Rotary conventions in L.A. span from the Jazz Age to the Space Age

Rotary was just 17 years old the first time members held their convention in Los Angeles in 1922. The Roaring Twenties were getting into full swing; cutting-edge pioneers listened to Rudy Vallee crooning on that new invention – radio – and more than 6,000 Rotarians and their wives traveled by ocean liner and locomotive to the newest boom town of the West. They met at the Philharmonic Auditorium in the heart of the bustling downtown, where the newest high-rise hotel, the Biltmore (150 feet!), was under construction right next door.

Exactly 40 years later, in 1962, Rotarians and their guests came rolling back into town again. Only this time, many of them came by air, flying into sparkling new LAX. The “flying saucer” terminal building had just opened, a symbol of the Space Age that was going to lead directly to a push-button future and lives of leisure for everyone. The rest came by car, hoping to take advantage of the modern superhighways and cloverleafs that promised to whisk them to their destination, the new Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, just south of downtown. Quite a number of them brought their kids too – 1,440 of them – probably “discussing” whether to listen to the Beach Boys or big bands on the station-wagon radio. In this way, whole Rotary families got to enjoy construction traffic on the freeway, a pretty new experience in 1962.

In 2008, Rotarians will be back again, once again headed for a downtown venue, the Los Angeles Convention Center. And just as in 1922 and 1962, Rotarians can count on the star treatment.

The stars have come out to the Hollywood Bowl to entertain Rotarians every time. And California dignitaries from governors to mayors have made the RI Convention a priority. Of course, in 1962, no one knew that the emcee of the opening night’s entertainment, Ronald Reagan, would soon leave the sound stage for the political one. He was billed simply as a television and motion picture star.

“Conventions give members a glimpse of how significant Rotary is,” says Jim Speer, a past district governor and member of the Rotary Club of Covina, who attended the 1962 convention. “I remember being in a huge room with thousands of people. I was one of many. Uppermost in my mind was this: I just marveled at the pace of growth of new clubs. The plenary sessions brought more than 22,000 attendees and their wives together.” In fact, the 1962 convention was the largest ever, up to then.

The Jazz Age

It’s hard to fathom at this distance in time, but even in 1922, Rotary was an astounding phenomenon. To open that convention, a dramatic monologue was staged featuring men and women from 19 Rotary countries in their native dress. “Little did President Emeritus Paul Harris and his group of friends realize,” intoned the narrator, “that the club they formed in Chicago 17 years ago to formulate these principles of practical service to their fellow man would in such a short time encircle the world as it has today.” By then, more than 80,000 Rotarians represented 12,000 cities and towns in 26 nations.

In his keynote address, the 1921-22 president, Crawford McCullough of Fort William, Ont., Canada, identified what he thought was the source of Rotary’s worldwide appeal. Ten years before The Four-Way Test was even put into words, McCullough told the assembled members that “the collective effort in which Rotary is now engaged to secure the adoption by trade and professional associations of codes of correct business practices has met with great success.” Delegates also voted on resolutions proposed by the Board and member clubs. It was at this convention that the International Association of Rotary Clubs became Rotary International. At the same time, a new constitution, bylaws, and standard club constitution were adopted.

Other approved resolutions included admitting a club in San Pedro, California – technically part of the city of Los Angeles. Until then, no city could have more than one club, but this decision set the precedent for the growth of Rotary in large cities. The new Board of Directors would also have four international members after this convention. And the charter fee for new clubs was increased to $100.

Entertainment was a large part of this first L.A. convention. On Tuesday evening, a fiesta at Praeger Park (also used as a Minor League baseball park) featured a street dance. One day was entirely devoted to giving visiting Rotarians the ultimate L.A. experience. They were taken by car to various movie studios, and then all 6,000 attendees went to the Hollywood Bowl to watch a silent movie being made. Among the cast was the young starlet Mary Miles Minter who, even in those pretabloid times, was trying hard to sidestep scandal over the recent unsolved murder of a much older director with whom she was rumored to have had an affair. She did not succeed. The RI Convention appearance was one of her last in Hollywood.

A Rotarian of 1922 would hardly recognize the site of the convention today. The high-toned shopping neighborhood is long gone, although offices abound. The castle-like Philharmonic Auditorium in which Rotarians met was torn down and replaced with a parking lot in 1985. By 2008, a new 75-story mixed-use building should be rising on the site.

The Space Age

Many Rotarians were thrilled to be meeting in the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena in 1962. If they were Lakers fans, they would be sitting in the venue where their heroes had just earned a basketball division title. If they were politicos, they were sitting where delegates had sat when John F. Kennedy was nominated for president in 1960. Even Republicans got a kick out of that now that Kennedy was president.

“I volunteered to help at the convention,” remembers Bob Peterson, past president of the Rotary Club of Hermosa Beach. “We also home-hosted a couple from Toronto. It was wonderful to get to know a Rotarian from outside the country.”

The convention began when RI President Joseph Abey of Reading, Pa., got off a specially-chartered train at Union Station and was greeted by the president of the Rotary Club of Los Angeles, George S. Bailey. A Mexican band played, and Pluto dropped by from nearby Disneyland. All of that year’s leaders traveled with him from the International Assembly in Lake Placid, New York.

“I got to know people well on that train,” notes Jim Simpson, who was a district governor in 1962 and now belongs to the Rotary Club of Bryan, Texas. “You make such great friends [at Rotary conventions] because you have so much in common.”

A key component of the three-part RI theme that year was, Communicate for Understanding. Abey was convinced that Rotary would be a force in stopping the spread of communism, a pervasive worry for many of the speakers that year. “Rotary has been able to encircle the world because of the teaching and the philosophy of the love of man, the idea of doing unto others as you would have them do unto you,” he told the convention.

One idea that emerged from the meeting, aimed at fighting communism directly, was the literacy initiative. RI Vice President Theodore Wilson of Baltimore announced that the Board had authorized $20,000 to study how Rotary could combat illiteracy. He proposed that Rotary teach people both to read and to “conduct business successfully” because then communism would fail to appeal to them.

Another significant development in 1962 was the introduction of Interact, “an organization of boys who will be the business and professional leaders of tomorrow.” There was a bit of controversy over starting the club, in fact. “Many said it wouldn’t work because Key clubs had beat us to the punch,” remembers Speer, comparing Interact to the Kiwanis-sponsored club for youth. “But look at Interact and Rotaract now.”

Entertainment at this convention was as memorable as it was in 1922. Speer remembers Lawrence Welk in particular and the Lennon Sisters, who were “just little girls then.” The next night, the Hollywood stars came out once again in a variety show featuring ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and the Mills Brothers.

The convention concluded with a humorous address by former RI Director Jeff Williams of Chickasha, Okla. But he ended his talk on a serious note: “If you want to ask yourselves whether there is any need for Rotary in the world, all you need to do is buy tomorrow’s paper and read the headlines. Or all you have to do is turn on the TV, and there you will find the answer if Rotary is worthwhile and if you are needed.”

Some things never change.