Community News

Huntington Beach Happenings

 

by: Chris MacDonald
Published: May 29, 2023

 

HUNTINGTON BEACH...Huntington Beach City Clerk Robin Estanislau Said: The Huntington Beach City Council Meeting is on Tuesday June 6th, 2023. The action agenda is being published on Wednesday May 31st, 2023.

Huntington Beach City Council Member Casey McKeon Said: Please come to My Community Town Hall Meeting with Huntington Beach Mayor Pro Tem Gracey Van Der Mark, State Senator Janet Nguyen and State Assemblywoman Diane Dixon on Saturday June 10th, 2023 from 11am to Noon at The Huntington Beach Central Library - 7111 Talbert Avenue in Rooms C&D. You can RSVP at: https://bit.ly/hbtownhall061023 .

Huntington Beach City Historian Jerry Person Said: Remembering When -

Women and World Politics

These days all you ever see, hear or read about is war, in the Ukraine, Africa, the war of invaders coming into our country illegally, but all events have a common element, politics. War and politics the two seem to go together.

People in Russia many times refer to their country as "Mother Russia" and for good reason, for if the country were run by mothers, how many mothers would want to send their children to be killed in a war of politics?

Every country's citizens on Earth are been faced with politics that govern its people that goes back thousands of years.

Even our town has seen its share of politics that hampered our citizens even before were became a city. 

But at one time in our history that the ladies of our community decided to do something for the betterment of our early residents.

In 1908 a few of our most civic minded women of our community felt that this new town of Huntington Beach would benefit from their help.

Seven prominent ladies of our city met in the home of Florence L. Blodget on January 23, 1908 where they gathered to form a local Woman’s Club that they hoped would bring culture and civic improvements to the town.

These ladies included Florence Blodget, Adelaide Howard, Ruth Hall Lindgren, Minnie Nutt, Hattie Sholly, Dena Sundbye and Ruth Waite. 

Throughout the years that Woman’s Club would focus their vast energy on community self-improvement and philanthropic work that would in later years define the character of our city and to achieve these lofty goals the club would exercise discussions on the national interests of the day.

Nowhere were these issues more evident then when the club invited and hosted a convention of Orange County Woman’s Clubs in 1926.

Nearly 200 women descended on our small town to discuss those national issued that concerned the ladies of our community on October 22, 1926.

Their message was clear, it would be a message of “War & Politics” that would fill out the agenda of that meeting.

Because our local clubhouse was too small for such a large meeting, the Huntington Beach Woman’s Club secured the Methodist Church building as a meeting place.

These women had come, not to speak of homemaking issues, but of those issues that for centuries had been the exclusive domain of the male sex. No subject would be taboo at this convention.

War and World Politics may have been a new subject for the ladies to discuss, but they showed at this meeting that they were very serious about these subjects and wanted to be part of the world politics in general.

There were twenty-two Orange County Woman’s Clubs represented at this meeting as President May Jackson of our club welcomed those who traveled to our small beach town and to Mrs. Alex Nelson, President of the Orange County Federation of Woman’s Clubs.

Nelson would introduce world traveler Helena Lamson to the audience and during her talk she would hold her audience spellbound.

Speaking of the past world war, World War I, Lamson said that war doesn’t pay and that no country could live by itself. World trade is not only a necessary but as a means of stabilizing the nations against war, she said.

She would go on and explain that the only way to have world peace is to get the people of all nations to think friendly thoughts about each other.

Another item brought up on the agenda concerned an effort to save the Wright Act from repeal. Mrs. S.H. Creager from Los Angeles was adamant that it remains law and declared that any attempt on the part of anyone to repeal the act is just as much an act of anarchy as a refusal to obey the U.S. Constitution.

The Wright Act would authorize putting over 20,000 police officers throughout California to enforce the Volstead Act.

If they in 1926 had only known that this act would make the nation dry and make many a gangster famous along with many murders during the time that it was in force. Today pot and pills has replaced alcohol and I’ll bet if Creager were around today she would favor putting those officers on duty down here as “smoke police” arresting anyone found lighting up on our beaches.

Other political topics during the convention ranged from child & community welfare to motion picture and radio censorship.

The meeting would then take a break for an appetizing luncheon as our ladies sat at decorated the tables in Halloween colors and designs and to add a little entertainment to the solemn occasion, a musical program was presented.

Mrs. H.A. Bowman from our town pleased her audience with her singing of two numbers, “Homing” and “All the World’s In Love." For these two numbers Wilma Potthoff accompanied her on the piano.

Last on the day’s agenda were two selections performed by members of the Huntington Beach High School Girls’ Glee Club under the able direction of Ruth Harlow. The girls sang “The Persian Serenade” and “Little Orphan Annie.”

By now it was time for the ladies of the convention to retire to their home towns and for the ladies of our Woman’s Club of 1926 it would be time for ponder and reflect on everything that was said during the day-long convention.

So we must never underestimate our ladies when it comes to war and to world politics, especially the ladies of our Woman’s Club. Maybe if their were Womens' Clubs throughout Russia and Latin America things would be much different today.