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BN: Did you ever consider moving out of Pasadena, or if not, what did you like or what was the appeal of raising your family in Pasadena?

FS: No, I loved the mountains. I loved the quality of the neighborhood physically. My wife loves it, we've been involved in the city of Pasadena and she was much more active before, when we were younger. So I think it's natural. I mean, if I had a choice, I used to always fantasize, and I still talk to Marian's cousin up there in the Lodi area, big open land, beautiful. We used to take our camper and go on trips that way with the kids. Yeah, I guess in a way I'm like my buddy Tom Benton. I can't... I have a harder time now, even more with the traffic and how fast people are going and that kind of life. But I can't complain because of why I stayed, and why Marian loves the neighborhood. And here we are in a neighborhood that we were excluded from and yet we're the longest ones on this street as minorities. And they're slowly allowing minorities across the street in the condos. There's several Korean families now. I think there might be one Black family. Yeah, and we have friends in the neighborhood because we were here the earliest and people, they accept us as we are. We don't have to wonder whether we're looking different or that kind of stuff. When we were younger, I think I was much more aware of that, sensitive to it, and especially knowing Mrs. Warner, how she aged there, and we're very comfortable here. So it's circumstance, everything is kind of... I know the street well. Not by street name but by visual, I'm strictly a visual guy. So yeah, we're part of, and I grew up here, right, Western School, it's my first home. And the irony is, yeah, and so I kind of know, I watched it change, I know the history. And I think part of my being an architect, and even it's my understanding, I heard, there's one name I remember, it was called Ted Adsit, and it's my understanding that the City Manager of West Covina who allowed me to get my first, control my first job. He checked with a guy that happened to be the Planning Director of Pasadena, I think. Name was Ted Adsit, I think he might have been teaching at USC. But you got a back check, you're going to have a young come in and work on a major project, right? So I got plenty of ties, and ties with the Van de Kamp family.

BN: What was his name, Ted what?

FS: Oh, Adsit, I think, A-D-S-I-T, I think, was the name. Somehow I thought he might have been with the city, but I don't know, none of that might be totally accurate. But certainly he told the City Manager he had this, whatever, that I was capable enough to work on the Civic Center. So that's kind of how it started. And just, yeah, I don't think... my dad didn't knowingly follow his trail from camp to Guadalupe, from Phoenix to Guadalupe to Western School. It's all the little circumstances that led him here, and I think he was pleased because I think I mentioned in the book that it was kind of an oasis or fantasyland for a young kid, I had everything. Safe neighborhood, I had a basketball court, I had a tennis court, private, I had everything. I mean, not the best room, bedroom, all that kind of stuff, that didn't matter because I grew up in all these little shacks after camp. So it was easy to adapt to these different places, which is a funny way to come into architecture, I think. [Laughs] Everything felt natural.

<End Segment 17> - Copyright © 2022 Densho. All Rights Reserved.