Editorial [From Where I Sit] Who We Really Are "We're providing Peninsula residents with glimpses inside the heart of our area."

Byline

Our hearts quailed when we learned of February's terrible fire that destroyed Old Monterey's beautiful Alvarado Building, taking with it 22 downtown businesses.

However, the response by everyone, beginning with the firefighters who swarmed onto the scene, followed by city officials, businesspeople, and local institutions all served to illustrate the old adage that "when the going gets tough the tough get going."

Rick Johnson, Executive Director of the Old Monterey Business Association, tells the story of the disaster and the plans for recovery in this month's Transformation column, which is fittingly titled, "From the Ashes Towards the Future." It turns out, according to Rick, that Peninsula residents have been wrestling with destructive fires starting with the invasion of a French pirate almost two centuries ago.

Residents who are familiar with the area's history won't be surprised to learn that plans are being made so that the story of the disaster will end with a concluding chapter featuring a greatly improved Alvarado Street destination.

This month's issue of 65° Magazine provides a cornucopia of Peninsula living delights. Researching for the articles brought our staff into contact with a number of amazing Peninsula residents and institutions.

We were able to peer inside the interesting mind of Carmel resident Larry Wilde, for example, whom the New York Times once called "America's best-selling humorist" because of the 52 volumes of humor-related books that he published. We could have written a book ourselves from the wonderful memories that the man has.

We were able to see inside the Williamsons' charming Great Things Antiques in Carmel and view some crème de la crème from the five 48-foot containers of antiques that they handpick every year in France.

And we got a look behind the scenes at Mary Pagan's Culinary Center of Monterey on Cannery Row. We were amazed by the breadth and depth of Mary's vision and by the extraordinary events that she has carried out.

And we peered into the heart of Monterey's Tana Marie who is working hard to promote the fact that all of us can live as though every day of the year was Valentine's Day, treating the people around us with love; learning to cherish each other and to live on a level of personal delight. Tana Marie has a vision of being able to carry the positive energies of romance into other relationships.

Staff members experienced dining in Monterey's Epsilon Restaurant and learned of Petros "Peter" Mungridis's passion for providing superior Greek cuisine for the Peninsula residents. Some of us learned by personal experience that the cuisine, ambiance, and friendly staff make this a great mealtime destination.

Finally, Dan Shafer got to take a tour conducted by Marcelle Polednik, Director of Collections and Exhibitions at Monterey Museum of Art. She guided him through their current exhibition "Artists at Continent's End," which provided visions from local artists who were painting and drawing in our area 150 years ago. The collection is a beautiful presentation of the artists' works housed in the museum's striking environment.

Everyone associates the Peninsula with tourism. To a certain extent, of course, we're glad about this because of the commercial energies that the visitors continually pump into the area. But the Peninsula is rich with traditions, stories, institutions, and especially wonderfully interesting personalities that tourists would normally never learn about.

The Peninsula culture is like an iceberg. The tourists and occasional visitors only see the tip of what is a rich fabric of history and people that interconnect to make up the total milieu of this amazing area.

Visitors will quickly discover the restaurants on the Wharf, for example, but never imagine the Epsilon's epicurean delights. They might find some of Carmel's art galleries by following their visitor's guides, but completely miss the amazing pictures in Pacific Grove's Lysakov Art Gallery. They might take a tour that goes by Clint Eastwood's Carmel Valley Ranch but never hear any of Larry Wilde's stories or jokes.

With this current issue of 65° Magazine we continued to do what we do best. We're providing Peninsula residents with glimpses inside the heart of our area, providing the information and stories behind the people and institutions that make us who we are; that make this the astonishing place that it is.

Richard Medel
Publisher
rich@65mag.com