Huntington Beach Happenings
by: Chris MacDonald
Posted: May 25, 2020
HUNTINGTON BEACH...A very Happy Birthday to Huntington Beach's Calvary Chapel of The Harbour Anchored 247 Vocalist Tami Nelson.
Hope View Tract Neighbors: Be cautious of Coyotes roaming the Neighborhood.
From Huntington Beach City Councilman Patrick Brenden...
1. At the City Council meeting on May 18th, Council resumed the practice of allowing for in-person live public comments while also entertaining call-in public comments. With this arrangement, Council received approximately 170 comments. Mayor Semeta announced at the beginning of the meeting that, due to the number of public speakers, comments would be limited to one minute. Normally, speakers are given three minutes. With the one-minute limitation in place, the meeting still didn't end until after midnight.
2. In Closed Session, Council majority voted to terminate the City's lawsuit against Governor Newsom's beach closure order.
3. In an agenda item proposed by Councilmen Posey and Brenden, Council voted 7-0 in favor of an initiative to relax certain outdoor dining/shopping standards to allow restaurants and retailers to expand operations into adjacent public and private spaces including parking areas. The proposal calls for a no-fee, expedited Temporary Use Permit (TUP) process that is intended to allow businesses to get back on their feet as quickly as possible during the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The motion that was approved reads as follows: Direct staff to develop a program for Council consideration that would allow for the temporary conversion of adjacent public and private spaces into outdoor dining and retail use to provide local businesses with the opportunity for greater customer capacity up to but not exceeding the capacity limits that were in effect prior to COVID-19 restrictions.
4. In an agenda item brought forward by Councilman Peterson, Council opted to table the proposal pending the outcome of current changes being evaluated for reopening business in Orange County.
5. Beaches and beach parking lots will be open for Memorial Day weekend at all City and County beaches. The parking lots and trails at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve will be open as well.
Huntington Beach City Historian Jerry Person Said: Remembering When:
Dr. Lawrence Forrest Whittaker
If you've been down to the downtown Post Office lately, you may have noticed how much the 300-block of Third Street a block away has changed. From cute nearly century old single-story homes, there now stands a cluster of three-story modern houses.
We have not only lost some of the charm of downtown's history, but the office of one of its early physicians, Dr. Lawrence Whittaker, that stood at the corner of Third Street and Olive Avenue. Not only did Dr. Whittaker's office stood there, but his home was located next door so he could get to his office in an emergency.
Today both have been demolished, but his memory continues with the older residents who were his former patients, some of which he brought into this world.
The story of Dr. Lawrence Forrest Whittaker began in Lawrenceville, Illinois, in Lawrence Township, in Lawrence County that Lawrence was born on October 24, 1901. His father Daniel B. Whittaker had acquired 300 acres of woodlands and set to work clearing it of hickory and walnut trees. When that land was cleared for farming, Daniel and his three sons spent many days tilling the soil for crops.
When Lawrence was not helping in the field, he was receiving his education at the Cross Roads country school and later at Lawrenceville High School. After Lawrence graduated from high school in 1920, he enrolled at Eureka College in Illinois to study the sciences and mathematics.
While at Eureka he became the assistant editor and business manager of the school's newspaper, 'The Pegasus.' Also while at Eureka College he met a young lady in one of his classes by the name of Hazel Dell Miller. They saw each other through four years of school and they both graduated from Eureka in 1924. Lawrence received his Bachelor of Science degree and he then entered the University of Illinois' school of medicine in Chicago.
Meanwhile, Hazel left Illinois to join her parents who were living in Huntington Beach. Her uncle was none other then Tom Talbert, a name very familiar to all of us. Hazel returned to Illinois in 1927.
It was springtime and love was in the air and so Lawrence and Hazel were married in the First Christian Church in Eureka. Lawrence's fraternity brothers from the Tau Kappa Epsilon acted as attendants at the wedding while Hazel's sorority sisters from Delta Zeta acted as her bridesmaids.
After the wedding, the newlyweds returned to Chicago where Lawrence continued medical school. Hazel went to work for Marshall Field department store in Chicago.
In 1928 Lawrence received his medical diploma and in December of that year the two moved to California to live. Lawrence received his internship at Los Angeles General Hospital for one year and served there as a resident physician for an additional year.
In 1930 now Dr. Whittaker teamed up with Dr. Robert A. Walker to form a partnership in Alhambra for two years.
In the spring of 1932 Lawrence and Hazel moved to Hunting ton Beach and opened a medical office at 302 Third Street. There cottage home was located next door to the office at 306 Third Street.
From 1934 to 1937 Lawrence was a board member for the Huntington Beach Elementary School and helped in planning its reconstruction after the 1933 earthquake. Hazel was hired by Clark Reid to teach at Huntington Beach Elementary, today it's called Dwyer Middle School.
In 1935 they were blessed with their first child, Jo Ann, two years later their second child, Mary Jane, came into this world.
From 1937 - 1938 Lawrence served as vice president of our Huntington Beach Rotary Club and was a longtime member of that organization. In 1938 he was elected president to our Huntington Beach Chamber of Commerce.
During World War II he chaired our local Red Cross unit and in 1943 he was elected secretary-treasurer of the Orange County Medical Association. He served both a member of the California Medical Association and the American Medical Association. He also became a staff member of the Long Beach Community Hospital and was on staff in St. Joseph Hospital in Santa Ana.
In the late 1930's Lawrence served as a chairman for the Boy Scouts Committee here in Huntington Beach and a member of our Masonic Lodge and a member of our prestigious Windsor Club. Hazel became a member of the Huntington Beach Woman's Club, our P.T.A., our Huntington Beach Assistance League, the Twentieth Century Club and was active in the Woman's Auxiliary of the Orange County Medical Society.
Lawrence served on the board of the Huntington Valley Bank and served as editor of the Orange County Medical Society's newsletter.
Both Lawrence and Hazel were also long standing members of the First Christian Church on Main Street.
On July 24, 1966, after spending 34 years caring for his patients, Lawrence Forrest Whittaker passed away and although his home and office have been demolished his memory will remain in the annals of Huntington Beach history for all time.
If you have a Local History Question you can e-mail them to Jerry at: hbnews@hbquik.com.