Remembering The Duke On The 40th Anniversary of His Passing

Above, the Duke signing autographs at Pauley Pavilion at UCLA in 1975. Photo by Wanda Welsh.

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the passing of screen legend John Wayne.

Wayne passed away from stomach cancer on June 11, 1979 at the UCLA Medical Center in Westwood (it is now known as the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center).

How this date sticks to my mind is because I began my career as an insurance claims adjuster on the  same day at United Pacific/Reliance Insurance Companies.

Yesterday, I received the above 8 x 10" photo of Wayne signing autographs at Pauley Pavilion at UCLA in 1975 from Wanda Welsh, a friend whom I've known since junior high school. She took the photo of Wayne while he was there for a Bob Hope special taping.

It is appropriate to share the photo of Wayne on the 40th anniversary of his death. Thanks to Wanda for the photo!

Man Shoots Up Former United Pacific/Reliance Building, Kills Self

Above, the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles. Photo by South China Morning Post.

Life is strange.

I just saw a story involving the Chinese Consulate office in Los Angeles. A man, a Chinese national, shot up the building before turning the gun on himself.

According to the South China Morning Post:

A man opened fire on the Chinese consulate in Los Angeles on Tuesday morning before turning the gun on himself and taking his own life, police said. 

The man, a Chinese national, fired “multiple rounds” at the consulate building in the Koreatown neighbourhood, said Officer Mike Lopez, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesman. 

The man, whose name was not immediately released, then fatally shot himself in his car outside of the building, Lopez said. 

Investigators said no one else was injured in the shooting.

What interests me in the story is that the Chinese Consulate occupies the building on Shatto Place where I began my career as an insurance claims adjuster with United Pacific/Reliance Insurance Companies. We occupied the first and third floors and the American Arbitration Association occupied the second floor.

I stopped by there a few years ago and chatted with the officials at the front desk.

To read more, go here.

 

A Christmas Eve Tradition In L.A. Years Ago

Above, three Playboy Bunnies joined us for a group photo on Christmas Eve in 1981.

Thirty-five years ago tomorrow, a group of us from United Pacific/Reliance Insurance Companies took part in what became a Christmas Eve tradition.

The company would have us work half-day on Christmas Eve (provided it fell on a work day, naturally) and release us at noon.

At that time, I was a member of the Playboy Club. The Playboy Club was located at the now long-gone ABC Entertainment Center in Century City in Los Angeles. The Shubert Theater was also located in the ABC Entertainment Center.

About a year or two before, we started our "tradition" of going to the Playboy Club for lunch after the company released us. Century City was about 8-9 miles from the office. Adjusters and underwriters from the company would attend. I got everyone in on my membership. All that needed to be done was to call the club with a head count and reserve a table.

The Playboy Club was a fun and classy place to have lunch. Surprisingly, the prices for lunch weren't outrageous. A lot of business people used to go there for business lunches. At night, the club would have entertainment shows such as music (all genres), magic acts and dancing. There was nothing lewd about the club, so don't get the wrong idea. Playboy Bunnies served as waitresses.

Several times, whenever there was a Republican State Convention in the Los Angeles area, a group of us would migrate to the Playboy Club for dinner and entertainment.

The photo above was from Christmas Eve in 1981.

(In case any of you from the old group are wondering, yes, that's Arleigh Kerr seated at front at left.)

A Practical Joke

Back in 1982, I was working at United Pacific/Reliance Insurance Cos. in Los Angeles. Our claim manager, Gil Stafford, was on vacation and was to return to work on a Monday.

Some of us wanted to pull a practical joke on Gil for his return to work. I mentioned that I had a skull of an eskimo that my grandfather found on a beach in the Aleutian Islands in Alaska during World War II (he was stationed there as a Seabee). We got the idea to use the skull as part of the joke.

Before Gil got to work, we took the thickest Workers' Compensation claim file we could find and set it on his desk with the skull on top of it with a tag marked "salvage." After this, we shut the door to his office.

Once word got around about our prank, several workers (including the branch manager) came over to take a peek inside to see for themselves. They all came away giggling hysterically.

A little while later, Gil arrived and headed to his office. He opened the door and went inside and let out a huge laugh.

I located a photo of the skull on Gil's desk this morning:

I still have the skull. It is in a bowling bag (how appropriate) in my closet.

Ex-Reliance Group Chair Saul Steinberg Dies

Saul Steinberg, corporate raider and former chairman of Reliance Group Holdings, died Friday at his Manhattan home at age 73.

He is one name from my past.  I worked for insurer Reliance Insurance Company (then under the name of United Pacific/Reliance Insurance Cos.) almost immediately after graduating from California State University, Long Beach in June 1979.  I worked there until 1983.

According to Bloomberg.com:

Steinberg once controlled Reliance Group, a New York-based property and casualty insurer. The firm, listing $12.59 billion in assets and $12.87 billion in debts, filed for bankruptcy protection in 2001 after higher-than-expected workers’compensation costs and other claims. Steinberg resigned as chairman that same year, after stepping down as chief executive officer in 2000 after 32 years at the company.

He was one guy who played Monopoly with real buildings and companies.  The Los Angeles office of United Pacific/Reliance was to move to a Steinberg-owned office building in Glendale in the late-1980s. They moved to a temporary facility while the office was being remodeled.  Before they could move in, Steinberg sold the office building, so they were stuck. The story floating around at the time was that he needed some cash to make a major buy.

To read the full story, go here.

30 Years Ago: Shots Fired

Above, a photo taken by a White House photographer at a reception for the California Delegation in June 1982. I am in the background at left. Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy is in the powder blue suit at right. McCarthy took a bullet in the assassination attempt on President Reagan.

30 years ago today, I was working as a claims adjuster at United Pacific/Reliance Insurance Companies. I was working at my desk when one of the company's underwriters approached and said, "President Reagan has been shot!"

It was a stunning moment and I felt as if the color from my face drained away.

It was well-known at the company that I was a Ronald Reagan California delegate at the 1976 and 1980 Republican National Conventions. In fact, the company news magazine, The Gryphon, carried the story with photos (of co-worker Arleigh Kerr and me) about the 1980 GOP national convention.

I don't remember if we were allowed to leave early due to the anxiety the country was feeling over the assassination attempt. I do recall that a collective sigh of relief came when we were told that President Reagan would fully recover from his wound.

A day or so later, I was interviewed by the Gardena Valley News about the assassination attempt. I stated that the silver lining in this is that Reagan's economic program would have a better chance of being passed by a sympathetic congress. I was right.

A little over a year later, I was invited to a White House reception for the 1980 California Delegation. My hotel was a few blocks away from the Washington Hilton, the scene of the assassination attempt. I took the Hilton's airport shuttle from Dulles International Airport to the Hilton and then walked to my hotel. The scene at the Hilton looked the same as it did a year ago. I took a few photos.

At the reception the next day, Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy (who took a bullet during the attempt) was present. Many attendees thanked him for his heroism.

Reagan's eldest son, Michael posted an article on that day 30 years ago. To read it, go here.