[Noozhawk’s note: Fourth in a series. Click here for the first article, click here for the second, click here for the third, and click here for the fifth.]
In our last installment, Santa Barbara’s 17-acre Child Estate had been donated by Lillian Child to the Santa Barbara Foundation, to be used for the public good upon her death.
The foundation recognized that the estate was beyond its scope or mission to manage the property. So, the organization deeded it to the City of Santa Barbara.
While the park land could potentially be a cash cow, instead it became something of a white elephant. The city did not have a clear idea of how best to use it or to pay for its development and upkeep.
Of the many proposals floating around the community for the property, the idea of a zoo had the most staying power.
Park superintendent Finlay MacKenzie (for whom MacKenzie Park is named) loved the idea and envisioned the property becoming a park or a play area for children with a petting zoo.
And the practical, native Scotsman had the perfect group in mind to make it happen: The Jaycees of Santa Barbara.
The Jaycees
It could be argued that the creation of the Santa Barbara Zoo could only have happened in a unique time in our history and with specific people: when the young men and women of World War II — the Greatest Generation — had come of age.
Many of these were the sons and daughters of immigrants who sacrificed much when they arrived after the turn of the 20th century.
During the Depression, all families learned to save, recycle and “re-use” and, in general, how to make practical sacrifices of both time and money for the greater good of the family, community and country.
Furthermore, the Greatest Generation volunteer work ethic was the gold standard, never equaled by the Baby Boomers, who were also willing to work, but always with the beacon of “what’s in it for me?”
And the Alphabet Generations that followed were often likely to think “It’s all about me; who is going to help make it work for me?”
These young men who had come out of WWII felt that if they could win a world war, they could tackle anything on the home front. They were full of life and energy, and personally experienced the good that American ingenuity and teamwork could accomplish.
The Greatest Generation filled and invigorated the memberships of other service organizations — this was the heyday for the Lions, Elks, Moose, Kiwanis, Optimist, American Legion, Toastmasters, Rotary … and the Jaycees.
The Jaycees (originally the “Junior Chamber of Commerce”) were a civic leadership training service organization for young men between the ages of 18 and 36.
Toward that goal, each Jaycees chapter would adopt a “project” to tackle. That is, they would identify a big project to initiate, develop and implement.
These were the young men whose sense of teamwork was formed in the boot camps when the United States entered WWII. Their leadership skills were forged on the battlefields of Europe, Africa and in the Pacific.
Typically it was a one- or two-year project, but the goal was to test out and train up their cumulative skills to better their community.
In Santa Barbara, the Jaycees had manpower — with 200 members strong — and they had motivation, because these young men had families.
This generation was getting married right after high school and college, and did not delay in starting a family. By the age of 30, they had held the same job for several years and were already feeding a family of two to five children … and many still growing.
The Baby Boomer generation were the children of the Jaycees.
This is the group that park superintendent Finlay MacKenzie tapped to consider taking on the vision.
MacKenzie had seen the achievements of the Jaycees locally: the fundraising projects they initiated — such as the Sports Car Races at the airport and the Community Fair — raised $50,000 and directly helped to create Laguna Ball Park, provide playground equipment for city parks, and much more.
In 1959, Jaycees president Bob Kallman held a reception at his Mesa nursery for those very Jaycees volunteers along with grateful Parks & Recreation Commission members to recount and celebrate their recent successful projects.
MacKenzie suddenly exclaimed in his thick Scottish brogue, “Kallman, the Jaycees can do ana-thing! … You know what I am going to do? I’m going to let your guys have the Child Estate!”
While it might have sounded like a hand-off, the Santa Barbara Jaycees accepted it as a challenge. They jumped in with both feet, and armed with a great work ethic put their collective brain power to the test.
It would become an extraordinarily ambitious plan and would prove to be one of the largest, if not THE largest, all-out volunteer efforts organized and successfully implemented in California.
It was a monumental undertaking and an amazing story of our Santa Barbara community, the extent of which is not well known beyond the people doing the work at that time.
The initial concept evolved as a plan to develop the entire Andrée Clark Bird Refuge and Child Estate as one comprehensive activities park.
This vision included a petting zoo for children, a barbecue and picnic area for families, then an amphitheater overlooking the lake (the bird refuge) into which waterfalls and children’s boats would be added.
Ultimately, the Santa Barbara Audubon Society would hold sway that the bird refuge should be preserved, as intended, as a refuge for birds — without noise or activities that would disrupt their habitats. But we digress.
The title of the project was a bit of a play on words. It was to be called “A Child’s Estate” and the vision was all about the families, but named in honor of the woman who had bequeathed the land.
This would become a key factor in both the interest and support that was to follow.
During the 1950s and ’60s, children were not simply “a part” of American life. They were THE central focus of community culture. It was — at this point in our history — truly all “about the children.”
This was because the sheer number of Baby Boomers affected every aspect of life. More houses needed to be built, more streets, more shops and stores, and more schools were needed!
Within eight years, from 1959 to 1967, two entirely new high schools, two new junior high schools and more than a dozen elementary schools were added on the South Coast.
This was the era when Boys & Girls Clubs were sprouting up everywhere and scouting positively flourished.
The Jaycees Action Plan
After throughly inspecting the property, the Jaycees immediately formed The Child’s Estate Committee, then pledged to raise $10,000 to initiate planning and all the proper promotion.
The indefatigable co-chairmen of the Child Estate Development Committee were Art Henzell and Art Locker. Other members included Kallman, past president Lewis Heaton, Williams Hall, William Tarbi, and subsequent presidents Bob Silva and Jack Rose.
The research and detailed planning these two young men and their fellow members undertook was mind-boggling, and was a marvel of organization and strategy.
For two years, they met regularly with Parks & Recreation Department officials, providing updates and information before the City Council, which would need to approve the overall plans first.
To that end, the Jaycees were consulting regularly with public works officials, architects, engineers, and with zoologists and zoo officials from throughout California.
They exhaustively turned over every rock, considered every perspective of activity, scrutinized plans and maps and drawings, artists sketches, and contemplated all details.
Jaycee Williams Hall would serve as the architect to prepare the master plan drawings, and Dr. Donald Hur, a Jaycee and veterinarian, served as animal adviser.
The young men worked on creating a master plan, then set about determining a comprehensive budget.
While they anticipated some community volunteer help and donations, they nonetheless wanted to determine what the real unaided costs would be. Their final computations indicated the Child’s Estate would cost $798,000 — the equivalent of about $8.1 million in 2023 dollars.
The Garden Club of Santa Barbara
In 1960, the Child Estate project began moving as The Garden Cub of Santa Barbara became the first organization to both roll up its sleeves and roll off some dollars.
The opportunity to work on the Child Estate generated the greatest enthusiasm for the Garden Club as its members committed to landscaping four acres in the front.
Mrs. Harold Sheets, the club president, and secretary Francs Lloyd rallied members, who gave a remarkable $2,500 in funds (worth about $26,400 today) to be matched by the Santa Barbara Foundation, which was headed by John Parma.
The Garden Club gift included $400 from Dwight Murphy, for whom the nearby soccer field is named.
Tremendous work was needed first to clear out the years of overgrowth in this “jungle,” and the Garden Club members and spouses poured hours of manpower into clearing out the choking weeds and nuisance plants, and trimming the looming bushes and shrubs.
To their delight, the botanical crew identified fine specimens of cork and live oak, Guadalupe and Italian cypress, majestic palms, giant strelitzia, huge cacti specimens, and rare subtropical specimens.
The Garden Club’s excavations revealed the original winding paths and wooded nooks that could now be restored and incorporated into the estate garden area.
In addition, the clearance uncovered unusual botanical specimens, which the Garden Club eagerly looked forward to adopting and tending.
More generously, the club committed itself to continue the landscaping and maintenance of the gardens, and also to create the pergola and pool.
These ladies and hubbies included the Mmes. Walter Clem, William S. McCaskey, Alton Ruddock, William (Esther) Wheeler III, Richard (Margaret) Tharp, Stephen (Grace) Goodspeed, William (Shirley) Wilson, Stephen (Betsy) Geyman, Peter Cooper (“Girlie Brown”) Bryce, Cameron (Clare) Squires, Fred (Helen) Sheldon, Donald (Jane) Patterson, Logan (Elizabeth) McMenemy, Edward (Katherine) Perot, Francis (Grace) Lloyd, Granville (Eileen) Knight, Harold (Rosamond) Ward, Albert Ruddock (Margaret) along with Parks & Recreation Commission chairman Elmer Awl.
This group also included Dr. John Merritt and his wife, Barbara, who would become lifelong Child’s Estate/Santa Barbara Zoo supporters, and Barbara would serve on the board and as its president for years.
With the land cleared out, it was time to survey the property before development planning. Jaycees came out Saturdays to aid the professional surveyors who donated their time to prepare detailed topographical maps: Penfield & Smith, Ray Martin & Associates, and U.S. Grant & Son.
The Child’s Estate Foundation
In 1961, the Jaycees established the Child Estate Foundation to be a separate nonprofit entity. It would function as fiscal receiver and eventually the governing body for the Child’s Estate, independent of both the Jaycees and the city.
And the Jaycees attracted the attention of Reuben J. Irvin, who agreed to serve as chairman.
This was an indication of just how solid their planning was.
Irvin was an enormously respected community leader, the co-founder of Santa Barbara Bank & Trust, and the 1959 Santa Barbara Man of the Year.
His leadership was a tremendous coup: it meant the Jaycees’ vision and planning were polished enough to attract Irvin’s involvement.
In turn, it gave their project an enormous vote of confidence and credibility.
Irvin’s board of trustees included Henzell, Kallman, Locker, Betsy Geyman, former City Councilman Tony Guntermann, Hosea Williams and Edward Starbuck.
But the Jaycees were not done yet!
They also put together an all-star advisory board to help develop detailed plans for various sections of the Child’s Estate. Their plans would then be submitted to the board of trustees for approval.
1962 — from Planning to Promotions
In anticipation of their upcoming campaign, the Jaycees set up an office at 20 E. Figueroa St., donated by owner William Goldberg. All the office equipment and furniture was donated by the Business Equipment Center, Ebersole Office Equipment and Chick’s Office Items.
Then Jaycee members such as Jerry Gottleib and Jim Peterson staffed the office daily to answer questions and elicit donations of cash or manpower.
No fewer than 100 former Jaycees officers from over the previous 30 years — between 1932 and 1962 — signed on to assist with fundraising and work.
In February, the indefatigable co-chairmen, Art Henzell and Art Locker, and the Jaycees had finished their research, their consults, their meetings, their planning, park and landscaping design, all calculations and budget.
It was a masterful accomplishment.
They put together a 20-page master plan color brochure titled “Proposing a Child’s Estate” outlining the vision and the costs to create the Child’s Estate. And they were ready to pitch it to the community.
The Jaycees took their show on the road. They organized a speaker’s bureau, they broadcast on local radio airwaves, and fanned out to meet service clubs and organizations throughout the city: Rotary, Realtors, Optimists, Kiwanis, Lions, Chamber of Commerce luncheon meetings.
An astounding 72 programs were presented in six months.
The Lions Club began making a master list of possible donors. Then numerous women’s groups assembled to help get the word and the brochures out: the Venture Club headed by Lynn Willingham, Sigma Tau Psi headed by Iris McLane, Junior Women’s Club headed by Rae Noel, the Daughters of Penelope, and the Jaycee Wives, including Phyllis Peterson, Joan Brouilette and chaired by Anne Rose.
They spent hundreds and hundreds of hours in an enormous task of prepping, folding, stuffing and addressing more than 34,900 individual mailing pieces. (Remember, this was before mass mailing, computer-generated stick-on labels!)
After the mailing, the Jaycees had another army of 400 volunteers to make follow-up calls to businesses for donations.
Anniversary Kick-Off Dinner
The Jaycees marked their 30th anniversary with a campaign for the Child’s Estate. This was headed by David Yaeger, who later would become a Santa Barbara County supervisor, and virtually every Jaycee was heavily involved.
Members such as George McKaig, Phil Wilcox, Chris Compagiannis, Robert Silva, Armando Rosales, Bruce Penquite, Bill Lewellyn, Si Jenkins and John Aquistapace stepped forward to provide everything from elbow grease to enthusiasm.
The Jaycees planned an ambitious kick-off fundraising banquet. George Velliotes chaired the event, working with members Jerry Gottlieb, Ernie Soloman, Chuck Schmandt, Tom Colsen, Len Schalla, Bert Dzur, Dan O’Connor, Richard Turer and John Roberts.
The event would attract more than 50 civic organizations, as well as top city officials.
Mayor Edward Abbott proclaimed the entire week “Junior Chamber of Commerce Week in Santa Barbara.”
“Only” 500 people showed up enthusiastically at the old Miramar Hotel in Montecito.
Moreover, the Jaycees attracted the attention and participation of TV personality Steve Allen, the founder of The Tonight Show — an astonishing coup.
Interestingly, Allen’s stated decision to star at the dinner event as master of ceremonies was inspired by the project’s benefit to the entire community, particularly with families.
Allen’s emphasis was an important signs of the times.
It wasn’t simply that people were supportive of a project benefiting those with families. It is important to recognize again, that at this point in history, children were the major focus of life and culture.
In February 1962, the Santa Barbara News-Press devoted an entire section of the newspaper to the stories and news about the Jaycees, their history, their accomplishments, and the plan and campaign for a Child’s Estate park and petting zoo.
The next month, several open houses were held at the Child Estate and more than 1,000 people — excited and curious — came through to see the property and the vision the Jaycees had for the community.
Donations
In response to the appeals and the campaigning, the community response was staggering. They came forward with donations — of not only time, but tithes and in-kind.
Milpas Street merchants under president Richard Bickmore unanimously pledged to take responsibility of the entire picnic area.
Santa Barbara Child Development group pledged to pay for several benches.
More than 100 local clubs donated money or committed volunteers, from the Junior Women’s Club to the Santa Barbara Lawn Bowls Club.
And even over at the then-County Bowl, the tri-county Barbershop Harmony Festival was a benefit for the Child’s Estate.
When a call was put out for the public to donate — rather than throw out — their old garden tools, the community answered the call with rakes, shovels, picks, spades, hoes, lawn mowers and garden hoses.
Among the first cash contributions was $3,000 from Goleta land developer H.C. Elliott. Bill Wilson of Wilson Furniture gave $1,000. The Optimists donated $500 to purchase plants. The Shrine Club gave $500.
A team of several hundred members of UC Santa Barbara sororities and fraternities worked to canvass neighborhood businesses for donations.
Companies from Neal Feay to State Farm Insurance to Bekins Storage, Powell Garage, Tom Williams Oldsmobile, Low’s TV & Radio, Don and Shirley’s Pony Rides, Economy Supply, to Star Rug Cleaners and several hundred more all made contributions and pledges to the project.
Seven small companies got together to pledge $500 each — for a total of $3,500. Other pledges from individuals and businesses gave $75, $40, $20 — it all added up.
Santa Barbara Amvets even hosted a donkey baseball game with proceeds to benefit the Child’s Estate.
One note came from a Los Angeles family who visited the area monthly with the intent to establish a home in Montecito. It seems that every visit, their 9-year-old daughter loved feeding the birds at the bird refuge, and could not wait to become part of the Santa Barbara community to see more animals.
“When we heard of the proposed Child’s Estate,” the parents wrote, “our daughter, Penny, immediately wanted to contribute some of her own money to this happy project.”
Enclosed was a $10 check.
The significance of these donations should not be overlooked. This was an enormous grassroots campaign in every sense.
Santa Barbara was long past its Golden Age of philanthropy — roughly 1905 to 1930 — in the era of Fleischmann, Knapp, Peabody, Billings and Gray.
And this was long before our current “Platinum Age of Philanthropy” in which people donate hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars.
In the 1960s, even comparably speaking, these were small donations. A very large gift would have been the equivalent of $10,000 to $30,000 today — so these were modest sums.
But there were a lot of them … everyone wanted to contribute something. And it all added up.
• • •
The Child’s Estate had now been cleared out, cleaned up and built upon. Donations for the project were raised up, gathered in and spent out.
While there were still many areas to be improved, enlarged and expanded, the Jaycees were looking to be ready for a modest opening of the Child’s Estate by the summer of 1963.
All they needed were a few animals.
Next up: Part V — On to the Zoo.
