JOYCE RUDOLPH
Many of us who grew up in Burbank remember spending the summers
swimming at the Pickwick pool.
In an effort to preserve memories for their family's posterity,
current owners Carole and Ed Stavert are on a quest to find
photographs and information on Pickwick's past, prior to when their
family purchased the facility in 1953.
The family changed the name to Pickwick Gardens three or four
years ago from Pickwick Recreation Center. When the Stavert family
purchased it, it was called the Pickwick Swim Park. The only things
on the property then were the swimming pool and a mobile home park.
Later, the ice skating rink, bowling alley and restaurant, Five
Horseman Inn, were added, Carole said.
"The restaurant was called that because there were five original
owners," she said.
Today the ice rink remains. The pool was filled in during the
mid-1980s and planted with lush gardens, a romantic place for
weddings and serene locale for seminars and conventions. Carole and
Ed and their son, Ronald Stavert, continue the business that even
employs their grandchildren.
As the family is celebrating 51 years of ownership, Carole said
they are seeking the community's help in finding out more about the
facility prior to 1953.
She wants to know where the name Pickwick came from and who the
original owners of the pool park were.
"So many people stop by and tell us that they grew up at the pool
and many world champion skaters have trained here," she said, adding
it would be a shame for that information to be lost forever.
If you can provide this information, call Carole at 845-5300, ext.
120, or mail information/pictures to her at 1001 Riverside Drive,
Burbank, CA, 91506. Carole promises to return photographs loaned to
her.
*
Burbank artist Lois Ramirez was invited to participate in the
"Summer Artist Series" at the Market Street Gallery in Lockport, N.Y.
The series is divided into three, one-month sessions. Three
different artists participated in each session. The 20 artworks that
she sent were from her "Number Series" and each are mixed media
collages measuring 16-by-16 inches. Some of the items contained in
them are old documents, drawings, fabric from a luggage rack, old
letters, marbleized paper, tickets and a ripped window shade.
*
Sean Alan Cutler has been named managing director of the Colony
Theatre Company. Cutler replaces Amanda Diamond, who has accepted the
director of finance position at the Pasadena Playhouse.
Barbara Beckley, producing director of the Colony, said Diamond's
