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This Month's Meeting:

Beside the Los Angeles River

Monday, February 19th 7:00pm
La Crescenta Center for Spiritual Living
At the intersection of Dunsmore and Santa Carlotta

The guest speaker at our next meeting is Mark Rozelle, author of the recently published book "Beside the LA River." Mark's family purchased a 114 acre farm in 1886 along the Los Angeles River between present day Compton and Downey. Mark's book tells the dramatic story of his pioneer great-grandparents who tilled land that had never been farmed and raised seven children in a tiny house. They dug the deepest artesian well in Los Angeles history to that date and became successful and affluent. Then they faced the fury of the Los Angeles River, the depression and the Long Beach earthquake.

The book is based on a trove of family documents discovered in 2004 that included 700 photographs, 120 letters a 19th century diary and other documents. All these items now comprise the "Rozelle Collection" in the archives of California State University Dominguez Hills. At our meeting Mark will show some of these never-before-seen family photos of this area and Catalina Island, and he'll recount some of the fascinating stories from his book. His book can be purchased through Amazon.com and at the meeting.

Mark grew up in Southern California and attended UCLA and Fuller Theological Seminary. He recently retired from the commercial mortgage company that he founded in Orange County.