Dana “Harvey” Tuttle, Jr. at his camera store in Bixby Knolls, circa 1947

The man for whom Bixby Knolls’ Tuttle Cameras is the namesake passed peacefully at home on March 12, 2011.
Dana “Harvey” Tuttle, Jr. was born in Wisconsin on April 14, 1921, and he moved to Long Beach with his parents when he was about 2 years old. After his mother died when he was 5, Harvey and his older brother, Richard, were moved from family to family while growing up. Later, Harvey lived with his father and stepmother in Long Beach, near the bluff on 12th Place. While they were living there, the 1933 earthquake struck the city, destroying many of the nearby homes, but the house in which his family lived is still standing.
Harvey and Richard worked for film-developing companies, but when World War II broke out, they both enlisted in the Army. During their service, the brothers, both of whom continued to work in photography, corresponded and decided that they would open a photography business after getting out of the military.
Harvey served three years in Kodiak, Alaska, and was then stationed in Oklahoma. There he met James Anna, whom he later married in January 1945, before he was shipped to Italy, where he served his last two years of duty.
After their tours of duty, the Tuttle brothers combined their wisdom, money and skills to open two camera stores– the first in Belmont Shore, managed by Richard, and the second in Bixby Knolls, run by Harvey. At one point, Harvey had all three of his children working for him at the Bixby Knolls store. 
Harvey continued in the camera store business until his 70s, when he decided it was time to retire. Harvey then sold the business to two of his employees: Eric Vitwar and Brian Johnson.
“In 1997, Harvey announced at a staff meeting that he was going to retire and try to sell the store,” Vitwar said. “When we first heard that, Brian Johnson and I decided to try to pull funds together to buy the business.” According to Vitwar, six months later the deal was done. “Harvey handed over the keys in January of 1998.” (Vitwar bought out Johnson’s interest in the business in 2002.)
“I worked for Harvey for nearly 10 years,” Vitwar said. “He was a great mentor. He treated customers and staff incredibly and was just a great boss to work for. He was never mad, never yelled.”
In addition to Harvey’s love of photography, he traveled to spend time with his
family. He and his wife, James Anna, took several trips to Alaska, where their daughter, Margie, and her family live. For a couple of years, Harvey and James Anna lived in Arkansas, James Anna’s place of birth. They moved back to Long Beach because they missed their family here.
They had three children: Edward, who would become a Long Beach council member, born in 1947; Susan, born in 1950; and Margie, born in 1954. Harvey was preceded in death by Edward, who died five years ago, and by his son-in-law, Ronald Mayo, who passed five months ago. Edward, survived by his wife, Kay, had two sons: Matthew and Joshua. Susan, widow of Ronald Mayo, has two children: Dana and Daniel. Margie has three sons: Justin, Vincent and Quentin.
Harvey was buried after a grave-site service on March 17, 2011 at Forest Lawn.  When he died, he was one month and two days shy of his 90th birthday.
When discussing the loss of his friend and mentor, Vitwar said that he felt blessed to have been with Tuttle just hours before he passed. “He changed my life,” Vitwar said. “[The business] provided for him and his family, and now it is doing the same for me and my family. It is a real loss, but I’m thrilled and tickled to carry on the legacy.”

Community Hospital Long Beach (pictured circa 1924), a designated historic landmark that’s known for its Spanish Colonial Revival architecture, has been part of the city’s landscape for several decades.

By CJ Dablo
Staff Writer

­Beach is starting a new chapter in its long history to provide health care in Long Beach.
On April 29, the hospital, located at 1720 Termino Ave., officially became the sixth hospital under the MemorialCare Health System, a healthcare network that serves both Los Angeles and Orange counties. The facility is now one of three hospitals in the network that serves the Long Beach area.
The transition to MemorialCare Health systems took about 10 months to culminate in April’s official announcement, according to one hospital official.
“We believe strongly . . .that ensuring access to health care on the east side of Long Beach is absolutely critical,” said Diana Hendel, one of the key players who helped plan for the transition. Hendel serves as the CEO of Community Hospital Long Beach, Long Beach Memorial and Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach.
“I think it’s just one more step towards stabilizing and sustaining the community service,” she said in a telephone interview, explaining how the new transition helps provide access to health care over a newly expanded region.
“We are here for every single citizen in the greater Long Beach area,” Hendel said.
Hendel highlighted the emergency room and acute-care health services available from Community Hospital Long Beach and emphasized the hospital’s reputation for providing mental-health services.
The announcement of Community Hospital Long Beach’s new management was welcome news to the councilmember who serves the district. “This is a huge benefit to our city and will preserve health care on the East Side,” said Councilmember Patrick O’Donnell in an emailed statement.
The hospital, a designated historic landmark that’s known for its Spanish Colonial Revival architecture, has been part of the city’s landscape for several decades. The neighborhood hospital looks more like a Spanish hacienda with its wrought ironwork over its windows and arches and central fountain in a courtyard area. Sitting in the Wilton Street Historic District, the hospital has served the east Long Beach area since it opened in 1924.
But it’s the atmosphere of the hospital that one former state lawmaker remembers well. Former State Senator and Assemblymember Betty Karnette remembers the hospital as a “friendly place” for the constituents.
“And they felt more comfortable there than at the bigger hospitals,” said Karnette in an interview Tuesday. “[When] you went there, it was like going to your family, and there are people in Long Beach [who are] very attached to Community Hospital.”
Karnette remembered when the hospital had shut down in 2000 and then later reopened the following year. The former California lawmaker suggested that the push by the community to preserve the hospital may relate to the overall feeling and affinity for Long Beach.
“It may have a large population,” said Karnette, “But [Long Beach] will always have a small-town feeling. And that’s why people like that small-town feeling and small-town hospital.”
Dr. Eugene Temkin, MD, has fond memories of the hospital where he served from 1958 to 1985. Temkin said he helped start the hospital’s former cardiac department and intensive care and cardiac units.
“We had a lovely, wonderful unit, even as I look back. We still had an outstanding department,” Temkin said of the departments where he served. He remembered a cooperative spirit from both the staff and the administration.
The 90-year-old doctor from Long Beach was also a patient there. He sought treatment at his neighborhood facility when he had back problems and also when he had a stroke. He said he was pleased that the hospital joined MemorialCare Health System.
Temkin emphasized the advantage of the hospital’s emergency services. He observed that there are shorter wait times at this facility than at other larger hospitals.
“Community [Hospital] takes care of this side of the city,” said Temkin, pointing out that the hospital has the ability to handle a major catastrophe. “It’s important to know there would be a facility to treat people in the event of an emergency.”
And the hospital’s CEO, Hendel, recognized that there were possibilities to serve more emergency room patients at its newest hospital. Although the emergency medical service personnel know Community Hospital’s services, usually the patient decides which hospital they want for treatment during an emergency, according to Hendel. The other two facilities at Miller Children’s and Memorial Medical Center are trauma centers.
“There is capacity, and there is ability for more patients to be cared for at Community without a doubt,” Hendel said. “We certainly want that word to be out.”
Although they’ve now already assumed the lease of the hospital campus from the City of Long Beach, the hospital network still needs to roll out more details during this transition. Hendel said that they will soon officially announce the appointment of a new hospital administrator who will begin at the end of the month.

Robyn Solovei, a Judaic specialist from the Barbara and Ray Alpert Jewish Community Center; Assemblymember Bonnie Lowenthal; and Dr. Marion Solovei, a Holocaust survivor; on the Assembly Floor last week

Assemblymember Bonnie Lowenthal (D-Long Beach) co-hosted the Capitol’s annual observance of Holocaust Memorial Day on Monday, May 2, in the Assembly Chamber, an event that drew survivors, liberators and their children from all over the state. Survivors and liberators were seated among the lawmakers, as the full Assembly marked the memory of the Holocaust.
“We take the time to remember,” said Lowenthal, “because to forget is to risk repeating the past.”
Lowenthal’s personal honoree was Robyn Solovei, a Judaic specialist from the Barbara and Ray Alpert Jewish Community Center and children’s recording artist, and her mother, Dr. Marion Solovei, clinical director at Family Service of Long Beach for more than 30 years.  Marion is a survivor of the Holocaust, only because her parents moved the family to South Africa after a number of her relatives were taken by the Nazis. The Soloveis are involved in their own family project, “A Reason to Remember,” which seeks to educate others about the loss of over 6 million Jews and others by Nazi atrocities during WWII.
The Assembly floor ceremony is the culmination of a process that has been going on for months. It is essentially an oral history project in which students interviewed survivors and liberators then compiled those stories into a single document. In a departure from years past, this year’s “document” will be in the form of a video that is available on many Assembly member websites.
“The video captures nuance and gives a renewed sense of urgency to this terrible chapter in history,” Lowenthal said.
Lowenthal co-hosted of the ceremony along with San Diego-area Assemblymember Marty Block. 

By Rachael Rifkin
Staff Writer

So many people have come forward to share their memories and reflections of Burroughs Elementary School that the Signal Tribune has decided to make “Burroughs Elementary staff share memories of their school that will soon close” a three- or four-parter. The tight-knit school opened in 1950 and is slated for closure at the end of the school year.

“I liked that it was a very family-, neighborhood-oriented school. I was there for 23 years, and I got to teach so many wonderful children from the neighborhood families. The whole school was really like a family. We had great support from the parents.
“When I first started in 1977, it was a kindergarten-through-third-grade school. It was called a multi-graded school. They were trying it as a pilot program. My first year I had a kindergarten (through) second grade class and the next couple of years I had a first-second-third grade class. We had many, many volunteers.
“I had the Reed family, who lived across from the school, and I had all three of the kids. Then the oldest one became my aide. I had all of [former 7th District Councilmember] Ray Grabinski’s kids. They just lived down the street and around the corner. They were all precious. Every time we took the class downtown to City Hall, Ray would show us around.
“I still have close contact with so many of the families. The teachers still get together and we exchange letters, cards and phone calls. We had many wonderful administrators. The staff that was there was there for a long time. Nobody wanted to leave.
“We had the reputation of being really hard workers. When you’re a small faculty, you have many more jobs than just teaching in the classroom. You have all the different events. Everybody took on different responsibilities. If you just wanted to be a classroom teacher, you didn’t want to be at Burroughs.
“When we had Founders Day, ladies would come that had taught ages and ages ago. These ladies were in their 70s and 80s. They always came back for Founders Day because Burroughs was just the nicest school. Each had to stand up and tell their memories. It’s really a school that so many people held dear. A small school is a nice place to be.”
Former Burroughs teacher Linda Alexander

“It is a sad thing that our little community is being dispersed. It’s been a safe and nurturing place for kids for many years. My favorite thing about Burroughs is that our tiny school is like a mini microcosm of all the good things Long Beach has to offer. We enjoy great diversity, and our kids are like a family. Because we are so small, our kids are a tightly knit group. They bring an enormous amount of acceptance, creativity, caring and cooperation to our little world.
“I love that over the years we have been on the receiving end of many kids who have not been able to thrive at other Long Beach schools. Because of our small size, remarkable kids and carin g teachers, we are able to reach out to those ‘lost’ kids in a way that some big schools just can’t. Our kids are so grounded on a foundation of togetherness that new students who may have had big behavior issues in the past just have nowhere to go with that at Burroughs. When mischievous kids realize they can’t get a rise out of anyone, they begin to settle into a more relaxed and productive way of being. You can actually watch their defenses fall away, and those students who have lived a life of simply trying to survive in the only way they know how, gradually are able to be kids again. For me, this is what makes Burroughs so special. What I will miss most is being a part of a place that truly makes a profound difference in the lives of so many!”
Fifth-grade teacher Dr. Karen Carmean-Mathieu

Facts about Burroughs
Mascot: Bee
Motto: Together we make a difference
School Colors: Red, white, blue
School Song:
We are John Burroughs students
With pride we wear red, blue and white
We have a lot opportunities
‘Cuz Burroughs is out of sight!
We follow all the rules at Burroughs
With friends we learn and have some fun.
B-U-R-R-O-U-G-H-S
We’re Burroughs, the school that’s #1!

Burroughs Elementary’s Room 10 in front of the school’s new mural, in 2009

By Rachael Rifkin
Staff Writer

The Long Beach Unified School District Board of Education approved budget cuts in February that have forced Burroughs Elementary School to close at the end of this academic year. Burroughs, with just under 300 students, has been selected for its low enrollment numbers. It is for that very reason that it is such a special place, according to former and current staff members, who shared their memories of the school with the Signal Tribune.

“I have worked with the district for 29 years and at Burroughs for 23 years. When I first came here, the Teacher Resource Center wasn’t here. The bungalows weren’t here. It was just the school. For years they had school carnivals. That was fun. I enjoyed those. During the summer, we sometimes had student workers help out. That was nice. I like working here. I’m used to the classrooms. The teachers are always satisfied with my work. And it’s not only the teachers, but the parents. They like to see the school clean. I do my best to keep it up. Nobody was expecting that this was going to happen– I wasn’t anyway. We all feel sad. What shouldn’t have happened, happened. I’m not sure where I’m going from here. Right now I’m just preparing.”
Custodian William R. Faulk, Jr.

“I’ve been here since 1987. As far as I know, William [Faulk, Jr.], and I have been at Burroughs the longest. I love it here. It’s a wonderful school. The kids are great, and the people I work with are beautiful people. We get a lot of compliments from parents and visitors from other schools. They tell us that everyone here is so welcoming and very warm-hearted.
“I remember when I started here, we had the whole, entire playground. The bungalows and the Teachers Resource Center were not there. We had a lot of good fun. We played kickball, baseball. I had a lot of good kids over the years, but I remember this one girl in particular. She was the fastest runner. She used to race against the boys who thought they were at the top and she’d beat them all. I kept telling her she had to go into track. When she was in middle school her mom came by and said, ‘Thank you. She is in track.’ I just said, ‘Tell her to remember me when she goes to the Olympics. Get me a ticket.’ I hope she stuck with it when she went to high school. I remember when there were eight other coaches that worked with me. Now there’s just me and two other girls. We used to have three kindergarten classes, teachers’ aides and special ed. Then they started cutting classroom sizes and closing classrooms.
“We don’t get to watch our students grow up. It’s sad. That was one of my favorite things. I’ve had people come by that are in college now. I was our current PTA president’s PE teacher and now she has four kids.”
Coach Lorraine Cukras

Vintage photo of Burroughs students during an annual Halloween parade

“I started at Burroughs in 1985. Back then it only went up to the third grade. It had been that way for a few years. In the late ‘80s, they added a fourth grade. The next year they offered a fifth grade, and I taught that class. The following year they added a sixth grade, but the year after that, sixth grade became a part of middle schools, so we stopped at fifth grade.
“It was very much a smaller school. It was the kind of small group where you get to know your co-workers and administrators much better than at a larger school.
“When I first started there, we didn’t plan together. For instance, if you were a third-grade teacher, you did your own planning. The other third-grade teacher would do his or her own planning too. But in the last 15 years, we went to grade-level planning, which to me made a lot of sense. We could collaborate on ideas and share resources. We would share everything.
“Our first DARE [Drugs Abuse Resistance Education] officer was Officer Larry Morris. He hadn’t taught anything like that before. In fact, my class was the very first class he did the DARE program with. He was a really nice man.
“We had a big DARE carnival every year. Usually it coincided with the Kentucky Derby, so Officer Morris called it the DARE Derby. At the Signal Hill Park we would have booths, games and activities. They got tickets throughout the year from actively participating in the DARE program with Officer Morris, and they’d use them at the carnival. They could purchase all kinds of really cool DARE trinkets with those tickets. They’d get little battery-operated personal fans, visors, hats, and T-shirts.
“Kids would wear their costumes on Halloween, and we’d have big Halloween parades. Schools just don’t do that anymore. I think they look at it like we’re taking away from academics. Each school used to also have its own Founders Day too. Principals from previous years and PTA presidents from back in the ‘50s and ‘60s would come. They’d come back and share their memories.
“We didn’t have bungalows until they went to class-size reduction, which was a wonderful thing. We got some new teachers too. We also used to have a fairly large education group. They would do mainstreaming with the regular education classes. They would have buddies for buddy reading. I think it’s a real plus for all kids to be able to see different abilities than their own. The special-education group left about two years ago. They had to consolidate.
“Over the 19 years I was there, I had every grade. I retired in 2004, but I still substitute there a lot. I still can’t believe it’s closing. I’ll miss the teachers and students. I’ll miss substituting there.”
Retired Burroughs teacher Marge Jones

“I had been working for Autism Services as an art therapist when the school district asked me to do a mural on this huge 220-foot wall, broken up with water fountains, windows and doors, at Burroughs. It’s the largest mural that I’ve ever done.
“I thought, they’re the Burroughs Bees, so let’s make a giant pollen path. My grandmother taught me about the pollen path. She owned a house right up the street from Burroughs. She gave me my first job, and she was a big part of my life. She was raised on a Navajo reservation where they gave her a really exceptional education, and she passed a lot of that down to me. Part of that education included the great mythology of the pollen path, which is about the interconnectedness of life.
“I saw how the students that worked on that mural, and the students who participated in making their own pollen paths, were influenced by art. In addition to creating the mural, I went into the classroom to give a talk on the Navajo mythology of the pollen path. I would explain that each person has a path in their own life, and then I would have them make their path. They would draw things from their past, present and future on their path.
“I started to see how art helped them connect to their environment. This was especially true for Tim Bray, a student with autism who helped me work on the mural. He really developed a sense of self and a rapport with the outside world that so many kids with autism need. That project served as the inspiration for a school I want to create in Long Beach called the Powerhouse. It’s a school that uses music, art and dance to teach kids with autism.
“It was an amazing time because it transformed the whole campus. It’s sad that a campus with so much room and such a strong sense of community has to close. Kids need schools like that. I wish there was another way.”
Artist Doug Kurtz, who designed and painted (along with student help) the large mural that can be seen on the Orange Street side of the school

You can share your memories of Burroughs too. Send your email to newspaper@signal tribune.com with your stories and pictures, or bring them by the offices of the Signal Tribune at 939 E. 27th St. in Signal Hill.

Assistant to the City Manager Rebecca Burleson presented a visual history of Signal Hill’s city seals during Tuesday’s city council meeting on Jan. 4. The seals date as far back as 1924. Unfortunately, many of the names of the original artists who designed the seals have been lost. Burleson said they hope to use these historical images on tiles that will be displayed in city facilities. Vice Mayor Larry Forester noted that each design manages to depict Signal Hill’s history of co-existence with oil.

Last Saturday’s Long Beach Veterans Day Parade featured bands, military processionals, veterans groups, grand marshals, local dignitaries, children’s groups, law-enforcement vehicles and personnel as well as local businesses showing their appreciation for veterans.

At the conclusion of the parade, crowds gathered at Houghton Park for a Veterans Day Ceremony and annual Craft and Vendors Fair, hosted by Long Beach’s 9th District Councilperson Steven Neal. During the ceremony, Neal recognized World War II veteran Clarence Bramley as grand marshal, as well as Jeremy Boshnack and Nick Kalt as honorary grand marshals. Neal also presented 5th District Councilperson Gerrie Schipske a plaque of appreciation for her work as president of The Rosie the Riveter Foundation (right).
Also saluted were local “Rosie the Riveters,” including Marjorie Grommé and Mary Lou Millar (above right), who are both members of the Susan B. Anthony chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. “What an honor it was to be recognized as a former Rosie,” Grommé said. “It was a wonderful turnout for the parade on a simply gorgeous, sunny day.”
“The Veterans parade designating Rosie the Riveter as Grand Marshal was a wonderful way to celebrate the memory and contributions of the women who worked on the homefront during World War II,” Schipske said. “I was so proud to ride with them and grateful that the city of Long Beach and its residents were able in some small way to acknowledge how these women stepped up and did the jobs that helped win the war.”
Also part of the festivities was pre-ceremony entertainment provided by Rock 4 Vets Chorus, a musical salute to Veterans by the Long Beach Junior Concert Band, singing of the national anthem by Natoya Green and post-ceremony entertainment provided by the Jazz Angels.