins
What makes a city feel like home? In this episode of Arcadia FTY, I follow the journey through Arcadia’s past—where a land deal by Elias J. “Lucky” Baldwin set the stage for incorporation in 1903, and where his daughter, Anita, turned ambition into institutions that still shape daily life. Along the way, my guest, Ed Anderson, president of the Arcadia Historical Society, helps us map stories onto streets: County Road becoming Duarte Road, the first racetrack shuttered by law, World War II balloonists training on future fairways, and Santa Anita Park rising from dust to international renown.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Christine Zito (00:04):
Hello and welcome back to Arcadia FYI.
I'm Christine Zito, yourwonderful host, which I hope
it's uh you think I'm wonderful.
And I thank you for the emailsand the Facebook messages and
saying how much you like theshow.
It really means a lot to me.
And once again, for everybody,I've gotten a hold of a few of
(00:26):
you.
I am, I will get to you andwhat you want to talk about
because some of the things thatyou guys want on the show is is
pretty awesome.
So I'm gonna make sure I getthat on the show for you.
Um I want to thank oursponsors, Longo Toyota in El
Monte.
You gotta go by and say hi toMike and Brooke and just check
(00:49):
out the dealership because it'son this huge lot.
I can't remember how manyacreages it it is, but they do
more than just sell cars.
And on that lot, there's morethan uh just having cars there.
Star 7 Financial with FrancineChiu.
So, yes, I'm a little biased.
She's gonna be in the studiohere in the next couple of weeks
to talk about about financesand how to save for your 401k,
(01:13):
how to save for your children'seducation, the Santa Anita Park.
Uh things are coming up, someevents coming up, and you heard
from Pete.
The Olympics coming up in 2028.
And if you haven't heard thatshow, you gotta you gotta listen
to that show.
Great information.
And the Le Méridien Hotel inand Pasadena.
(01:34):
All right.
How many of you out there likehistory?
Raise your hand.
I I know sometimes history canbe pretty boring, but I was a
history minor when inuniversity.
I happen to love history.
And this is not this is gonnabe a type of history that you're
(01:54):
going to love today becauseit's about story.
And you know me, I love story.
And if you're watching onYouTube, you can already see
who's in studio with me.
The president of the ArcadiaHistorical Society, Ed Anderson.
Hi, Ed.
Ed Andersen (02:08):
Hey, how are you, Christine and our audience?
Hello.
Christine Zito (02:12):
I know.
I am so glad that you're thatyou're here.
I do have to say, okay, I'mgonna brag a little bit here.
Your website.
I I had the honor andopportunity to build the
website, and I still maintainit.
I love history.
I loved building it.
Ed Andersen (02:27):
I hope some out there in our listening audience
uh go to our website at ArcadiaHistorical Society.org.
Christine Zito (02:33):
O-R-G.org.
Okay, let's get to know you alittle bit, Ed.
Um Were you born here inCalifornia or outside of
California?
Ed Andersen (02:42):
I was born in in Santa Cruz, California, up on
the Monterey Bay, the originalsurf city where skateboards were
invented.
Christine Zito (02:49):
I know.
And did you live like where youcan I love Santa Cruz because
you can be in the forest anddrive right down to the beach?
Ed Andersen (02:56):
Is that where Absolutely spent a lot of time
at both, mostly at the beach,probably.
Christine Zito (03:02):
Yeah, probably.
It's a beautiful, beautifularea.
And and when did you come tothe Arcadia area?
Ed Andersen (03:08):
I came here with uh my employment at the Proctor
and Gamble Company in 1972, andI met my wife Debbie.
We were married for 50 yearsthis year.
Christine Zito (03:18):
All right, everybody clap, congratulations.
You don't hear that very often.
Ed Andersen (03:22):
Uh we moved to Arcadia in 1977.
We were told it was a wonderfulplace to live and raise uh our
family, which we did, and we'vebeen in the same house since
August of 1977.
Christine Zito (03:35):
Wow, that is that's amazing.
Now, did your kids okay, I'mgonna ask the obvious questions.
They went to Arcadia HighSchool and graduated from there.
Ed Andersen (03:45):
Yes, that's right.
Uh both our girls graduatedfrom uh Arcadia High School.
They went on and they're bothuh in the teaching profession.
Uh my daughter is a adjunctprofessor at Stanford, and we
have a seventh grade teacher inNapa, one of my favorite places.
Christine Zito (03:59):
Oh, yeah, one of my favorite places, too.
Anything that has to do withwine and vineyards, I am there.
All right, let's talk about aswe get into history here.
What first of all, what is itabout the city of Arcadia that
you, Ed, like or love the most?
Ed Andersen (04:20):
When we moved here or were planning to move here, I
saw signs that said uh Arcadia,community of homes.
And it had kind of a wonderfulfeeling of community, of
togetherness, of familyatmosphere here.
Uh, it was really uh aninteresting proposition for us
moving in.
But really, community ispeople.
(04:41):
And I love the people I've met.
We've had an incredibletransition culturally here in
Arcadia since we moved.
When uh we moved in, uh most ofour neighbors look like me.
Now, very few look like me.
We've had a tremendous influxof uh Asian people.
I think we're one of the hubsfor Asian culture in the Western
United States here in Arcadia.
(05:02):
And it's been uh really alearning experience for me to
understand different culturesand come to know this real
community feel that we have herein this city.
It's very, I don't know if it'sunique, but it's very special.
It it touches you.
Christine Zito (05:14):
I don't think I've ever heard it explained
that way, Ed.
Ed Andersen (05:19):
Well, it's part of what we do at the Historical
Society.
That's why I've enjoyed beingassociated with our organization
for so long now.
Christine Zito (05:27):
Now, the Arcadia Historical Society, that is a
that is a very unique andawesome organization.
I have to say that just doingthe website and learning more
about it.
How did it all come tofruition, that whole society?
Ed Andersen (05:42):
One of the themes that uh I'm glad you asked that
question.
One of the themes that I'mreally high on is I've been
impressed as I've looked aroundthe local communities in the San
Gabriel Valley, how much thewomen of the community had to do
with the culture and thedevelopment of of the city
itself.
Uh you know, women had adifferent role back in the
(06:02):
1800s, but yet as we uh got moreand more towards the 20th
century, uh women gained theirvoice as they got the vote and
so forth.
And Arcadia Historical Societystarted with the Women's Club of
Arcadia, which was originallystarted around 1912.
It was called the CooperativeArcadians.
(06:23):
The women decided that it wouldbe good to start preserving the
history of this place, which isso rich, and to start uh
setting aside the artifacts anduh the oral history and the
written history and start todevelop uh a place where we
could uh preserve and educatethe future about what was going
on in Arcadia in the early 20thcentury.
(06:45):
Uh uh in 1952, they uh formeduh with 101 women, mostly women,
they formed the ArcadiaHistorical Society, and they
were incorporated in 1954, atwhich time they received their
501c3 status as a Californianot-for-profit corporation.
Christine Zito (07:06):
Right.
Now, let's get into the richhistory of the City of Arcadia.
Now, is it true that LuckyBaldwin is the founder of the
City of Arcadia, or is he justsomeone that is like he's the
face or the icon of the city ofArcadia?
Ed Andersen (07:25):
The City of Arcadia would not exist without Lucky
Baldwin.
It would have been somethingelse, some other person, but he
purchased 8,700 acres uh from aman named Harris Newmark in
1875.
The center of that property isthe Los Angeles County Arboretum
to this day.
There's only 137 acres left.
(07:45):
Excuse me.
As uh uh he s sold off some ofthe property, but in 1903 he uh
contacted the county of LosAngeles and said he wanted to
form a town, a city here in uhLos Angeles County.
And he did somehow find a wayto get 300 voters here in the
(08:06):
city, some of whom were probablytransient, but nonetheless,
there was a vote held, and theseuh 300 residents agreed to form
uh a city, and Los AngelesCounty approved the uh
application for Arcadia to formin 1903.
Christine Zito (08:24):
Wow.
Okay, so but Lucky Baldwin hada lot uh orchestrated in the
city of Arcadia, and one of thethings is the San Anita
racetrack.
Ed Andersen (08:38):
Yes, well that that's an interesting story.
Yeah, Baldwin, by the way, uhE.J.
Lucky Baldwin, there's awonderful story behind how he
got the name Lucky, but uh thatmight be for another day.
Christine Zito (08:50):
Okay, yeah, I know.
No, but that that is aninteresting story.
Ed Andersen (08:53):
Uh at any rate, uh yes, he was quite a master
manipulator, uh politician, ifyou will.
So he was our first mayor.
And uh he did have a racetrackwhich was founded in 1907, but
unfortunately, about a year anda half later, Los Angeles County
uh made it out uh outlawedracing in Southern California,
(09:13):
so he had to shut it down.
Oh and that's that racetrackwas on the grounds of what's now
the San Anita Golf Course here.
It was his daughter, AnitaBaldwin, one of the most
extraordinary women in thehistory of Southern California.
She sold land in 1934 to theLos Angeles Turf Club, who later
that year, on Christmas Day,opened Santa Anita Racetrack,
(09:34):
1934.
Christine Zito (09:35):
And that was on the that's up that was on the
Arcadia Golf Course, right backthen?
Ed Andersen (09:39):
Baldwin's original racetrack was on yes, was on the
you know what that I did notknow.
That's right.
And that's where uh the RossBalloon School came along in
1918, prior to that, prior toour racetrack, the balloon
school.
It was uh interesting use ofthe property.
But it was Anita Baldwin whomade arrangements for Santa
Anita racetrack.
Christine Zito (09:59):
Then how did the San Anita racetrack become the
San Anita race park as it isnow?
Ed Andersen (10:07):
Very interesting piece of that was when World War
I broke out in 1918, the uhAnita Baldwin arranged for the
U.S.
government to use the land thatis now the golf course, and
they established Ross BalloonSchool.
There were about 200parachutists and balloonists who
came to Arcadia and uh they setup their operation there.
(10:30):
There's some wonderful photosat the Arc the Guild Museum in
Arcadia of that balloon school.
Christine Zito (10:35):
And you can also see it on the on the website.
Ed Andersen (10:37):
Absolutely.
So uh it got repurposed as amilitary base, and then when the
war ended, it became anairfield.
And some famous uh flyers camethrough here.
Christine Zito (10:48):
I know, I you know what when people ask me,
hey, where's the airport?
And I said, Well, you can golfon it now.
So but moving from that land uhwhere the uh the golf course
was, okay, trying to follow youryour journey here.
Now the Santa Anita Park that'sthere on Huntington, when did
(11:10):
it move there?
Ed Andersen (11:12):
Well, it in in essence it never moved.
They just graded over the uhBaldwin's track.
And then when Anita Baldwinsold in 1934 to the LA Turf
Club, they then uh began theywere fast moving because they
only acquired rights to theproperty in 34 and it was open
on Christmas Day the same year.
So it was pretty remarkable howquickly they were able to build
(11:34):
the facility, which has beenexpanded since then, of course.
Christine Zito (11:38):
Right.
Let me ask you this.
Okay, so back then when AnitaBaldwin uh founded the the
racetrack, was there roads then?
You know, like Huntingtonwasn't even a road then, right?
Because it was just one bigland.
Okay.
Ed Andersen (11:55):
I'm trying to get everybody by the time the
racetrack came along, itHuntington was probably there.
But Huntington Drive, we're notsure exactly that the date, but
it probably wasn't until aroundthe turn of the 20th century
that it came in.
The road that was used from LosAngeles was called County Road,
and that is Doherty Road, whichis about a quarter mile or so
south of Huntington.
Christine Zito (12:16):
Right.
God, isn't this interesting?
I want to pick your brain, butokay, we got to stay focused on
this.
So the purpose of the Arcadiauh historical society is to keep
that history alive, is it not?
Ed Andersen (12:32):
Yes, and we found the best way to do that is to
have programs, uh, whether theybe educational, we do a lot of
speaking in the communitythrough our speakers group, and
we talk about any mostly aboutpeople because history is really
comes alive.
It's about people.
And so we talk about the AnitaBaldwins and the Lucky Baldwins,
but also some other characterslike Parker Lyons, who had the
(12:55):
most extraordinary museum hereon Huntington Drive, beginning
also in 1934.
Uh he had over a millionartifacts, and he ended up
selling them to uh Harrah's inReno uh when he passed away.
His son sold it.
That was in the late 50s.
But this museum was amazing.
He had things from Wild BillHickok and uh all the famous
(13:15):
historical characters.
Christine Zito (13:16):
Where was the museum?
Ed Andersen (13:18):
It's right where the La Meridian Hotel is now.
Oh my god.
And we have a historic markerthere to note the spot.
Christine Zito (13:24):
That is yeah, because uh the where the La
Meridian is, that there used tobe a famous hotel and and not
hotel.
Yeah, it was a hotel.
Ed Andersen (13:32):
There have been some famous hotels, motels,
yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Flamingo and others.
Christine Zito (13:37):
And then um also there wasn't there a bar there?
Ed Andersen (13:42):
Yes, the hundred to one club.
The hundred to one club, uhyou'd have to call it a dive.
But but you had to experienceit.
And when they demolished thatto make room for uh renovations
that ultimately led to the LaMeridian, we were actually able
to secure the hundred to onesign.
I'm not sure what's going to bedone with that, but it's in
(14:03):
storage.
It was quite a place.
Christine Zito (14:04):
I think we should open it up again.
Ed Andersen (14:05):
Yeah, let's go.
Christine Zito (14:06):
Come on, Ed.
Let's go into business and openup the open up the bar again
and st and just sell wine and afew beers.
Ed Andersen (14:12):
That would be a fun challenge.
Christine Zito (14:15):
Yeah, that would definitely be okay.
Since we have some time, I dowant to talk about Lucky Baldwin
and his family.
Lucky Baldwin has a lot ofhistory behind him, founding the
city of Arcadia.
And we and he's all he's knownfor other things too.
Wasn't he married more thanonce, or was he married once and
(14:35):
just married I don't know.
You tell me.
Ed Andersen (14:40):
Some people think five times, but I'd say four
times.
Yeah.
Uh he his favorite wife was uhJenny Dexter Baldwin, uh, who's
uh uh was the mother of AnitaBaldwin.
Uh and uh she unfortunatelydied young.
He married his fourth wife,Lily Bennett.
Uh I forget the exact date, butthey didn't really live as man
(15:01):
and wife.
She lived in a very palatialhome in San Francisco, and he
went back and forth.
Christine Zito (15:08):
I see.
Now, where if I were to driveup Baldwin and then you go up um
going into I want to say SierraMadre there, wasn't there a
huge mansion that used to bealong there, along foothill in
Baldwin?
Ed Andersen (15:26):
Uh not a mansion that I can recollect, but he
sold uh uh in around 1881, hesold the land that Nathaniel
Carter used to develop SierraMadre, and up on the hill there
he had a mansion called CarCarter High.
And uh that's where uh Carterlived.
Carter was tied in with Baldwinin terms of developing the land
that eventually became Monroviaand East Arcadia, and uh it was
(15:50):
an interesting story.
Christine Zito (15:50):
Yeah, well, Lucky Baldwin's, isn't that
named after after Lucky Baldwin?
The the pub?
Ed Andersen (15:56):
Oh yes, of course.
Sure.
Christine Zito (15:58):
Now that's that's located in Sierra Madre
and one in Pasadena.
Ed Andersen (16:02):
That's correct.
Christine Zito (16:02):
And was there ever one here in Arcadia?
I mean, how come it's outsidethe city and we don't have a
Lucky Baldwin here in Arcadia?
Ed Andersen (16:09):
Well, uh uh that property was once uh the land on
that Lucky Baldwin owned, anduh when he sold the land to uh
Carter, he kept most of the goodwater.
So Sierra Madre struggled tofind the the really good
drinking water uh thanks toLucky Baldwin.
But yes, uh it was BaldwinLand, and I think it's a it's
obviously a creative namebecause Baldwin is kind of such
(16:31):
a fascinating character thatonce you learn about him and the
kinds of things he was involvedin, the kind of money he
carried around and how he didbusiness, uh he he's a
strikingly interesting figure.
Christine Zito (16:43):
He is.
I mean, there's so much I wouldI would like to talk to him.
If I ever met him, I've I wouldhave uh quite a few questions.
Are is there anybody stillliving that still is associated
to Lucky Baldwin?
Ed Andersen (16:57):
Yes.
We have uh uh someone whobelongs to our historical
society.
Her name is Margot Gibson.
Uh she is a great, great, greatgranddaughter of Lucky Baldwin,
and she's probably the foremostexpert on Anita Baldwin.
And she sometimes plays therole of Anita Baldwin, which
she'll be doing November 14th atour big event here in Arcadia.
(17:19):
Uh so yes, uh, and the familyis still around, and we keep in
touch and and hopefully uh theyhave some history that
eventually they'll share with ustoo.
Christine Zito (17:29):
That is great.
Um, okay, my favorite subjectthat I love because I love the
walk of champions.
And the walk of champions isall about the horses from the
Santanita Park.
Ed Andersen (17:42):
Yes.
There's been uh uh as we rolledinto the the current century, a
lot of people thought, gee,Santa Anita 1934 to now, look at
all the wonderful history andthe beautiful architecture and
the structure that that is SantaAnita Park.
We've got to preserve this.
All the famous race horseswho've uh been on that track,
the greatest horses in theworld, the best thoroughbreds
(18:05):
ever ran on that track.
So uh around 2012, a groupbegan to loosely form, and in
2014, by then they'd hadfundraisers and uh put in these
uh 24 by 24 inch plaques alongHuntington Drive and some of the
north-south streets to thepoint where we now have nearly
70 of these bronze plaques tohonor jockeys, trainers,
(18:29):
announcers, the people who'vemade Santa Anita Park and Thurb
Road Racing so prominent in theWest.
Christine Zito (18:35):
All right, my favorite is just right out here.
My office is Seabiscuit.
I go by there, because I sawthe movie like 15 million times,
and when Pete Zibrill was inhere, we talked about, you know,
some of uh it seabiscuit wasfilmed there at the park.
And um I I just I I love thathorse, I love the the trainers
(18:56):
and that whole story, and I'm soglad it's right out here.
It's in downtown, just so youguys know, um, and you can also
see all the markers at the atthe website, uh Arcadia
Historical Society.org.org.
And it's all these markers arein downtown Arcadia, like down
Huntington and down FirstAvenue.
(19:16):
You'll be able to to see thesemarkers.
And people do, you could seethem take pictures near the uh
some people will come from thetravelers and they come and they
take pictures like they do inin Hollywood.
Ed Andersen (19:28):
Yeah, so it's easy to go online and through our
website and others, the ArcadiaChamber of Commerce, and and get
a directory.
It's really fun to to take thatwalk.
Christine Zito (19:37):
Yeah, and there's statues too.
Um Lucky Baldwin is right therein front of the San Anita Park,
in front of how do I say it'son the corner of Huntington,
Hawley, and Campus Drive.
That's correct.
That's where the Lucky Baldwinstatue is at.
Ed Andersen (19:55):
Yeah, right opposite the main entrance to
San Anita.
Christine Zito (19:58):
And right in front of, I want to say the
senior center and the ArcadiaChamber.
Ed Andersen (20:03):
Yeah, that's the Arcadia Community Center and the
Guild Museum of ArcadiaHeritage is back be just east of
that in the virtually the sameparking lot.
Christine Zito (20:11):
I know I have to say I jog by there like often.
And Anita Anita Okay, go ahead.
Ed Andersen (20:16):
Go ahead, talk about Anita.
Christine Zito (20:18):
Anita Baldwin.
Yes, her statue is in front ofthe Limeridian.
Ed Andersen (20:23):
Yeah, we call that at Huntington and Huntington.
Huntington and Huntington.
Christine Zito (20:28):
Yeah, and um I did some drone work for the
Limeridian, and I got thisreally I in fact I'll show it.
If you're if you if you watchon YouTube, I will show both
these statues and just um theNita Baldwin one that's right
there.
Ed Andersen (20:43):
That was a big deal, yeah.
Yeah, that was.
We handled all the funds, sothe the fundraising through uh
collaborative organizations, anduh that was a wonderful
achievement to get that statueup.
What a woman.
Christine Zito (20:56):
Yeah, that's uh we ha you know what we have to
you do have to come back in atand we can talk about just lucky
and talk about maybe maybe wecan give Anita her own show.
Ed Andersen (21:05):
I I think it's worth it, but you might want to
get Margo.
Yeah, I was just gonna say weneed to get Margo in here too to
talk about that.
Can could it would it be okayto mention a couple of the key
uh moments in our KDA history?
I was you'd please I'd like totop line some of the important
things.
Christine Zito (21:21):
No, you go.
Ed Andersen (21:22):
I I also mentioned um uh I I mentioned the Ross
Balloon School, and also thatarea was uh a military
installation of sorts duringWorld War II, which is a really
an important part of ourhistory.
And it it's in a sense it's oneof the darker parts of our
history, but it was put upon usby uh Franklin Roosevelt, who
signed uh, I believe it was uhExecutive Order 9066, and it
(21:46):
said any organ organization orgroup of people harmful uh to
the interests of the UnitedStates should be incarcerated.
Yes, which led to theincarceration, by the way, not
only of Japanese people, butmany Italians and many German
people were also incarcerated.
People don't realize that.
However, let's talk about theJapanese assembly center at
(22:07):
Santa Anita.
Uh San Anita was not an what'scalled an internment camp like
Manzanar and some of the others.
It was an assembly center.
And though it was a terribletime in our history, I guess if
you were going to beincarcerated, this is the only
place that you could probablysurvive.
The Japanese people prosperedhere.
(22:28):
They're very resourceful.
They had their own newspaper,they had their own sports teams,
and not that it was any funbecause it wasn't, but they
found a way to make the most outof a terrible situation.
And of course, the U.S.
government has apologized forthat, and that's a good thing.
And we are we honor whathappened then, and we honor
(22:49):
those Japanese people, many ofwhom made great contributions to
American society and to our wayof life.
So it was a difficult time, uh,but we don't sweep that under
the rug.
Right.
It happened.
We honor that.
Christine Zito (23:02):
You wanted to share another uh Yes.
Ed Andersen (23:05):
In 1943, Anita Baldwin sold 1,300 acres to
Harry Chandler of the LosAngeles Times.
And those 1,300 acresencompassed what is now the LA
County Arboretum.
So it's been reduced by uhthose 1,300 acres are down to
one, I think, 137 acres.
But the home ranch is aroundBaldwin Lake, encompassing the
(23:27):
old Hugo Rita Dobie, which wasjust renovated, the Queen Anne
Cottage, that's a whole uniquestory about Anita Baldwin that
you might want to cover uh atsome point.
But uh so Chandler it was goingto be developed at the in the
40s.
Uh somebody had already madeplans to to lay out uh housing,
(23:47):
just as we have in the San Anitavillage nearby.
But Chandler bought thisproperty and he conveyed it to
the county uh in 1947 and itbecame the Los Angeles County
Arboretum.
So thanks to Chandler, hepreserved that property.
Otherwise, it would just be uhan extension of our community of
homes.
Thank God we have the LosAngeles Arboretum and one of the
finest arboretums in thecountry.
Christine Zito (24:09):
Beautiful.
And the way they keep it up andthe upgrades that they have
recently done, it's it's it'sawesome.
Ed Andersen (24:14):
We've participated in that, by the way.
Christine Zito (24:16):
Oh, in the upgrades?
Ed Andersen (24:18):
The uh the Historical Society gave $25,000
to renovate the paintings in theold Queen Anne Cottage.
Oh and uh also we just uh gavethem a nice gift to repair the
windows on the Santa AnitaDepot, which is on Baldwin
Avenue.
You can see it as you drive by.
Christine Zito (24:36):
Now, Chandler, didn't he didn't he build some
apartments?
Ed Andersen (24:40):
That I'm not aware of.
Christine Zito (24:42):
Well, the the FLETA isn't it doesn't surprise
me one bit.
Oh, okay.
I know that the Fleeta, I uhthe Fleeta apartments, the first
apartments that were built herein the city of Arcadia, I
thought was owned by Chandler.
Ed Andersen (24:54):
Makes a lot of sense.
Christine Zito (24:55):
Yeah, that's what I thought.
Okay, so let's talk about someof these events.
There's a little I wonder if Ishould play some music, some
mystery.
Mystery, music, you know, canyou I and and you talk about it.
I don't want to give it away.
I mean, I already know who Ican't even say it.
Ed Andersen (25:12):
The Arcadia Women's Club, as I've already
mentioned, is sort of thegenesis of Arcadia Historical
Society.
They have, by the way, thefirst historic marker from
issued by the city of Arcadia.
Uh a lot of our history,unfortunately, has has gone away
for whatever reason,development, etc., etc.
But they have the firsthistoric marker in the uh
(25:35):
women's club building on FirstAvenue in Arcadia.
They've just renovated.
It's a beautiful facility.
We are hosting incollaboration, or maybe I should
say we're uh we're incollaboration with them to host
the first ever uh casino andmystery murder winery at the
bald uh murder mystery at theBaldwin Winery on November 14th.
(25:57):
The casino opens at 5 30.
We have professional someprofessional actors, a number of
uh characters who are suspects,to include Anita Baldwin.
And uh it it's gonna be a nightof fun.
We we're going to have a liveauction with some wonderful
things.
Uh it's gonna be acting out amurder mystery, and there's
(26:18):
gonna be a lot of intriguebecause the murderer will not
even know they're the murdereruntil the very end.
So it's uh it's gonna be athere's gonna be a wonderful
dinner.
Uh it's gonna be an exquisiteevening.
Christine Zito (26:29):
So it's gonna be casino, so you can win money or
lose money.
Um dinner.
Ed Andersen (26:33):
You're not really gonna lose money.
You might lose your steak thatwe give you.
Christine Zito (26:37):
That's funny.
Uh so dinner and and a mysteryplay.
So uh so there's gonna actuallybe acting going on.
Okay.
Ed Andersen (26:45):
So they'll be circulating in the crowd, so you
get a chance to meet thesuspects.
Christine Zito (26:50):
That is great.
I love Ed, I love mysterydinners.
I used to go to them often.
I have not been to one, so I'mlooking forward to going to this
one.
Ed Andersen (27:01):
You can learn about it at the arcadiawomansclub.org
at their uh site.
Christine Zito (27:07):
Or you can learn about it on on the Arcadia
Histor Historical Society dotorg.
Ed Andersen (27:12):
I was going there.
Christine Zito (27:13):
I know.
So I I love your websites.
I'm always going to read referto the websites.
Ed Andersen (27:19):
Thank you, thank you.
Christine Zito (27:20):
So yeah.
Um I see that you have a book.
Ed Andersen (27:23):
Yes.
Christine Zito (27:24):
What is that book?
Ed Andersen (27:26):
There are any number of well, there are
several publications which areworthwhile.
This one I think for theaverage person would be great.
You can find it almost anywhereat any of the local libraries
here in the San Gabriel Valley.
It's put out by the Images ofAmerica organization, which does
uh has enlists local people towrite their history.
(27:46):
It's called Images of AmericaArcadia, and it's uh sponsored
by Arcadia Historical Society.
It's uh written by a number ofprominent people in our society
who were uh who are a lot of ourkey people in the 1980s.
It's called Images of AmericaArcadia.
And if you just Google Arcadiauh on any anywhere, you'll
(28:09):
you'll find several of thebooks.
There's one by Sandy Snyder andPat McAdam called From uh From
Ranch to City, uh Arcadia Story.
That's a really good book.
But uh you'll get more intimatewith Lucky Baldwin and Anita
Baldwin and the fascinatingcharacters that uh predominated
in the early days.
Arcadia was a rough and tumbletown.
(28:30):
It was called the onlysporting, the Los Angeles Times
called it the only sporting townin Southern California.
Unfortunately, there were anumber of saloons and a few
brothels, and it didn't have avery good reputation.
Yeah.
Until the women of Arcadia camealong and said, We're gonna
clean up your town, Mr.
Baldwin, and that's when uhthings started to happen in, I
think, a really positive veinfor a person.
Christine Zito (28:52):
We do have you do have to come back and talk
about that.
So much to talk about.
And this is and we're just thisis a history just on the city
of Arcadia.
Ed Andersen (29:00):
That's right.
Christine Zito (29:00):
I mean, this is how rich the history is here.
And um, I grew up here um uhwell, a lot of my years, and
then I moved to Walnut,graduated from Walnut High
School.
Go mess things.
So uh, but my dad lived heremost of his life in the city of
Arcadia.
In fact, just right down uh SanAnita.
So and I live here in Arcadia,I love Arcadia, I love the
(29:23):
riches, I love the culture, andI love the community.
And I'm so glad that I gotahead of an opportunity to meet
you, Ed.
I thank you so much for beinghere.
It was my pleasure, enjoyed it.
And everything that we talkedabout, the the events that are
coming up are not only on thewebsite, arcadiah historical
(29:43):
society.org.
You can also go toarcadiafyi.com.
All of that will be on there,also.
So, because I don't want you tomiss out on any of these events
because it is truly very umrich.
In the city that we live in.
In and there's so much of thecity of Arcadia that I hope that
in these shows that you'relearning about the education,
(30:05):
the community, the housing, thehistory, the Santa Anita
racetrack.
I just learned so much aboutjust the LA Arboretum.
And I mean, that is, I mean, wehaven't even gotten to the
shops of Santa Anita.
I mean, there's so much here inthe city of Arcadia that is
just I I'm I'm just so happythat I am living in this city.
(30:25):
I would like to thank oursponsors of this show that make
it happen.
Uh, Longo Toyota, Lexus N.
El Monte, Star 7 Financial withFrancine Chu, the Santa Anita
Park that we had just talkedabout, the Le Méridien Hotel
in Pasadena and Arcadia that wehad just talked about.
Um, just I thank you so much,and I thank you for being a part
(30:49):
of this show.
Until next time, be blessed andmake it a great day.
Hello and welcome back to Arcadia FYI.
I'm Christine Zito, yourwonderful host, which I hope
it's uh you think I'm wonderful.
And I thank you for the emailsand the Facebook messages and
saying how much you like theshow.
It really means a lot to me.
And once again, for everybody,I've gotten a hold of a few of
(00:26):
you.
I am, I will get to you andwhat you want to talk about
because some of the things thatyou guys want on the show is is
pretty awesome.
So I'm gonna make sure I getthat on the show for you.
Um I want to thank oursponsors, Longo Toyota in El
Monte.
You gotta go by and say hi toMike and Brooke and just check
(00:49):
out the dealership because it'son this huge lot.
I can't remember how manyacreages it it is, but they do
more than just sell cars.
And on that lot, there's morethan uh just having cars there.
Star 7 Financial with FrancineChiu.
So, yes, I'm a little biased.
She's gonna be in the studiohere in the next couple of weeks
to talk about about financesand how to save for your 401k,
(01:13):
how to save for your children'seducation, the Santa Anita Park.
Uh things are coming up, someevents coming up, and you heard
from Pete.
The Olympics coming up in 2028.
And if you haven't heard thatshow, you gotta you gotta listen
to that show.
Great information.
And the Le Méridien Hotel inand Pasadena.
(01:34):
All right.
How many of you out there likehistory?
Raise your hand.
I I know sometimes history canbe pretty boring, but I was a
history minor when inuniversity.
I happen to love history.
And this is not this is gonnabe a type of history that you're
(01:54):
going to love today becauseit's about story.
And you know me, I love story.
And if you're watching onYouTube, you can already see
who's in studio with me.
The president of the ArcadiaHistorical Society, Ed Anderson.
Hi, Ed.
Ed Andersen (02:08):
Hey, how are you, Christine and our audience?
Hello.
Christine Zito (02:12):
I know.
I am so glad that you're thatyou're here.
I do have to say, okay, I'mgonna brag a little bit here.
Your website.
I I had the honor andopportunity to build the
website, and I still maintainit.
I love history.
I loved building it.
Ed Andersen (02:27):
I hope some out there in our listening audience
uh go to our website at ArcadiaHistorical Society.org.
Christine Zito (02:33):
O-R-G.org.
Okay, let's get to know you alittle bit, Ed.
Um Were you born here inCalifornia or outside of
California?
Ed Andersen (02:42):
I was born in in Santa Cruz, California, up on
the Monterey Bay, the originalsurf city where skateboards were
invented.
Christine Zito (02:49):
I know.
And did you live like where youcan I love Santa Cruz because
you can be in the forest anddrive right down to the beach?
Ed Andersen (02:56):
Is that where Absolutely spent a lot of time
at both, mostly at the beach,probably.
Christine Zito (03:02):
Yeah, probably.
It's a beautiful, beautifularea.
And and when did you come tothe Arcadia area?
Ed Andersen (03:08):
I came here with uh my employment at the Proctor
and Gamble Company in 1972, andI met my wife Debbie.
We were married for 50 yearsthis year.
Christine Zito (03:18):
All right, everybody clap, congratulations.
You don't hear that very often.
Ed Andersen (03:22):
Uh we moved to Arcadia in 1977.
We were told it was a wonderfulplace to live and raise uh our
family, which we did, and we'vebeen in the same house since
August of 1977.
Christine Zito (03:35):
Wow, that is that's amazing.
Now, did your kids okay, I'mgonna ask the obvious questions.
They went to Arcadia HighSchool and graduated from there.
Ed Andersen (03:45):
Yes, that's right.
Uh both our girls graduatedfrom uh Arcadia High School.
They went on and they're bothuh in the teaching profession.
Uh my daughter is a adjunctprofessor at Stanford, and we
have a seventh grade teacher inNapa, one of my favorite places.
Christine Zito (03:59):
Oh, yeah, one of my favorite places, too.
Anything that has to do withwine and vineyards, I am there.
All right, let's talk about aswe get into history here.
What first of all, what is itabout the city of Arcadia that
you, Ed, like or love the most?
Ed Andersen (04:20):
When we moved here or were planning to move here, I
saw signs that said uh Arcadia,community of homes.
And it had kind of a wonderfulfeeling of community, of
togetherness, of familyatmosphere here.
Uh, it was really uh aninteresting proposition for us
moving in.
But really, community ispeople.
(04:41):
And I love the people I've met.
We've had an incredibletransition culturally here in
Arcadia since we moved.
When uh we moved in, uh most ofour neighbors look like me.
Now, very few look like me.
We've had a tremendous influxof uh Asian people.
I think we're one of the hubsfor Asian culture in the Western
United States here in Arcadia.
(05:02):
And it's been uh really alearning experience for me to
understand different culturesand come to know this real
community feel that we have herein this city.
It's very, I don't know if it'sunique, but it's very special.
It it touches you.
Christine Zito (05:14):
I don't think I've ever heard it explained
that way, Ed.
Ed Andersen (05:19):
Well, it's part of what we do at the Historical
Society.
That's why I've enjoyed beingassociated with our organization
for so long now.
Christine Zito (05:27):
Now, the Arcadia Historical Society, that is a
that is a very unique andawesome organization.
I have to say that just doingthe website and learning more
about it.
How did it all come tofruition, that whole society?
Ed Andersen (05:42):
One of the themes that uh I'm glad you asked that
question.
One of the themes that I'mreally high on is I've been
impressed as I've looked aroundthe local communities in the San
Gabriel Valley, how much thewomen of the community had to do
with the culture and thedevelopment of of the city
itself.
Uh you know, women had adifferent role back in the
(06:02):
1800s, but yet as we uh got moreand more towards the 20th
century, uh women gained theirvoice as they got the vote and
so forth.
And Arcadia Historical Societystarted with the Women's Club of
Arcadia, which was originallystarted around 1912.
It was called the CooperativeArcadians.
(06:23):
The women decided that it wouldbe good to start preserving the
history of this place, which isso rich, and to start uh
setting aside the artifacts anduh the oral history and the
written history and start todevelop uh a place where we
could uh preserve and educatethe future about what was going
on in Arcadia in the early 20thcentury.
(06:45):
Uh uh in 1952, they uh formeduh with 101 women, mostly women,
they formed the ArcadiaHistorical Society, and they
were incorporated in 1954, atwhich time they received their
501c3 status as a Californianot-for-profit corporation.
Christine Zito (07:06):
Right.
Now, let's get into the richhistory of the City of Arcadia.
Now, is it true that LuckyBaldwin is the founder of the
City of Arcadia, or is he justsomeone that is like he's the
face or the icon of the city ofArcadia?
Ed Andersen (07:25):
The City of Arcadia would not exist without Lucky
Baldwin.
It would have been somethingelse, some other person, but he
purchased 8,700 acres uh from aman named Harris Newmark in
1875.
The center of that property isthe Los Angeles County Arboretum
to this day.
There's only 137 acres left.
(07:45):
Excuse me.
As uh uh he s sold off some ofthe property, but in 1903 he uh
contacted the county of LosAngeles and said he wanted to
form a town, a city here in uhLos Angeles County.
And he did somehow find a wayto get 300 voters here in the
(08:06):
city, some of whom were probablytransient, but nonetheless,
there was a vote held, and theseuh 300 residents agreed to form
uh a city, and Los AngelesCounty approved the uh
application for Arcadia to formin 1903.
Christine Zito (08:24):
Wow.
Okay, so but Lucky Baldwin hada lot uh orchestrated in the
city of Arcadia, and one of thethings is the San Anita
racetrack.
Ed Andersen (08:38):
Yes, well that that's an interesting story.
Yeah, Baldwin, by the way, uhE.J.
Lucky Baldwin, there's awonderful story behind how he
got the name Lucky, but uh thatmight be for another day.
Christine Zito (08:50):
Okay, yeah, I know.
No, but that that is aninteresting story.
Ed Andersen (08:53):
Uh at any rate, uh yes, he was quite a master
manipulator, uh politician, ifyou will.
So he was our first mayor.
And uh he did have a racetrackwhich was founded in 1907, but
unfortunately, about a year anda half later, Los Angeles County
uh made it out uh outlawedracing in Southern California,
(09:13):
so he had to shut it down.
Oh and that's that racetrackwas on the grounds of what's now
the San Anita Golf Course here.
It was his daughter, AnitaBaldwin, one of the most
extraordinary women in thehistory of Southern California.
She sold land in 1934 to theLos Angeles Turf Club, who later
that year, on Christmas Day,opened Santa Anita Racetrack,
(09:34):
1934.
Christine Zito (09:35):
And that was on the that's up that was on the
Arcadia Golf Course, right backthen?
Ed Andersen (09:39):
Baldwin's original racetrack was on yes, was on the
you know what that I did notknow.
That's right.
And that's where uh the RossBalloon School came along in
1918, prior to that, prior toour racetrack, the balloon
school.
It was uh interesting use ofthe property.
But it was Anita Baldwin whomade arrangements for Santa
Anita racetrack.
Christine Zito (09:59):
Then how did the San Anita racetrack become the
San Anita race park as it isnow?
Ed Andersen (10:07):
Very interesting piece of that was when World War
I broke out in 1918, the uhAnita Baldwin arranged for the
U.S.
government to use the land thatis now the golf course, and
they established Ross BalloonSchool.
There were about 200parachutists and balloonists who
came to Arcadia and uh they setup their operation there.
(10:30):
There's some wonderful photosat the Arc the Guild Museum in
Arcadia of that balloon school.
Christine Zito (10:35):
And you can also see it on the on the website.
Ed Andersen (10:37):
Absolutely.
So uh it got repurposed as amilitary base, and then when the
war ended, it became anairfield.
And some famous uh flyers camethrough here.
Christine Zito (10:48):
I know, I you know what when people ask me,
hey, where's the airport?
And I said, Well, you can golfon it now.
So but moving from that land uhwhere the uh the golf course
was, okay, trying to follow youryour journey here.
Now the Santa Anita Park that'sthere on Huntington, when did
(11:10):
it move there?
Ed Andersen (11:12):
Well, it in in essence it never moved.
They just graded over the uhBaldwin's track.
And then when Anita Baldwinsold in 1934 to the LA Turf
Club, they then uh began theywere fast moving because they
only acquired rights to theproperty in 34 and it was open
on Christmas Day the same year.
So it was pretty remarkable howquickly they were able to build
(11:34):
the facility, which has beenexpanded since then, of course.
Christine Zito (11:38):
Right.
Let me ask you this.
Okay, so back then when AnitaBaldwin uh founded the the
racetrack, was there roads then?
You know, like Huntingtonwasn't even a road then, right?
Because it was just one bigland.
Okay.
Ed Andersen (11:55):
I'm trying to get everybody by the time the
racetrack came along, itHuntington was probably there.
But Huntington Drive, we're notsure exactly that the date, but
it probably wasn't until aroundthe turn of the 20th century
that it came in.
The road that was used from LosAngeles was called County Road,
and that is Doherty Road, whichis about a quarter mile or so
south of Huntington.
Christine Zito (12:16):
Right.
God, isn't this interesting?
I want to pick your brain, butokay, we got to stay focused on
this.
So the purpose of the Arcadiauh historical society is to keep
that history alive, is it not?
Ed Andersen (12:32):
Yes, and we found the best way to do that is to
have programs, uh, whether theybe educational, we do a lot of
speaking in the communitythrough our speakers group, and
we talk about any mostly aboutpeople because history is really
comes alive.
It's about people.
And so we talk about the AnitaBaldwins and the Lucky Baldwins,
but also some other characterslike Parker Lyons, who had the
(12:55):
most extraordinary museum hereon Huntington Drive, beginning
also in 1934.
Uh he had over a millionartifacts, and he ended up
selling them to uh Harrah's inReno uh when he passed away.
His son sold it.
That was in the late 50s.
But this museum was amazing.
He had things from Wild BillHickok and uh all the famous
(13:15):
historical characters.
Christine Zito (13:16):
Where was the museum?
Ed Andersen (13:18):
It's right where the La Meridian Hotel is now.
Oh my god.
And we have a historic markerthere to note the spot.
Christine Zito (13:24):
That is yeah, because uh the where the La
Meridian is, that there used tobe a famous hotel and and not
hotel.
Yeah, it was a hotel.
Ed Andersen (13:32):
There have been some famous hotels, motels,
yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Flamingo and others.
Christine Zito (13:37):
And then um also there wasn't there a bar there?
Ed Andersen (13:42):
Yes, the hundred to one club.
The hundred to one club, uhyou'd have to call it a dive.
But but you had to experienceit.
And when they demolished thatto make room for uh renovations
that ultimately led to the LaMeridian, we were actually able
to secure the hundred to onesign.
I'm not sure what's going to bedone with that, but it's in
(14:03):
storage.
It was quite a place.
Christine Zito (14:04):
I think we should open it up again.
Ed Andersen (14:05):
Yeah, let's go.
Christine Zito (14:06):
Come on, Ed.
Let's go into business and openup the open up the bar again
and st and just sell wine and afew beers.
Ed Andersen (14:12):
That would be a fun challenge.
Christine Zito (14:15):
Yeah, that would definitely be okay.
Since we have some time, I dowant to talk about Lucky Baldwin
and his family.
Lucky Baldwin has a lot ofhistory behind him, founding the
city of Arcadia.
And we and he's all he's knownfor other things too.
Wasn't he married more thanonce, or was he married once and
(14:35):
just married I don't know.
You tell me.
Ed Andersen (14:40):
Some people think five times, but I'd say four
times.
Yeah.
Uh he his favorite wife was uhJenny Dexter Baldwin, uh, who's
uh uh was the mother of AnitaBaldwin.
Uh and uh she unfortunatelydied young.
He married his fourth wife,Lily Bennett.
Uh I forget the exact date, butthey didn't really live as man
(15:01):
and wife.
She lived in a very palatialhome in San Francisco, and he
went back and forth.
Christine Zito (15:08):
I see.
Now, where if I were to driveup Baldwin and then you go up um
going into I want to say SierraMadre there, wasn't there a
huge mansion that used to bealong there, along foothill in
Baldwin?
Ed Andersen (15:26):
Uh not a mansion that I can recollect, but he
sold uh uh in around 1881, hesold the land that Nathaniel
Carter used to develop SierraMadre, and up on the hill there
he had a mansion called CarCarter High.
And uh that's where uh Carterlived.
Carter was tied in with Baldwinin terms of developing the land
that eventually became Monroviaand East Arcadia, and uh it was
(15:50):
an interesting story.
Christine Zito (15:50):
Yeah, well, Lucky Baldwin's, isn't that
named after after Lucky Baldwin?
The the pub?
Ed Andersen (15:56):
Oh yes, of course.
Sure.
Christine Zito (15:58):
Now that's that's located in Sierra Madre
and one in Pasadena.
Ed Andersen (16:02):
That's correct.
Christine Zito (16:02):
And was there ever one here in Arcadia?
I mean, how come it's outsidethe city and we don't have a
Lucky Baldwin here in Arcadia?
Ed Andersen (16:09):
Well, uh uh that property was once uh the land on
that Lucky Baldwin owned, anduh when he sold the land to uh
Carter, he kept most of the goodwater.
So Sierra Madre struggled tofind the the really good
drinking water uh thanks toLucky Baldwin.
But yes, uh it was BaldwinLand, and I think it's a it's
obviously a creative namebecause Baldwin is kind of such
(16:31):
a fascinating character thatonce you learn about him and the
kinds of things he was involvedin, the kind of money he
carried around and how he didbusiness, uh he he's a
strikingly interesting figure.
Christine Zito (16:43):
He is.
I mean, there's so much I wouldI would like to talk to him.
If I ever met him, I've I wouldhave uh quite a few questions.
Are is there anybody stillliving that still is associated
to Lucky Baldwin?
Ed Andersen (16:57):
Yes.
We have uh uh someone whobelongs to our historical
society.
Her name is Margot Gibson.
Uh she is a great, great, greatgranddaughter of Lucky Baldwin,
and she's probably the foremostexpert on Anita Baldwin.
And she sometimes plays therole of Anita Baldwin, which
she'll be doing November 14th atour big event here in Arcadia.
(17:19):
Uh so yes, uh, and the familyis still around, and we keep in
touch and and hopefully uh theyhave some history that
eventually they'll share with ustoo.
Christine Zito (17:29):
That is great.
Um, okay, my favorite subjectthat I love because I love the
walk of champions.
And the walk of champions isall about the horses from the
Santanita Park.
Ed Andersen (17:42):
Yes.
There's been uh uh as we rolledinto the the current century, a
lot of people thought, gee,Santa Anita 1934 to now, look at
all the wonderful history andthe beautiful architecture and
the structure that that is SantaAnita Park.
We've got to preserve this.
All the famous race horseswho've uh been on that track,
the greatest horses in theworld, the best thoroughbreds
(18:05):
ever ran on that track.
So uh around 2012, a groupbegan to loosely form, and in
2014, by then they'd hadfundraisers and uh put in these
uh 24 by 24 inch plaques alongHuntington Drive and some of the
north-south streets to thepoint where we now have nearly
70 of these bronze plaques tohonor jockeys, trainers,
(18:29):
announcers, the people who'vemade Santa Anita Park and Thurb
Road Racing so prominent in theWest.
Christine Zito (18:35):
All right, my favorite is just right out here.
My office is Seabiscuit.
I go by there, because I sawthe movie like 15 million times,
and when Pete Zibrill was inhere, we talked about, you know,
some of uh it seabiscuit wasfilmed there at the park.
And um I I just I I love thathorse, I love the the trainers
(18:56):
and that whole story, and I'm soglad it's right out here.
It's in downtown, just so youguys know, um, and you can also
see all the markers at the atthe website, uh Arcadia
Historical Society.org.org.
And it's all these markers arein downtown Arcadia, like down
Huntington and down FirstAvenue.
(19:16):
You'll be able to to see thesemarkers.
And people do, you could seethem take pictures near the uh
some people will come from thetravelers and they come and they
take pictures like they do inin Hollywood.
Ed Andersen (19:28):
Yeah, so it's easy to go online and through our
website and others, the ArcadiaChamber of Commerce, and and get
a directory.
It's really fun to to take thatwalk.
Christine Zito (19:37):
Yeah, and there's statues too.
Um Lucky Baldwin is right therein front of the San Anita Park,
in front of how do I say it'son the corner of Huntington,
Hawley, and Campus Drive.
That's correct.
That's where the Lucky Baldwinstatue is at.
Ed Andersen (19:55):
Yeah, right opposite the main entrance to
San Anita.
Christine Zito (19:58):
And right in front of, I want to say the
senior center and the ArcadiaChamber.
Ed Andersen (20:03):
Yeah, that's the Arcadia Community Center and the
Guild Museum of ArcadiaHeritage is back be just east of
that in the virtually the sameparking lot.
Christine Zito (20:11):
I know I have to say I jog by there like often.
And Anita Anita Okay, go ahead.
Ed Andersen (20:16):
Go ahead, talk about Anita.
Christine Zito (20:18):
Anita Baldwin.
Yes, her statue is in front ofthe Limeridian.
Ed Andersen (20:23):
Yeah, we call that at Huntington and Huntington.
Huntington and Huntington.
Christine Zito (20:28):
Yeah, and um I did some drone work for the
Limeridian, and I got thisreally I in fact I'll show it.
If you're if you if you watchon YouTube, I will show both
these statues and just um theNita Baldwin one that's right
there.
Ed Andersen (20:43):
That was a big deal, yeah.
Yeah, that was.
We handled all the funds, sothe the fundraising through uh
collaborative organizations, anduh that was a wonderful
achievement to get that statueup.
What a woman.
Christine Zito (20:56):
Yeah, that's uh we ha you know what we have to
you do have to come back in atand we can talk about just lucky
and talk about maybe maybe wecan give Anita her own show.
Ed Andersen (21:05):
I I think it's worth it, but you might want to
get Margo.
Yeah, I was just gonna say weneed to get Margo in here too to
talk about that.
Can could it would it be okayto mention a couple of the key
uh moments in our KDA history?
I was you'd please I'd like totop line some of the important
things.
Christine Zito (21:21):
No, you go.
Ed Andersen (21:22):
I I also mentioned um uh I I mentioned the Ross
Balloon School, and also thatarea was uh a military
installation of sorts duringWorld War II, which is a really
an important part of ourhistory.
And it it's in a sense it's oneof the darker parts of our
history, but it was put upon usby uh Franklin Roosevelt, who
signed uh, I believe it was uhExecutive Order 9066, and it
(21:46):
said any organ organization orgroup of people harmful uh to
the interests of the UnitedStates should be incarcerated.
Yes, which led to theincarceration, by the way, not
only of Japanese people, butmany Italians and many German
people were also incarcerated.
People don't realize that.
However, let's talk about theJapanese assembly center at
(22:07):
Santa Anita.
Uh San Anita was not an what'scalled an internment camp like
Manzanar and some of the others.
It was an assembly center.
And though it was a terribletime in our history, I guess if
you were going to beincarcerated, this is the only
place that you could probablysurvive.
The Japanese people prosperedhere.
(22:28):
They're very resourceful.
They had their own newspaper,they had their own sports teams,
and not that it was any funbecause it wasn't, but they
found a way to make the most outof a terrible situation.
And of course, the U.S.
government has apologized forthat, and that's a good thing.
And we are we honor whathappened then, and we honor
(22:49):
those Japanese people, many ofwhom made great contributions to
American society and to our wayof life.
So it was a difficult time, uh,but we don't sweep that under
the rug.
Right.
It happened.
We honor that.
Christine Zito (23:02):
You wanted to share another uh Yes.
Ed Andersen (23:05):
In 1943, Anita Baldwin sold 1,300 acres to
Harry Chandler of the LosAngeles Times.
And those 1,300 acresencompassed what is now the LA
County Arboretum.
So it's been reduced by uhthose 1,300 acres are down to
one, I think, 137 acres.
But the home ranch is aroundBaldwin Lake, encompassing the
(23:27):
old Hugo Rita Dobie, which wasjust renovated, the Queen Anne
Cottage, that's a whole uniquestory about Anita Baldwin that
you might want to cover uh atsome point.
But uh so Chandler it was goingto be developed at the in the
40s.
Uh somebody had already madeplans to to lay out uh housing,
(23:47):
just as we have in the San Anitavillage nearby.
But Chandler bought thisproperty and he conveyed it to
the county uh in 1947 and itbecame the Los Angeles County
Arboretum.
So thanks to Chandler, hepreserved that property.
Otherwise, it would just be uhan extension of our community of
homes.
Thank God we have the LosAngeles Arboretum and one of the
finest arboretums in thecountry.
Christine Zito (24:09):
Beautiful.
And the way they keep it up andthe upgrades that they have
recently done, it's it's it'sawesome.
Ed Andersen (24:14):
We've participated in that, by the way.
Christine Zito (24:16):
Oh, in the upgrades?
Ed Andersen (24:18):
The uh the Historical Society gave $25,000
to renovate the paintings in theold Queen Anne Cottage.
Oh and uh also we just uh gavethem a nice gift to repair the
windows on the Santa AnitaDepot, which is on Baldwin
Avenue.
You can see it as you drive by.
Christine Zito (24:36):
Now, Chandler, didn't he didn't he build some
apartments?
Ed Andersen (24:40):
That I'm not aware of.
Christine Zito (24:42):
Well, the the FLETA isn't it doesn't surprise
me one bit.
Oh, okay.
I know that the Fleeta, I uhthe Fleeta apartments, the first
apartments that were built herein the city of Arcadia, I
thought was owned by Chandler.
Ed Andersen (24:54):
Makes a lot of sense.
Christine Zito (24:55):
Yeah, that's what I thought.
Okay, so let's talk about someof these events.
There's a little I wonder if Ishould play some music, some
mystery.
Mystery, music, you know, canyou I and and you talk about it.
I don't want to give it away.
I mean, I already know who Ican't even say it.
Ed Andersen (25:12):
The Arcadia Women's Club, as I've already
mentioned, is sort of thegenesis of Arcadia Historical
Society.
They have, by the way, thefirst historic marker from
issued by the city of Arcadia.
Uh a lot of our history,unfortunately, has has gone away
for whatever reason,development, etc., etc.
But they have the firsthistoric marker in the uh
(25:35):
women's club building on FirstAvenue in Arcadia.
They've just renovated.
It's a beautiful facility.
We are hosting incollaboration, or maybe I should
say we're uh we're incollaboration with them to host
the first ever uh casino andmystery murder winery at the
bald uh murder mystery at theBaldwin Winery on November 14th.
(25:57):
The casino opens at 5 30.
We have professional someprofessional actors, a number of
uh characters who are suspects,to include Anita Baldwin.
And uh it it's gonna be a nightof fun.
We we're going to have a liveauction with some wonderful
things.
Uh it's gonna be acting out amurder mystery, and there's
(26:18):
gonna be a lot of intriguebecause the murderer will not
even know they're the murdereruntil the very end.
So it's uh it's gonna be athere's gonna be a wonderful
dinner.
Uh it's gonna be an exquisiteevening.
Christine Zito (26:29):
So it's gonna be casino, so you can win money or
lose money.
Um dinner.
Ed Andersen (26:33):
You're not really gonna lose money.
You might lose your steak thatwe give you.
Christine Zito (26:37):
That's funny.
Uh so dinner and and a mysteryplay.
So uh so there's gonna actuallybe acting going on.
Okay.
Ed Andersen (26:45):
So they'll be circulating in the crowd, so you
get a chance to meet thesuspects.
Christine Zito (26:50):
That is great.
I love Ed, I love mysterydinners.
I used to go to them often.
I have not been to one, so I'mlooking forward to going to this
one.
Ed Andersen (27:01):
You can learn about it at the arcadiawomansclub.org
at their uh site.
Christine Zito (27:07):
Or you can learn about it on on the Arcadia
Histor Historical Society dotorg.
Ed Andersen (27:12):
I was going there.
Christine Zito (27:13):
I know.
So I I love your websites.
I'm always going to read referto the websites.
Ed Andersen (27:19):
Thank you, thank you.
Christine Zito (27:20):
So yeah.
Um I see that you have a book.
Ed Andersen (27:23):
Yes.
Christine Zito (27:24):
What is that book?
Ed Andersen (27:26):
There are any number of well, there are
several publications which areworthwhile.
This one I think for theaverage person would be great.
You can find it almost anywhereat any of the local libraries
here in the San Gabriel Valley.
It's put out by the Images ofAmerica organization, which does
uh has enlists local people towrite their history.
(27:46):
It's called Images of AmericaArcadia, and it's uh sponsored
by Arcadia Historical Society.
It's uh written by a number ofprominent people in our society
who were uh who are a lot of ourkey people in the 1980s.
It's called Images of AmericaArcadia.
And if you just Google Arcadiauh on any anywhere, you'll
(28:09):
you'll find several of thebooks.
There's one by Sandy Snyder andPat McAdam called From uh From
Ranch to City, uh Arcadia Story.
That's a really good book.
But uh you'll get more intimatewith Lucky Baldwin and Anita
Baldwin and the fascinatingcharacters that uh predominated
in the early days.
Arcadia was a rough and tumbletown.
(28:30):
It was called the onlysporting, the Los Angeles Times
called it the only sporting townin Southern California.
Unfortunately, there were anumber of saloons and a few
brothels, and it didn't have avery good reputation.
Yeah.
Until the women of Arcadia camealong and said, We're gonna
clean up your town, Mr.
Baldwin, and that's when uhthings started to happen in, I
think, a really positive veinfor a person.
Christine Zito (28:52):
We do have you do have to come back and talk
about that.
So much to talk about.
And this is and we're just thisis a history just on the city
of Arcadia.
Ed Andersen (29:00):
That's right.
Christine Zito (29:00):
I mean, this is how rich the history is here.
And um, I grew up here um uhwell, a lot of my years, and
then I moved to Walnut,graduated from Walnut High
School.
Go mess things.
So uh, but my dad lived heremost of his life in the city of
Arcadia.
In fact, just right down uh SanAnita.
So and I live here in Arcadia,I love Arcadia, I love the
(29:23):
riches, I love the culture, andI love the community.
And I'm so glad that I gotahead of an opportunity to meet
you, Ed.
I thank you so much for beinghere.
It was my pleasure, enjoyed it.
And everything that we talkedabout, the the events that are
coming up are not only on thewebsite, arcadiah historical
(29:43):
society.org.
You can also go toarcadiafyi.com.
All of that will be on there,also.
So, because I don't want you tomiss out on any of these events
because it is truly very umrich.
In the city that we live in.
In and there's so much of thecity of Arcadia that I hope that
in these shows that you'relearning about the education,
(30:05):
the community, the housing, thehistory, the Santa Anita
racetrack.
I just learned so much aboutjust the LA Arboretum.
And I mean, that is, I mean, wehaven't even gotten to the
shops of Santa Anita.
I mean, there's so much here inthe city of Arcadia that is
just I I'm I'm just so happythat I am living in this city.
(30:25):
I would like to thank oursponsors of this show that make
it happen.
Uh, Longo Toyota, Lexus N.
El Monte, Star 7 Financial withFrancine Chu, the Santa Anita
Park that we had just talkedabout, the Le Méridien Hotel
in Pasadena and Arcadia that wehad just talked about.
Um, just I thank you so much,and I thank you for being a part
(30:49):
of this show.
Until next time, be blessed andmake it a great day.
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