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BARRON PARK ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER

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8VectorControl

6Technology& VegetableGardens

6City StudiesPhase-Out ofHazmat at CPI

7Good Old Fashion Summer Camp

4Block PreparednessCoordinators

9History:Shelley andCarl Mydans

2President’sMessage

3Big TurnoutFor AnnualMeeting

I N S I D E

Come and enjoy live musicians anddancers. They will perform all after-noon, with a Maypole dance at 2:30.

Bring the family and a blanket and make apicnic of it. Enjoy Driftwood Market sand-wiches and bake-sale desserts. Hamburg-ers and hot dogs will also be for sale. Wearribbons. There will also be jugglers, gamesand crafts for the children, donkeys anddonkey art, and the history exhibit.

JOIN US FOR MAY FETE 2010!SUNDAY, MAY 16TH AT BOL PARK FROM NOON TO 4 PM

Activities will include face painting forchildren, donkey parade, history exhibit,fire truck and more. Suggestions for otheractivities from the Barron Park communityare welcome.The fete is a volunteer effort. If you'd liketo help, or if you'd like to propose a dis-play or activity, contact the event organizerJohn King at 650-483-2710.

Join/Renew BPA Today!We hope you enjoy reading the“Membership” issue of the BarronPark Newsletter. This issue is sent toall residents in Barron Park and marksthe start of our Membership campaignfor 2010–2011. You can find the mem-bership application in the center ofthis issue.Members of the Barron Park Associa-tion will receive three more issues ofour newsletter during the course of theyear. You won’t want to miss any ofthese issues, so fill out the membershipapplication, clip it out and send it inalong with your membership duesright away! Alternatively you canjoin/renew online at http://www.bpaonline.org/, and click onthe “HOW to JOIN” button.Your membership in the Barron ParkAssociation also supports BPA spon-sored social events, such as the upcom-ing May Fete, our popular BPA emaillists, and our neighborhood’s effortson Emergency Preparedness. In addi-tion, only members of the Associationare eligible to participate in our BPABabysitting List and take advantage ofthe new BPA-jobpostings email list.Join/renew today!

Save June 27 for Green Tour

The second ever Barron Park GreenTour of energy-saving homes andsustainable gardens is set for June 27.

Watch for announcements by email andpost card. Brought to you by the BarronPark Green Team.

B A R R O N P A R K 2 A S S O C I A T I O N

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Are You a Member of the BarronPark Association?

You’ll know for sure if you got fourgreat newsletters last year and readabout:

n The history of the Verna Jean School thatexisted for 30 years on La Selva Drive. n The new electronic job exchange we setup to match job seekers (especially youngones) with people who needed a small taskcompleted. n How neighbors near Cypress Lane joinedtogether to clean up that alley (between Mil-itary and Barron) and got the City to help. n What’s going to happen to ArastraderoRoad this summer (re-striping to threelanes from Donald Drive to El Camino).n The heyday of restaurant row—about themany eating establishments that have linedEl Camino Real since the 1930s.n Who is behind the native plant garden atthe corner of Matadero and Laguna on theedge of Bol Parkn The first installment in an oral history ofgrowing up in Barron Park, featuring BobHenschel.Besides publishing a popular newsletter,the Barron Park Association has other suc-cesses for our neighborhood. We have oneof the best organized emergency prepared-ness programs in Palo Alto. The programoperates under the umbrella of the Palo

Alto Neighborhoods Association (whichprovides leadership, training sessions andcitywide organization), but we have leadthe way by being the first to outfit ourBlock Preparedness Coordinators (BPCs)with orange vests and training binders cre-ated by Lydia Kou (our Neighborhood andSafety chair). Both are being copied by oth-ers neighborhoods.The Association sponsors major annualevents, such as its May Fete, annual meet-ing, welcoming party and caroling party. Inthe past year, we allocated funds to thenative garden plot which helped seal thedeal for a substantial donation from thePalo Alto Parks Foundation.During the past year, we lost two veryvaluable Board members: John St. Clair,who started his tenure by organizing theMay Fete three years ago and ended it asvice president, and Mircea Voskerician,who was our business liaison and whowrote features on several of our neighbor-hood businesses. We thank them both forcommitting time and care to our neighbor-hood. Now we badly need several peopleto step up and help the rest of us carry theload. Being on the Board is fun and inter-esting because you know everything that’sgoing on around you and even get achance to influence local policy decisions.It is not hard work—just a matter of carv-ing out a meeting per month.Join now—the Association, the Board or both!

P R E S I D E N T ’ S M E S S A G EBy Lynnie Melena, BPA President

All those who care aboutPerry and Niner seek toguarantee their proper

on-going care and shelter, as wellas to ensure that assets will beavailable for health concerns asthe donkeys age. The handlershope that those generous neigh-bors who have contributed in thepast will consider increasing theirsupport this year. Contributions for thedonkeys’ care may be sent to: The PaloAlto Donkey Project, ACTERRA (Action

for a Sustainable Earth), 3921East Bayshore Road, Palo Alto,CA 94303-4303. The check mustbe made out to “ACTERRA-PaloAlto Donkey Fund.” All of theabove must be included.For further information aboutmaking a contribution on behalfof the donkeys, or if you would

like information about how to become oneof the volunteer donkey handlers, pleasecall Bob Frost, 493-8272 or email [email protected].

Help Support the Barron Park Donkeys!

BARRON PARK ASSOCIATION

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Lynnie Melena, PresidentArt Liberman, Vice President

Linda Elder, SecretaryJohn King, Treasurer

Nancy HamiltonChristian Kalar

Lydia KouGwen Luce

Doug Morann

Committee/Activity ChairsBeautification: Vacant

Civic Affairs Liaison: Doug MoranParks & Creeks: Christian KalarEnvironmental: Art Liberman

Green Team: Lynnie Melena (acting)History: Doug Graham

Holiday Party: Don AndersonMay Fete: John King

Membership: Art LibermanNeighborhood Businesses Liaison: Vacant

Neighborhood Safety & Preparedness:Lydia Kou

Newsletter: Nancy HamiltonSeniors: Vacant

Traffic & Streets: Lynnie MelenaWelcoming: Gwen Luce

Zoning & Land Use: Vacantn

BPA meetings are held the 3rdTuesday of most months at 7:15 p.m.

Call Lynnie Melena for location: 493-2135www.bpaonline.org


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Emergency Preparedness Chair Lydia Kou (teaming with Bob Sikora)described the emergency preparedness program for Barron Park.

City Manager Jim Keene gave an audience of over 100 residents aprimer on the City of Palo Alto budget which will be experiencing bigcuts in the next year.

Barron Park and City officials after the meeting: Councilmemberand Gunn High graduate Yiahway Yeh; BPA Board member DougMoran; BPA Board president Lynnie Melena; Mayor Pat Burt; Coun-cilmember and Barron Park resident Gail Price; Planning andTransportation Commissioner and Barron Park resident SamirTuma, and City Manager Jim Keene.

Block Preparedness Coordinators and neighborhood PANDAs.

Big Turnout for 2010 Annual Association Meeting


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Iwould like to introduce yourBlock Preparedness Coordinators(BPCs) to you.

Who and What are BPCs?

BPCs are Block Preparedness Coor-dinators who are your neighbors.They have volunteered for this posi-tion to promote emergency pre-paredness education, getting neigh-bors set up with Emergency FamilyPlans and Emergency Supply Kits,checking in on residents with specialneeds during emergencies and get-ting updated phone tree lists are justsome of the tasks. The list is longand for 2010, the BPC team goal is toresolve to have residents have: 1) aPlan, 2) a Kit and 3) to Be Aware.Additionally, BPCs play a major roleduring times of disaster by being the“eyes and ears” for certified FirstResponders, PANDAs (Palo AltoNeighborhood Disaster Activities).If you or someone in your householdwould like to request special helpduring an emergency owing to age,handicap, critical medical devices,etc., please fill out and turn in theEmergency Preparedness Surveypage in this newsletter.

B A R R O N P A R K BLOCK PREPAREDNESS COORDINATORS (BPC)

By Lydia Kou, Chair, Emergency Preparedness & Safety Committee

Pat [email protected]

Donna [email protected]

Jeff [email protected]

Annette McGarrLa [email protected]

Joan MarxLa [email protected]

Marie MandoliLa [email protected]

Sheila MandoliLa [email protected]

Pat [email protected]

Barron Park is a large neighborhoodand some streets are not fully coveredor are simply not covered at all. WENEED YOU to fill in the blank areas.To find out the Block PreparednessCoordinators coverage areas, pleaselog onto Barron Park Association’swebsite at www.bpaoline.org, click theActivities & Committees tab and thenthe Emergency/Earthquake Preparednesslink. Then click the link for BPC Cov-erage Map. Place your cursor over acolored shape and click. As you willnotice in this map, large portions ofBarron Park are not colored whichmeans there is no coverage there.Again, we need YOU!

Emergency Preparedness, whetheryou need help or if you want to vol-unteer, is all inclusive, members andnon-members, homeowner and non-homeowner. It is all about communi-ty, “Neighbor helping Neighbor.”

To find our further information aboutthe BPC Program or the PANDA pro-gram, please contact me [email protected] and/or (650) 996-0028

Block Preparedness Coordinatorshave City of Palo Alto-issued IDbadges. Please ask to see the badgeswhen the BPCs come visiting.

Not shown: Steve Denger (BarronSquare/Thain Way), [email protected]; Jeanne Chisholm (LaPara), [email protected];Donna Pioppi (El Cerrito), [email protected]; Sally O’Neil (Barron Ave.),[email protected]; MauriceGreen (Thain Way), [email protected]; Gisele Green (Thain Way),[email protected].


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Karl KonnerthEncina [email protected]

Larry ReevesLos [email protected]

Katia ReevesLos [email protected]

Solomon WongLos [email protected]

Marianne [email protected]

Jean [email protected]

Margarita Casanova CohenLa Jennifer [email protected]

Janet LeaderLa [email protected]

Darren [email protected]

Robbie [email protected]

Robin [email protected]

Teena JamesEl [email protected]

Daniel [email protected]

Heike [email protected]

Irwin [email protected]

Joseph [email protected]

Lynnie [email protected]

Leila Van [email protected]

Becky [email protected]

Joel DavidsonBarron Square, Thain [email protected]


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Starting Vegetable Gardens With A Little Help From TechnologyBy Nancy Lewis

Even if you have some experience inplanning a vegetable garden, twouseful online tools can help stream-

line, record and store each season's activi-ties. These are especially good for begin-ners or the overwhelmed who aren't surewhat to plant when. Plangarden and Growveg are both web-based applications with generous trialperiods. Both are easy to use with lots ofinformation and are programmed by avidgardeners who also happen to be softwaredesigners. Each continues to improve theirinterface with helpful features explainedby enjoyable tutorials, and both maintainyour records from year to year. As calcula-tion resources and a way to jump startyour spring planning, they are very differ-ent in some respects. After trying themboth, I found their features complimentary,so it would be hard to choose just one.Growveg (www.growveg.com) has an exten-sive plant list with unusual varieties, a lotof well-written information including howto garden with children, and a great blog.However, the drawing and design tools area bit limited and convoluted, although notdifficult. It has a crop rotation featurewhich flashes when you design a bed forthe next season with repeating plant fami-lies. A bar chart indicating planting and

harvest times is a boon to the novice gar-dener. With a trial period of 30 days, thesubscription price is $25 per year or $40 for2 years, and gift certificates are available.Plangarden (www.plangarden.com) is a larg-er program and less expensive, with morefeatures and easier to use drawing tools.HIghlighted features are a harvest calcula-tor, area-per-vegetable calculator, gardenlog which is exportable to Excel, plantingbar chart and a forum with optional gar-den plan sharing. Heavy on tool features,the program's plant list is meager, generaland not customizable yet. The trial periodis 45 days, with a subscription price of $20per year or $36 for 3 years. Rates are dis-counted for public schools and qualifyingnon-profit organizations.

The City of Palo Alto is investigatingphasing out the use and storage ofhazardous chemicals at the Commu-

nications and Power Industries (CPI) siteon El Camino Real and Hansen Way in theStanford Research Park. CPI uses andstores more of these highly toxic materialsthan any other facility in Palo Alto. Thebulk of these materials are in a platingshop and in the associated chemical stor-age and delivery areas at the rear of one ofits buildings, just behind homes on Chi-malus Drive. The process being studied by the City,called amortization, would grant CPI some

time before any changes in zoning rulestake effect in order to allow CPI to recoupits investment. After that time, CPI wouldbe required to remove the chemicals andrelocate that part of its manufacturing pro-cess elsewhere. The City has followed thisprocedure in the past, including nearbyauto repair shops on El Camino Real whichwere rezoned in the late 1970s and amor-tized over 15–20 years.Steps toward the City’s amortization studybegan last summer. A group of residents,including Jeff Dean, Bill Kelly and ArtLiberman, met with City Manager JamesKeene, Deputy City Manager Steve Emslie

For the iPhone app-savvy, the free PocketGarden, a mobile growing guide for veg-etable gardens features information onmany types of vegetables with a customiz-able list. For $1.99, Vegetable Garden isanother encyclopedia-style app with plant-ing and harvest chart, and garden pest list.However, the chart is based on the UK andIreland, not a mediterranean climate. (AndI found a typo.) Botanical Interests at $5.99has growing and harvesting information, amultiple-criteria search for 300 varieties,favorites list, garden tips, and a 5% couponfor your first seed order. Although they are no substitute for handson experience and the wisdom of garden-ing neighbors, these tools of technology arestill wonderful for getting a jump start onthe season or into a vegetable garden forthe first time. The generous trial periodsallow ample time for exploring the pro-grams to see how they can supplementyour food gardening activities. It’s prettyamazing to be able to carry around anencyclopedic app in your pocket, too.

and Director of Planning and CommunityEnvironment Curtis Williams. The Cityofficials acknowledged there is no place fora hazardous material site that poses therisk of a serious toxic fume release adjacentto residences in Palo Alto. As a result ofthose discussions, it was agreed that theCity would hire a consultant to prepare anamortization study of the CPI plating shopthat would analyze the steps necessary toremove and or relocate the plating shop. This group of residents had been veryactive in organizing others in the Chi-malus/Matadero area to pressure the Cityto take action after a release of nitric acid

City Studies Phase-Out of Hazmat at CPIBy Art Liberman


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fumes from CPI drifted over the neighbor-hood following a February 2006 accident(which CPI did not report to the Palo Altoemergency response authorities and forwhich it was fined $20,000). In 2007 theCity Council passed zoning changes thatrequire facilities using large amounts ofhazardous materials to be at least 300 feetfrom residences. But this requirementapplies only to new or newly reconstructedfacilities and does not directly affect theexisting CPI hazardous material site. Since2006, there have been several smaller toxicvapor releases and spills from CPI. Resi-dents feel that, because of their proximityto the hazardous materials and the speedof a spreading toxic gas plume, a seriousincident affecting their safety could hap-pen at any time.The amortization study, conducted by theSan Francisco consulting firm CBRE, isnow underway. Planning staff met withthe consultant team on January 20 andturned over relevant permit information,assessments and other pertinent land usedata. The study will consider the remain-ing useful or economic lives of the build-ings as well as the improvements andequipment within the buildings. Chimalus/Matadero area residents whoread about the amortization study in a PaloAlto Weekly article (February 26, 2010) areencouraged by the steps the City has takenso far. These residents, who have put upwith this situation for many years, are stillfuming over how they were left out of thedecision process in 2004–2005, when CPIremodeled their facility, and made a badsituation for them even worse. The keyoutcome of the study, which will be keenlywatched by residents, will be how long atime frame the City study proposes to giveCPI for the phase out period. Planning Director Williams said he wouldhold a meeting with residents to discussthe specifics of the study and to solicitcommunity input. But before that happens,he plans to meet with CPI managementabout the process.Steve Emslie, Deputy City Manager, saidhe expects to receive a draft report fromthe consultant by the end of March thatwould be reviewed by City staff and madepublicly available sometime in April. Healso said he anticipates the study will rec-ommend zoning changes that will need togo through the Planning and Transporta-tion Commission and the City Council,which could take another four to sixmonths before being adopted.

Among the fruit trees, fish pondand turtles, children gather in thesummer on Barron Park’s La Para

Avenue to swing on a zip line or waterplay, all at the enchanting large backyardand home of Chaia May. Each day offers creative art and construc-tion activities or musical guests arrive at“Camp Chaia.” With the relaxed andengaging fun, campers don’t want toleave! The kids feel very comfortable andenjoy playing as she weaves in threads ofscience and nature, music and art, lan-guage and cooking and social skill devel-opment throughout the day. Children areencouraged to try new activities, such asYoga or drumming, and are encouraged todig in fully.Chaia May is a local fulltime educator andmusic teacher with a flair for creative playand a can-do attitude she imparts on herstudents. Always with a warm smile, sheis inviting and talented in welcoming chil-dren to explore new activities. In the sum-mertime, Chaia opens her home and setsup fun-filled and thematic week-longsummer camps for children ranging from4–13. The camps for the older childreninclude field trips to the Coast and visitsto farms and overnight camping. Theyounger ones explore the neighborhoodand with art and science projects and meetvisiting performing guests.Chaia hires teen counselors to assist andshe and trains them in conflict resolution,safety, and in Chaia’s philosophy of"extending play" so campers start with

their own experiential learning and aretaken further in their explorations with theteens warmth and skills. With the very good camper-counselorsratio, “Camp Chaia” can offer a lot of indi-vidual attention. This summer, Chaia isformally inviting children with SensoryIntegration, ADHD and Autism to joincamp and have skilled help for kids togain social skills and have fun in a safenew environment.Each camp week has a theme. Some aretravel camps, taking children to the NorthBay daily to explore all the animal sites:including visiting hands on programs atrehabilitation centers, touring at Twilightat the SF Zoo, or visiting with WildlifeRescue. During the second week, CampChaia will take children to live on a farmfor a few days and explore with the chil-dren of farmworkers working and learn-ing on a farm and also get a behind thescenes tour of the Monterey Aquarium.This year, the last week of Camp Chaiaalso has a Spanish Immersion componentwith an International Arts camp. Childrencan join a band, do drama, dance and artall combined with outdoor play and cul-tural activities!Camp generally run from 9:30–3:30. Schol-arships and extended care are available.For more information, call Chaia at 650-493-3450 or email: [email protected], or visit http://learningplaywithchaiamay.net/home.html.

Hope to see you there!

Good Old Fashion Neighborhood Summer CampBy Beth Delson


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Good news about the Light BrownApple Moth (LBAM) quarantine:We are now free to share plants

among ourselves within the quarantinearea. Neighborhood Master Gardener AnnBurrell has passed along the word from thecounty Master Garden director.As with produce, which was approved fortransport between properties last sum-mer, we should inspect the materials andmove only healthy fruits and foliage fromour yards.To check for evidence of the LBAM, lookfor lines of surface damage on fruits andleaves from the caterpillars, and for thetents spun of fine white threads where theinsects pupate. Please dispose of any suspi-cious clippings through the city compost,which is treated as though tainted.In other good LBAM news, the statereleased a map at the end of February thatclearly excludes our neighborhood fromany potential aerial spraying ofpheromones. The LBAM eradication planallows for spraying only in "essentiallyunpopulated" areas, defined as fewer than100 residents per square mile, and exclud-ing urban parks and environmentally sen-sitive areas.

Approved eradication efforts in populatedareas include the release of sterile speci-mens, pheromone-baited twist ties intend-ed to disrupt the moth's mating patterns,and ongoing inspection of commercialnurseries within the quarantine area. Thefirst test releases of sterile insects started inSeptember.

Vector Control—State Relaxes LBAM Quarantine GuidelinesBy Sue Luttner

The cross-hatching shows areas where aerial spraying of pheromones would be allowed ifeventually deemed necessary. So far, there are no plans for spraying anywhere in Santa ClaraCounty.

LBAM larvae spin a protective tent of whitefibers, often in a curl of leaf or a crevice inthe fruit, where the pupae mature. If youfind foliage in your yard with evidence ofthe LBAM, please dispose of it in the citycompost bins.

B A R R O N P A R K A S S O C I A T I O NN E W S L E T T E R

Barron Park Association724 Barron Avenue

Palo Alto, California 94306

Nancy “Jo” HamiltonE D I T O R

Patrick CoyneD E S I G N E R

Doug Graham, Lynnie Melena, Gwen Luce

C O P Y E D I T O R S

Beth Delson, Douglas Graham, Lydia Kou, Nancy Lewis, Art Liberman,

Sue Luttner, Lynnie MelenaC O N T R I B U T O R S

The state has been using baited traps totrack the spread of the LBAM, an Aus-tralian agricultural pest, since the firstspecimen was discovered in the East Bay inthe spring of 2007. Santa Clara County hasshown a slow but steady increase in itsmoth count: While our numbers remainsmall (540 specimens collected in SantaClara County over three years, 384 in thepast year), the number of moths per traphas increased dramatically (from 0.003 inthe summer of 2007 to 0.062 in 2009). Illus-trating how mild the local infestation is,the trapping rate in San Francisco this pastsummer was 63.079, and the total count inSan Francisco has reached nearly 79,000.The state's conclusion from the trappingnumbers is that the pest was indeed intro-duced to California in the past few years.The goal of the LBAM project is to eradi-cate the pest, although not everyone con-siders that goal attainable.


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In the early 1950s, Barron Park wasbriefly the home of two of the mostfamous people who have ever lived

here: the then-famous Time-Life combatphotographer and war correspondent teamof Carl and Shelley Smith Mydans. Thisarticle is a much abbreviated version oftheir productive and fascinating careers.They both wrote books about their experi-ences and many of the quotes in this articleare from those sources.When Shelley returned to the U.S. in thesummer of 1950 from a three-year workstint in Japan, she initially lived with hermother at Stanford University. For Shelley,who was a native of Palo Alto and a Stan-ford Alumna, the relocation to Palo Altowas a return home.A New House on Matadero Hill

Shelley began looking for a permanenthome for Carl, she and their two children,and soon located a property in BarronPark. Construction started in the autumnon a custom-built, modern, ranch-stylehome at 995 Matadero Avenue. The site,

A Journalistic Team in War and PeaceSHELLEY AND CARL MYDANS—FORMER RESIDENTS OF BARRON PARK

By Douglas L. Graham, Barron Park Historian

near Matadero Creek, looked out over oak-dotted cow pastures where the StanfordResearch Park now sprawls. From remarks made later to reporters writ-ing stories about the famous couple, itappears that they planned to reside perma-nently in the neighborhood. However, fatein the guise of Time-Life Managementintervened, as it did so often in theircareers and personal lives, and they had toleave Barron Park long before they proba-bly planned to. This is their story.A Palo Alto Girl

Shelley was a native of Palo Alto, havingbeen born on May 20, 1915 in the old PaloAlto Hospital to Professor and Mrs. EverettW. Smith. Professor Smith was founder andhead of the Journalism Department at Stan-ford. Both her parents were writers and shesaid, later in life, that she had invariablygone to sleep to the sound of typewriters.She attended school in the Palo Alto Uni-fied School District and graduated fromPaly. She was attending Stanford Universi-ty in 1936—her senior year—when she leftfor New York City to become a dancer and

actress. However, she instead took a job atThe Literary Digest and later joined the staffof the brand-new LIFE magazine as aresearcher (see Photo A, Shelley Mydans).There, in 1938, she met and married LIFEphotographer Carl Mydans. A Boston Boy

Carl Mydans was born May 20, 1907 inBoston, Massachusetts. His grandfatherhad been a bookbinder in a villa nearOdessa in the Ukraine. His father was aprofessional musician. After his birth, thefamily moved to Medford on the MysticRiver where Carl grew up. He worked inboatyards after school and on weekendsand began developing his strong workethic, his ability to learn, and his desire todo the best that he could in anything thathe worked on. He began writing, and soldlocal stories to the Medford Daily Mercuryfor three dollars each. He later sold storiesto the Boston Globe and Boston Heraldbefore graduating from Boston UniversitySchool of journalism at 23 (see Photo B,Carl in Manila, 1945).Picturing the Poor People of theSouth

After graduation from Boston University,Carl went to New York City and workedas a reporter for the American Banker news-paper. Soon he was recruited to work forthe Farm Security Administration, whichwas trying to deal with the economic andsocial devastation of the Great Depression.His mission was to photograph the ruralpoor in the West and Midwest, New Eng-land and the South, particularly in hard-hitArkansas. He bought one of the new 35mmcameras, which facilitated a new style ofphotography. He generally used availablelight rather than flash bulbs. One editorsaid there was depth and a sense of actioncaught in the pictures that brought excite-ment to the page. Carl Mydans becameadept, then expert with the new cameraand he exemplified “the new breed” ofphotographer.Carl Comes to LIFE and Marriage

However, Carl really hit his stride in hisprofession when he took the job with the

Photo A: Shelley Smith Mydans (date and

source of photo unknown).

Photo B: Carl Mydans, Manila 1945

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brand-new photographic news and featuremagazine, LIFE. And the first thing LIFEdid with their new recruit in November,1936, was to send him to Hollywood tophotograph stars—his first and last “soft”assignment. Next he went to West Texas torecord the last great cattle drive from Mexi-co and then to the new oil boom towns ofEast Texas. He took assignments anywhere,and criss-crossed the country, staying incheap hotels or little rest camps—anywherethat advertised “ice-cold running water”for developing his film. But he spentenough time at headquarters to meet, wooand wed a bright and attractive LIFEresearcher from California, Shelley Smith.Shelley and Carl Cover the Out-break of World War II

When Hitler invaded Poland on September1, 1940, Carl was on a shoot of advancedmilitary aircraft, at Wright Field in Dayton,Ohio. He was ordered back to New Yorkand brought in to confer with the editors.They were also talking with Shelley and ittranspired that they wanted to send themboth to Europe as a photo-journalist teamto cover the rapidly expanding war. AsCarl told the story later, “…as you know,at LIFE magazine no decision is ever madeuntil there isn’t (any) time (left) to go homeand get your toothbrush.” But someonethought of gas masks and was able to

inveigle two of them from the army,“…one for Shelley, and one for me.” Oneeditor gave Shelley the gift of a money belt,and another one did the same for Carl. Butnobody thought of visas, and they sent theteam off without any. Carl said; “Somehowwe made it to Europe, though, and thenbecause the French and the Germans satquietly watching each other in whatbecame known as the “phony war,” wewere sent to London. It was while we wereworking there on Britain preparing for warthat the news suddenly came that the Rus-sians had bombed Helsinki (the capital ofFinland), and that was really the beginningof my wartime career.”The Russo-Finnish War and OtherPrequels

Carl immediately left for Stockholm, andthen to the far-North Finnish frontier,where he walked across a frozen river toenter the country. He worked with theFinnish Army and took a lot of photos offrozen Russian dead. The censors wouldnot release any photos of Finnish dead.Even though the initial battle was a disasterfor the Russians, they so outnumbered theFinns that the war was short and Russiagobbled a great chunk of southern Finland.During this time, Shelley stayed in Stock-holm, editing and captioning his film, writ-ing copy and shipping it all to New York.

From Helsinki, Carl was sent to Rome tophotograph the strutting dictator Mussoli-ni and his fascist troops, who were lessthan enthusiastic about joining Germany inthe war. When Hitler finally unleashed hispanzer tank divisions against France inMay, 1940, Carl was there briefly but leftbefore the French and British collapse andthe French armistice with Germany. Carland Shelley were recalled to New York onJuly 4, 1940 for a respite.An Assignment to the War inChina

In early 1941, Time-Life publisher HenryLuce, a strong supporter of the NationalistChinese leader Chiang Kai-Shek, sent Shel-ley and Carl to cover the Japanese “bom-bardment” of China. China was torn by theinvasion and war forced upon it by themilitary dictatorship of Imperial Japan,When Carl and Shelley were sent there,full-scale war between Japan and Chinahad already been underway for about fouryears (the infamous “Rape of Nanking,”the Nationalist Capital, had been in 1937). The Mydans team was sent to the new cap-ital, Chungking. Shelley said that theirhome in Chungking (now Chongqing) was“…a single cubicle with a mud floor andthatch roof.” Carl said; “(the hut) wascalled the press hostel: fifteen to eighteenof us from various countries who lived inlittle adobe mud huts with straw roofs – norunning water or sewerage. The heart ofthe story was in Chungking, which in thefirst months we were there was bombed bythe Japanese virtually every day and oftenat night. They stayed in China about eightmonths, until, in the fall of 1941, Japan’smilitary grip on the country tightened andmost Americans left China. From China, the Mydanses acceptedassignments in Burma, Singapore andMalaya. It was in one of those locations(most likely Singapore) that a picture wastaken of Shelley and Carl together, talkingwith some Sikh Indian troops. As far as Iknow, this is the only photograph of Shel-ley and Carl in the field, working together(see Photo C, Shelley and Carl with troops).Bad Luck in Manila

The Mydanses went to the Philippines inOctober, 1941, to cover the war prepara-tions there. Carl later told that “…wefound General MacArthur (who was com-mander-in-chief of the Philippine Army)trying to build an army out of promises

Photo C: Shelley and Carl Mydans talking with Sikh Indian troops, 1941.


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and a willing people who were lacking inmateriel and training. The sense ofapproaching war was very strong and wewere not reassured when an officer onMacArthur’s staff told us that we shouldbe ready to hold off an attack “by March.”That was three months away, and we gotthe impression that he thought theJapanese would wait that long. But ofcourse they didn’t.”Trapped!

Carl said, “In a state of intense activity weshipped our story on the preparations forwar in the Philippines.” It went out on aPan American Clipper, which turned outto be the last commercial plane to fly outof Manila in four years. That was onDecember 8 (December 7 in the USA).Japanese air raids struck Pearl Harbor,Hong Kong and the Philippines that sameday. “Just before the cables were blownand all communications cut we received amessage from New York that the storyhad arrived and was the lead for LIFE forthat week. But by then the Japanese hadinvaded, brushed aside the small Ameri-can force and the barely trained PhilippineArmy and had drawn a net around Mani-la, and Shelley and Carl were trapped.They spent the next two years in Japaneseinternment camps.

The SantoTomas Intern-ment Camp

After the Americanand Philippine forceswithdrew fromManila and declaredit an “open” (unde-fended) city, theJapanese armymoved in to occupythe capital. Within afew days, all Ameri-can and Europeancivilians in Manilawere rounded up orturned themselves infor “registration” atSanto Tomas Univer-sity. As Shelley tells inher novel The OpenCity, they expectedto be allowed toreturn to their homesafter registration and

to be repatriated to their respective coun-tries soon thereafter. They were told tobring only a change of clothes and food forthree days—nothing else. When theyarrived at the administration building ofthe abandoned university, they wereassigned, about 20 men or 20 women, toeach small, bare room with no furniture.They slept on the concrete floors, on theirextra clothing. Slowly they acquired blan-kets, straw mattresses and a few otheramenities, mostly from Filipino friendswho braved humiliations and injuries fromthe Japanese guards to provide food andpersonal items to internees. Ultimatelythere were about 3,700 prisoners in thecamp. Although they did not know itwhen they entered the gate, this was to bethe home of most of them for the next threeyears (see Photo D, the Gymnasium filledwith hundreds of internee cots).In an interview for a book on his work,Carl related his feelings when herded intoSanto Tomas; “…suddenly I was sitting ona concrete floor in a prison camp without acamera in my hands, a dream gone out ofme. Everything had stopped for me whileoutside the world was still going on. It wasthe most difficult period of my life, espe-cially the first weeks, when the war ragednearby on Bataan and Corregidor andJapanese planes flew overhead and the

Photo E: Advertisement in the San FranciscoChronicle, February 15, 1945.

Photo D: Part of the Gymnasium at Santo Tomas Internment Camp,Manila 1945, showing hundreds of internee cots. Many of theinternees kept personal possessions on top of their mosquito net-ting during the daytime.

sounds of bombing and artillery fire cameinto the camp night and day. I lost twoyears of covering the world.”Sorting Weevils

Shelley became involved in helping thevolunteer committee run the camp. Shewas a monitor of the women’s room and amember of the sanitation committee, one ofthe detail which picked weevils out of thecereal before cooking. After eight and one half months at SantoTomas, Shelley and Carl were shipped toShanghai on a Japanese troop transportand interned again at Chapei (the CivilAssembly Center near Shanghai), spendinganother year in captivity there.Lucky to Leave Internment Behind

Shelley wrote in 1944, in the foreword toher novel, The Open City: “We were amongthe fifteen hundred out of fifteen thousandcivilian prisoners of the Japanese (Ameri-


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cans and Europeans) whose luck wasgood; we came home to America on thelast trip of the exchange ship Gripsholm, inDecember, 1943. We left Chapei on a hot,bright Chinese morning and rode out thegate to freedom—the luckiest people in theworld looking back at the unlucky. Theystood behind us in a crowd at the mainbuilding, their arms raised in farewell. The“band” played for us as we drove away—the Negro hot-jazz trumpeter, the Texanwith the battered banjo, the kid from thehigh-school orchestra. They played “GodBless America” and “Auld Lang Syne.” Weheard it a long way off.”Carl Goes to Europe: ShelleyWrites a Book

After a few months of recuperation in theU.S., Carl returned to work on the warfronts in 1944, going to Italy for the libera-tion of Rome and then to the liberation ofsouthern France. While Carl was inEurope, Shelley fictionalized their experi-ences at Santo Tomas under the title “TheOpen City” (see Photo E, an advertisementfrom the San Francisco Chronicle of Febru-ary 10, 1945). The book made quite a sensa-tion when it was published, as it was thefirst detailed information made available tothe American public about the fate of theinternees and conditions in the camp. It isstill a good read today.

Back to the Pacific

The Mydans team returned to the Pacific inlate 1944, where Carl covered the Leytelanding and then the landing at LingayenGulf on Luzon—right where the Japanesehad come ashore in 1941. Carl producedsome of the most notable photographs ofthe war in the Pacific, including the iconicpicture of General MacArthur wadingashore at the invasion of Luzon—the photothat came to symbolize the return of theUnited States to the Philippine Islands (seephoto F, MacArthur).

The Surrender Photos

General MacArthur and Carl Mydans hit itoff right from the beginning in Manila andon Bataan in 1941. Their relationship waslater renewed at Leyte and Luzon in 1944-45. That long-term relationship earnedCarl the best position of any photographeron the Battleship Missouri in Tokyo Baywhen the Japanese signed the surrenderdocuments on September 2, 1945, endingthe war. Most of the photographs that yousee of that occasion in history books areCarl’s, because he was given the best cam-era angles.Liberating Santo Tomas

While Carl was covering battles in thePhilippines, Shelley landed there also andthey both participated in the liberation ofthe civilian internees at Santo Tomas Uni-versity in Manila (see Photo G, Carl’s pic-ture of two of his “roommates” who barelysurvived the three years of near-starvationrations. It must have been wrenching forboth Carl and Shelley to see so many oftheir old friends from Manila and SantoTomas in the pitiful conditions they were in. After the liberation of Manila, Carl went onNorth to cover the Okinawa campaign andthen the surrender, while Shelley wasassigned rear-area duties in the Philip-pines, Saipan and Guam. The Palo AltoTimes wrote a story ostensibly about herbook being published but really about herwriting up the “flight nurses” of the Pacif-ic, who were nursing seriously woundedsoldiers on hospital flights from Saipan toHonolulu. She focused attention on theirrecord of transporting 37,000 soldiers withonly one in-flight death.TIME for Women

After the war, Shelley and Carl Mydansreturned to the U.S. again. In January, 1946TIME magazine began a daily news broad-cast entitled “Time for Women.” It wasplanned to be coast-to-coast, but apparent-ly ran only on ABC in the East. Commenta-tor for the news broadcast was ShelleyMydans, and TIME gave her quite a pub-licity buildup. As they said in a pressrelease, “With her husband, LIFE Photog-rapher Carl Mydans, she has covered mostof the warfronts of the world for TIME andLIFE. As a result, she has seen more of theworld in the last six years than almost anyother woman journalist.”

Photo F: General Douglas MacArthur wading ashore at Lingayen Gulf on Luzon, Philippines,January 9, 1945

Photo G: Two former roommates of Carl’s atSanto Tomas, Manila, 1945.


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A Son is Born

The Mydanses were in New York on July21, 1946, when their first child, Seth wasborn. The next day, the Palo Alto Times rana large photograph of Carl and Shelleywith the story (see Photo H, Carl and Shel-ley Mydans). Carl had been away again tocover the preparations for the first hydro-gen-fusion bomb test in 1946 at Bikini Atollin the Pacific.Occupation of Japan

In 1947, Carl was assigned to Japan to coverthe occupation and rebuilding of the coun-try. Carl and Shelley served as “jointbureau chiefs” in Tokyo for Time-Life (Carlwas formally the Bureau Chief, but he wasout on assignment most of the time andapparently Shelley “really” ran the bureau).Then the North Koreans attacked SouthKorea in June, 1950 and their comfortablesojourn in Japan came to an abrupt end.Shelley Comes Home to Palo Alto

Carl went to Korea to cover the new out-break of war. Shelley decided not to go,and came home to stay with her mother onthe Stanford campus, bringing the chil-dren, 4-year old son Seth Anthony andinfant daughter, Shelley “Junior” (laterknown as “Misty”). In the words of a PaloAlto Times story headline on August 21,Shelley was content to “sit this one out.” A little later when Carl came too, theydecided to make their home in Barron Parkwhere Shelley had located a prime building

lot. They purchased an acre at 995 MataderoAvenue and commissioned an architect andbuilder to construct a permanent home forthem. Shelley characterized the location tothe Palo Alto Times reporter as being on“Roble Ridge,” which caused me some extraresearch and wheel-spinning before discov-ering their actual address. Shelley was struck by how much houseworka middle-class American wife had to do in1950. She ruefully commented to the Timesreporter that she was now “being intro-duced to the heavy load that is the daily lotof the average American mother. Frankly,I’ve lost pounds since I’ve been back.” Sheexplained that she and her husband hadbeen living in hotels for most of the timesince their marriage, “…and the last threeyears we’ve lived the comparatively lushlives of the average American family inJapan, with all the servants we needed.”Once the house was finished, they livedthere for about two years until LIFE sentCarl to Europe again, London this time.The Mydanses put their dream home upfor rent and Shelley joined Carl in NewYork in late 1952.Later Years

Shelley spent most of the rest of her life inthe New York area, while Carl roamed theglobe for LIFE. Shelley wrote two morenovels, Thomas, based on the life ofThomas a Becket, and The Vermilion Bridge,set in eighth-century Japan. In collabora-tion with Carl, she wrote The Violent Peace,a report on wars, insurgency and terrorismfollowing World War II. Meanwhile, Carl,as his obituary said, kept up the globe-trot-ting pace of the LIFE photographer, travel-ing to Britain, Switzerland, France, Ger-many, Egypt, Italy, Iran, Norway, Portu-gal, Nigeria, Hong Kong, Greenland,Samoa, Russia, Yugoslavia and Vietnam.Carl made another widely popular photo-graph in the aftermath of the assassinationof President John F. Kennedy in Novem-ber, 1963. Carl was late getting to the LIFEoffice that day when everyone was calledin, and all assignments had been given out.Not knowing what to do, he wanderedover to Grand Central Station and got onan evening commute train. He immediate-ly noticed the silence as everyone washolding up newspapers, reading thedetails. The aisle was lined with repetitiveimages of the same 3-inch high headline.According to one of his obituary writers,

Photo H: Carl and Shelley Mydans, NewYork, 1946.

E M A I L L I S T SThe BPA has four email lists: bpa-news,bpa-issues, bpa-misc and bpa-jobpost-ings. They are hosted at Google Groups(moved last January). To join bpa-news,go to http://groups.google. com/group/bpa-news and click on “Join this group.” Simi-larly for the other lists.For more information on these email lists,go to the BPA home page—http://www.bpaonline.org and click on the button“BPA Email Lists.”

the resultant photograph was “haunting inits clarity” and “remained emblazoned onthe minds of anyone who saw it.”After LIFE ceased weekly publication in1972, he continued work for TIME, Smith-sonian, and other publications. He worked40 years for Time-Life. His books include amemoir, More than Meets the Eye, The Vio-lent Peace (with Shelley), and Carl Mydans:Photojournalist, a 1985 retrospective of hiswork from the 1930s through the 1970s.The quotes about Carl’s work in this storyare all from that book.Both Shelley and Carl lived into the Twen-ty-first Century. They lived their last yearsin Larchmont, New York. Shelley died atage 86 in 2002 and Carl at age 97 in 2004.Part of Barron Park History

Although the Mydanses were not able tofully realize their dream of a quieter life onMatadero Hill, with Shelley raising theirchildren and writing books at home andCarl managing the west coast for Time-Lifefrom the San Francisco office, they did livehere for several years. They continued toown the house at 995 Matadero for a whileafter relocating to the New York City area,perhaps indicating that the dream lingeredon even after they left. For many yearsafterward, their house at the end ofMatadero Avenue was pointed out byneighbors as “the house where the famousTime-Life people lived.” Shelley and CarlMydans have to be included in the list ofthe most famous people who have lived inBarron Park.If any of the readers of this article havepersonal recollections of the Mydanses, oreven second-hand stories about them fromtheir time in Barron Park, I would like totalk with you. Please contact me at [email protected] or 650-493-0689.

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