Ronald Reagan, Clamper

Above, Gov. Reagan and Michael Landon at the Ambassador Hotel on
 California Primary Election Night in 1980. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Over the years since the mid-1980s it had been said in various circles of the Ancient and Honorable Order of E Clampus Vitus that every California governor, except Jerry Brown, were members of the Order.

I became a Clamper in January 1984.

Here's a newspaper article on when Ronald Reagan became a Clamper. It was during the time he was governor-elect following the 1966 election campaign.

 

“Reagan” Biopic Starring Dennis Quaid Gets 98% Approval

Above, actor Michael Landon and Reagan in June 1980 at the Ambassador
 Hotel on California Primary Election Night. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

The Ronald Reagan biopic has hit the screens over the weekend and it appears to be a hit.

The movie, Reagan, stars Dennis Quaid as our 40th president and docments his life from childhood.

While audiences have been giving the movie rave reviews, the elites are not so enamored. Noting such, the Gateway Pundit responded with, "What a surprise!"

They also wrote:

Popular Hollywood actor Dennis Quaid, who has starred in numerous box-office hits. including, “The Big Easy,” “The Parent Trap,” “Great Balls of Fire,”The Rookie,” “Far from Heaven,” to name a few.

Quaid has been acting since the 1980s and has appeared in over  80 films in his storied career.

Currently, Dennis Quaid is starring in the must-see Ronald Reagan biopic titled, “Reagan.” The film has a 98% audience approval rating and a 19% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

The people love it and the elites hate it.  What a surprise!

To read more, go here. 

55 Years Ago

While reading about the townhall meeting that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attended yesterday, I noted he spoke about the assassination of his father and the aftermath in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968. 

I was reminded that our junior high school class was rehearsing our graduation ceremonies in the parking lot of Richard Henry Dana Intermediate School in Hawthorne, California on June 6. The school was only a few miles from Los Angeles International Airport. Our graduation ceremonies were later held at Leuzinger High School's football field.

While we were out in the parking lot, we saw many news helicopters flying over the airport. There were so many, it's a wonder none collided. Then Air Force Two, bearing the body of Sen. Robert Kennedy and his family took off (as a courtesy, President Johnson provided the plane for the Kennedy family). It seemed that air traffic at the airport was halted until Air Force Two departed. Once it did, the news helicopters dispersed from the airport area. 

Even though this took place 55 years ago, I remember it like it was yesterday. 

Today In E Clampus Vitus History

Above, actor Michael Landon and former Governor Ronald Reagan at the
Ambassador Hotel on Primary Election Night in June 1980. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

On this date, California Governor Ronald Reagan proclaimed July 6, 1968 to be "E Clampus Vitus Day" in the State of California. Reagan was a Clamper.

Here is the procamation:

The Wilshire Brown Derby

Above, the original Wilshire Blvd. Brown Derby Restaurant in the 1950s.

A kind soul posted the above photo of the original Wilshire Blvd. Brown Derby Restaurant over on Twitter. This jogged a memory of my last meal there.

It was on primary election night in June 1980 in which former Governor Ronald Reagan won the California Primary for the GOP nomination for president. I was an area chairman for the Reagan campaign in the Hawthorne-Gardena area of Los Angeles County. The victory party was held that night at the Ambassador Hotel across the street from the Brown Derby. This was probably the first presidential campaign victory party held at the Ambassador Hotel since Sen. Robert F. Kennedy's assassination there in June 1968.

Before heading over to the Ambassador, I stopped at the Brown Derby for dinner. Much to my delight, they had a special of two lobster tails for around $12 or $15. So, I had two lobster tails that night.

According to Wikipedia, I was lucky to eat there as the restaurant was permanently closed later that year:

Opened in 1926, the original restaurant at 3427 Wilshire Boulevard remains the most famous due to its distinctive shape. Whimsical architecture was popular at the time, and the restaurant was designed to catch the eye of passing motorists. The Brown Derby name originated from a Malverne, New York-based restaurant of the same name which had been a popular hang-out for vaudevillians in the 1920s.^[2] 

The small cafe, close to popular Hollywood hot spots such as Cocoanut Grove at the Ambassador Hotel, became successful enough to warrant building a second branch. 

The original, derby-shaped building was moved in 1937 to 3377 Wilshire Boulevard at the northeast corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Alexandria Avenue, about a block from its previous location (and about a block north of the Ambassador Hotel). 

After being sold in 1975 and renovated, the building was finally replaced in 1980 by a shopping center known as the Brown Derby Plaza.

The Derby was incorporated into the new shopping center building after preservationists campaigned to save it.

Above, actor Michael Landon and Gov. Reagan at the private reception in the Ambassador Hotel in June 1980.  Photo by Armand Vaquer.

After dinner, I headed off to the Ambassador Hotel for the victory party. While the main party was in the Embassy Ballroom, I was in a separate reception room for campaign officials where the Reagans, along with actor Michael Landon, made an appearance before Gov. Reagan made his public victory speech. I took several photographs of them, one of which was published on the front page of the Los Angeles County Republican Central Committee's The Trunkline newspaper.

Ronald Reagan's 102nd Birthday

Above, actor Michael Landon joins Reagan at a California Primary reception
at the Ambassador Hotel on primary election night in June 1980.  Photo by
Armand Vaquer.

Today is the 63rd anniversary of Ronald Reagan's 39th birthday (as he would have put it).

102 years ago, Reagan was born February 6, 1911 in Tampico, Illinois.  He died June 5, 2004 in Bel Air, California.  He was the 40th president of the United States and served from January 20, 1981 to January 20, 1989.

His presidential library is located in Simi Valley, California.

The story behind the above photo:

Back in 1980, I was the area chairman for former Gov. Ronald Reagan's Reagan For President campaign in my congressional district (Hawthorne, Lawndale, Gardena and parts of Los Angeles).

On the night of the California Primary in June 1980, the campaign set up their election night headquarters at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.  This may have been the first California Primary election night victory party at the Ambassador for a presidential campaign since the assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy there in June 1968, but I am not sure of this.  The Ambassador Hotel has since been demolished a few years ago and a new high school has been built at the site.

Reagan was due to give his victory speech that night in the Embassy Ballroom.  Prior to this, a private reception was held in a small room near the Embassy Ballroom for area chairmen.  I attended this reception and took the above photo and several others of the Reagan family and actor Michael Landon.  The photo above was also published by the Los Angeles County Republican Central Committee's monthly newspaper, The Trunkline on the front page.

2013 Marks 40 Years Since Bannai Special Election

Above, Governor Reagan with the Bannai family during the special election campaign..

Forty years ago in 1973, the GOP took an assembly district that was considered "safe" to the Democratic Party in a special election.

The special election was called for as the incumbent state assemblyman, Larry Townsend, suddenly passed away of a massive heart attack.    The district was the 67th Assembly District.

The primary campaign began with a number of Democrats contesting for their party's nomination, to be held in May with the general election to be held in June. 

On the Republican side, there were three candidates, George Reis (who ran unsuccessfully against Townsend the year before), Mike Halliwell and Gardena City Councilman Paul T. Bannai.

The district included Hawthorne, Lawndale, Gardena, Torrance and parts of unincorporated county areas.

At the time, I was a student at El Camino College at the "ripe old age" of 19.  I had worked in the Nixon campaign in Hawthorne the previous year and after that election, things were kind of dull outside of studies.  I was also working at Old Towne Mall (now gone) in Torrance at the time.

At El Camino, a group of us from the Nixon campaign banded together to form the Young Republicans.   (We formally applied for a charter with the Los Angeles County Young Repubicans (LACYR) during this time.)  We discussed the upcoming special election campaign and we agreed that Bannai had the best chance to win with his name recognition and his ability to raise funds for the campaign.  So, we all got involved in the Bannai for Assembly campaign.

As we figured, Bannai won the GOP nomination.  On the Democrat side, Torrance City Treasurer Thomas Rupert (left) won his party's nomination.  However, what people didn't know at the time, he didn't actually live in the 67th Assembly District.

Rupert rented an apartment in the 67th district in order to run for the assembly seat while still maintaining his actual residence outside of it.

Fortunately, we had some excellent and experienced campaign management who saw this as an opportunity to put Rupert on the defensive.  The campaign arranged to have Rupert's in-district apartment photographed as well as his real residence, a single-unit house. 

The Gods must have been on our side when our photographer went to Rupert's home; he photographed it with a car parked in the driveway with a Rupert bumper sticker.

The Democrats have a history of having opportunistic candidates "carpetbagging" their way into other districts.  (Bannai had to face another carpetbagger in 1974 by the name of Maurice "Jack" Mayesh, who was backed by the Henry Waxman-Howard Berman machine.  One can see how pleased I was when Berman was defeated by Brad Sherman last year.)

The Bannai campaign sent out numerous mailers showing the in-district apartment and the out-of-district home with the question boldly asking, "Should our elected officials obey the law?" 

Governor Ronald Reagan and Lt. Governor Ed Reinecke made appearances in support of the Bannai campaign.

As it turned out, the voters didn't think too highly of the carpetbagging issue and Bannai won the special general election by a comfortable margin (54% to 41%).  Plus, it didn't hurt that Bannai was a popular city councilman in Gardena with a lot of name recognition.

Above, Diane Booth and Armand discussing the chartering of the Young Republican of El Camino College with  David Lorenzen, LACYR Chairman at the Ambassador Hotel in June 1973.  Photo courtesy of The Trunkline.

A week or so after the election, while at a political picnic, Bannai asked me to join his district office staff as a field representative.  This I did (on and off, college permitting) for the following two years.   It was while serving in this capacity that I "learned the ropes" of press relations, which has come in handy in the succeeding years.

Above, Field Representative Armand Vaquer (left) presents Assemblyman Bannai with a
stuffed frog novelty he picked up during a vacation in September 1974.  

In 1974, the redistricting of California legislative districts put Bannai into the newly-formed 53^rd Assembly District.  This new district did not favor the Republican Party as much as the old 67^th District in registration.  But Bannai was able to hold onto his office until 1980 when he ran against an aide to State Senator Ralph Dills, Richard Floyd (a rather crude and buffoonish character, but that’s still another story).

It was while I was listening to the radio and some songs came on from that period that jogged my memory.   It suddenly hit me that this year will be the 40th anniversary of that special election victory.

UPDATE:  I sent this blog post to the Gardena Valley News.  Perhaps they will do their own story on the 40th anniverary of the Bannai special election.  We (in Bannai's district office) used to have a lot of contact with the Gardena Valley News, particularly with Polly Warfield.  She was one great lady!