Hello San Pedro

Did you know there is a local fruit trading scene in San Pedro? In this tenth episode Army Linderborg joins me to tell us about all the amazing fruit that is being grown literally in our backyards.

Army Linderborg is not from here but she's definitely a Pedro Girl now. She's a wife, mom, San Pedro homeowner and a proud fruit picker. Army moved here from Venice after it became overly gentrified and she was priced out of the area. Of course, seeking cheaper home prices on a coast, she landed in our lovely San Pedro.

One of the reasons she bought the home she did was because it had beautiful fruit trees. Since then she's become passionate about sharing and trading fruit with her neighbors and spreading the good vibes through her Air BnB Experience.

Army on what she loved about SP when she first visited :

"It just felt so magical. The port, so much was happening. Seeing San Pedro from the water, it's so beautiful... if you've ever done the Harbor Cruise, I highly recommend it." - Army Linderborg

She shares her personal journey to homeownership here in town and how she fell in love with her fruit trees. During the episode recording she brought me a fruit basket with a variety of fruit grown literally in her and her neighbor's backyard. You'll hear me ooh and aww over the gorgeous exotic fruit she brings me and it doesn't stop there, you'll hear me indulge in the goodness.

Army wants us to go out, meet our neighbors and share fruit amongst each other. She tells us the variety of fruit that grows in San Pedro and her adventures of fruit picking in the local neighborhoods. When I ask about gardening, she explains that she is a gatherer and simply wants us to eat and enjoy the fruit growing in our yards.

Army on her passion:

"I just really feel passionately that we have all these amazing resources and its our duty to maximize them and not let them go to waste. It breaks my heart to see a pile of dead guavas with bugs on them on the ground." - Army Linderborg

We talk about how becoming a mom inspired us to become better human beings and make us want better for our kids, and a sustainable future for our planet.

The foreshadowing of gentrification in San Pedro

In the episode, she shares what it was like to watch Venice gentrify before her eyes and felt the push as she was priced out of the housing market. This makes her a conscious resident and homeowner of the San Pedro community and hopes that we all take tourism into our own hand by offering "experiences" of our own to show tourists our version of San Pedro.

Army was so incredibly inspiring and I hope to follow in some of her footsteps starting with growing fruit in my backyard and working my way up to hosting my very own Air BnB experience.

LINKS:

Army Linderborg on Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/armylinderborg/

Army's AirBNB Experience

https://www.airbnb.com/experiences/149513?s=41&ref_device_id=f93a58dd4cad19a33997a67f3468934d69abdbe6&user_id=3779533&_branch_match_id=596584191295616648

Green Girl Farms Facebook Page

https://www.facebook.com/greengirlfarms/

Gardening in San Pedro Facebook Group

https://www.facebook.com/groups/310466959298618/

SPONSOR:

Siren's Java & Tea

https://www.instagram.com/sirensjavateahouse/?hl=en

In this episode Amber Sheikh Ginsberg and I have a serious discussion about one of the community's most heated topics: homelessness. She is probably one of the most informed and qualified people in the area I could possibly have this discussion with as she has worked closely with those experiencing homelessness for much of her career.

Amber is an LA based non-profit consultant with Thurlow/Associates and San Pedro Resident of about a decade. Prior to becoming a consultant she worked in homeless services, education and with social justice organizations. She is currently the Vice Chair of the Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council's Homelessness Committee and coordinates the CD15 Working Group on Homelessness. She lives with her husband and two young children here in San Pedro.

She, like many others in town, is concerned about the growing homeless population we're seeing in San Pedro. But everyone is concerned for different reasons. Her and I begin our discussion by talking about homelessness as a whole and the general lack of empathy we have toward it as a society.

Amber on people experiencing homelessness in San Pedro :

"In San Pedro itself we have five hundred homeless individuals. Those are five hundred solutions, as well. There's not one blanket solution." - Amber

She describes working on skid row and meeting a woman who looked and dressed just like herself. Assuming she was there to volunteer, she was immediately humbled when she learned that she was there to get lunch. This is just another example of how every individual experiencing homelessness has an individual story of why they are homeless.

Why we need a shelter here in San Pedro:

"There are NO shelter beds in San Pedro for homeless individuals. I feel like repeating that over and over again. There are NO shelter beds for individuals in San Pedro. There's no where to go in San Pedro if you are homeless tonight, tomorrow, next week." - Amber

She shares some eye-opening information about the resources that are available here in San Pedro including the fact that we have zero shelter beds for individuals. Harbor Interfaith only houses families experiencing homelessness, and the number of beds they provide is still low at fifty-eight. She shares that research shows that more than 70% of our homeless are either from San Pedro, have family here or has ties here. They are a part of this community. She wasn't able to provide the number of kids in LAUSD schools that are experiencing homelessness because the number that she had heard was so high that she didn't want to believe it or share it publicly.

After the recording of this episode our councilman Joe Buscaino posted on facebook that the number of kids experiencing homelessness in LAUSD schools is 15,589. He also confirms that the Beacon Street site is suitable for a Bridge Home Shelter.

LINKS:

Harbor Interfaith

http://www.harborinterfaith.org/

Rainbow Services

https://rainbowservicesdv.org/

Councilman's post announcing the Bridge Home

https://www.facebook.com/JoeBuscaino/photos/a.116782065161192/1061184967387559/?type=3&theater

Video on Bridge Home project

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzbFtpT48M8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDxFydlDM5A

Daily Breeze article "Angry Protestors..."

https://www.dailybreeze.com/2018/09/08/as-angry-san-pedro-protesters-take-to-streets-to-oppose-shelter-buscaino-stands-behind-efforts-to-help-homeless/

Daily Breeze article "Homeless shelter supporters.."

https://www.dailybreeze.com/2018/09/10/homeless-shelter-supporters-line-san-pedro-street-with-candles-and-a-message/

SPONSOR:

Siren's Java & Tea

https://www.instagram.com/sirensjavateahouse/?hl=en

Interview guest, Cindy Bradley, sits down with me to share her history with ballet, her coming-to-San-Pedro story, and how she knew Misty Copeland was destined for greatness from the start.

Cindy and I chat about the podcast and she immediately brings up the "Misty's episode" (Episode 3: Fan-Girling Over Misty Copeland with Megan Barnes). She actually says that Misty loved the episode (!!!) and I basically die. I pull it together and continue with the interview.

Cindy shares her childhood memories of growing up in Georgia during the "hippie time" and discovering ballet for the first time. Her father being in the Air Force caused the family to move around a lot. She saw a lot of the country before arriving in San Diego. Here she suffers a major injury that ends her career in ballet before it really began. This is when she decides to teach ballet and start a punk band.

Cindy on coming to San Pedro for the first time:

"We were driving down the harbor freeway to the end... there were those refineries everywhere... and we were like 'do we really want to live around refineries?' And then we got into it and it just opened up into this beautiful town surrounded by water." - Cindy

She describes San Pedro feeing like home from the very beginning and how her and her band discovered that there was a local punk scene here in town.

Meeting Patrick Bradley

Cindy opens up to me about her health battles with crohn's disease. She is proud of the victories she's won in her health but credits her husband for getting her through the tough times. She shares the story of how they met and how he wooed her with a series of paintings.

Cindy on the man that made her swoon:

"Without him there would be no San Pedro Ballet, there would be no Wolf, there would be no Misty, there would be no anything because there would be no me." - Cindy

Meeting Misty

Of course, we have to talk about Misty Copeland. She talks about what it was like being her teacher and how she feels as though they were always in sync with each other.

How she describes feeling the first time she knew Misty was a prodigy:

"Immediately it just became the number one goal in my life to make sure that she would become a dancer... I didn't think about it much, it just became my mission." - Cindy

We go on to talk about her talent for picking stars and her newest star that she likes to call her "male Misty", a young high schooler from Narbonne High School named Enrique. We talk about why its difficult to recruit and retain male ballet students and what we believe to be a toxic belief that society has about masculinity. Lastly, she proudly announces that the ballet school is celebrating 25 years and is very excited about the upcoming local performances of The Nutcracker.

After the recording of this episode Cindy attended the premiere of "The Nutcracker & The Four Realms" with Misty Copeland and she also appeared in a piece in People Magazine with Misty, the article is titled "Misty Opens Up About the Teacher Who Changed Her Life: 'She Took A Huge Leap'".

LINKS:

Tickets to The Nutcracker at the Warner Grand

http://www.sanpedrocityballet.org/upcoming-events/nutcracker

Article in People Magazine

https://people.com/human-interest/misty-copeland-teacher-changed-life/?fbclid=IwAR2ZJmPYeFWzex_JjBWl5x5BT9zWVvsLYKh5ntFKs6fNGbKIWdPVDWfKaqQ

Preview of The Nutcracker & The Four Realms

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXfxLIuNJvw

SPONSOR:

Siren's Java & Tea

https://www.instagram.com/sirensjavateahouse/?hl=en

Interview guests Ryan Hart and Michael Ortiz share with me their hope for the San Pedro High School Boys soccer team as they take on their first year as Co-Coaches.

Michael and Ryan have both grown up together in San Pedro and even attended the same schools since Jr. High. Michael grew up on a military base off of 25th Street and surprisingly never left during his primary school years. He later joined the military himself and is now living with his wife at Fort Macarthur here in San Pedro. Ryan shared how their group of friends always kind of prepared themselves for Michael's eventual move but it never happened.

How Michael's military background influences his coaching style:

"It improved me. It helped me understand the importance of having a structure... When I say something at practice, that we're going to do it, we need to do it. " - Michael Ortiz

Michael's wife was present for the interview and I put them on the spot a little by asking what it was like for him to marry his high school sweet heart, something he mentions being really proud of. He shares how he was heavily involved with sports growing up and was a natural athlete early on, often putting minimum effort into his academics just to ensure he had his spot on the team. Michael went to Pedro high and made the soccer team every year.

Ryan's experience of growing up in San Pedro:

Ryan describes himself as a "late bloomer", not figuring himself out until way later in his high school years. He didn't make the soccer team at Pedro until his senior year, which he feels puts himself in a unique position to inspire kids to don't make the cut the first time, because he didn't either. He went on to get his business degree from the University of Michigan and now lives locally in Redondo Beach.

What their doing to invest in the players that don't make the team:

"We're reaching out to all the parents and inviting their kids to, what we're calling a 'coaching clinic' and so all the kids that didn't make the team will probably just stay after practice one day... it's helpful to them, its helpful to us because when they come back next year they'll be better and that's in the best interest of everybody ."

Not only do they invest in the players that don't make the team but they also make sure that the players on the team that struggle with keeping their grades up, get the help they need. They've partnered with the local Boys and Girls Club to create a space for players that need extra help with their academics.

Why their roles are important:

To understand why their roles as the current co-coaches for the SPHS boys soccer team are so important you have to understand the role and reputation of former SPHS boys soccer coach of eight years, Pete Hazdovac. From how Ryan and Michael describe him, he was not only an amazing coach that invested in his players but also a community leader. He with the help of Ryan and Michael, led the boys to victory last year as they won the Division 4 City Title. Now, the coaches are not only trying to build upon that success but also hope to carry on Pete's legacy.

LINKS:

SPHS Boys Soccer Merch Promotion

https://shop.fancloth.com/90277/447795

Instagram: @sphs_boys_soccer

https://www.instagram.com/sphs_boys_soccer/

SPONSOR:

Siren's Java & Tea

https://www.instagram.com/sirensjavateahouse/?hl=en

Interview guest, Mike Real, tells me about his upbringing in the Rancho San Pedro Projects and how growing up around gang violence motivated to spread positivity through his music. Mike Real is a native San Pedran, his mom being from San Pedro and his father from Wilmington, grew up with family from both areas. He shares his personal story and what it was like to grow up in the San Pedro projects. His family was heavily involved with gangs in both San Pedro and Wilmington and he remembers not repping either because he never really knew which one he was "supposed" to be a part of.

He had witnessed as a child a family member getting shot and killed just outside their home and recalls his grandmother's warning to him and his cousins if they ever heard shots fired.

He goes on to share that he comes from a family of gang members from both San Pedro and Wilmington, and how everything he saw growing up really motivated him to start something positive.

Using his music to make a difference:

Mike is a rapper using his upbringing to shed light on the hard-hitting issues that really affect the communities he grew up in. He doesn't shy away from difficult conversations about homelessness, ignorance, poverty and gang violence.

We talk about his hope for his music and that is that he will help bridge the gap between our two local towns and the lower income communities with communities that aren't exposed to the same issues . He wants to be a voice for those who can't share their stories, which is why he often sits down with homeless people to ask them about themselves.

Mike's hope for San Pedro

He has high hopes for San Pedro and wants to see it live up to it's full potential. He is excited about the redevelopment of the waterfront and wants to see it beautiful. However, he goes on to share his mixed emotions about the redevelopment of the Rancho San Pedro Projects. We discuss gentrification, and the specific plans for the local projects and we end on a hopeful note, talking about how the city plans for very little to no displacement of the families currently living in the Rancho San Pedro community.

LINKS:

His Song: "A Beautiful Struggle"

https://soundcloud.com/michael-avila89/the-beautiful-struggle-feat-jess

Instagram: @mic_avila87

https://www.instagram.com/mic_avila87/

Facebook: Michael Avila

https://www.facebook.com/100000855547261/posts/2046590698712762/

Youtube - Michael Avila

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoT2wjVkGmeQpkytxNBdvIg

Co-host Marissa and I talk about what its like to miss San Pedro. She, living on the east coast now, describes the details of her hometown that she misses most and what it's like being so far from home.

Marissa Haney, my life-long best friend, was born and raised in San Pedro and moved away when she first went to study at the Culinary Institute of America in New York. There she met her husband and together they live on the East Coast in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She doesn't miss California's boring sunny weather but she does miss being able to drive down the street to spend time at the beach. She describes being younger and knowing in her spirit that she wasn't going to stay in San Pedro forever and I talk about being young and knowing I'll never leave. We discuss that many people from San Pedro usually identify with one or the other. We discuss our memories of Ports O' Call. I fill her in on what's new in San Pedro. For some reason I felt it was necessary to update her on all the Starbucks' in town as well as the grocery stores. Our conversation is very fluid and we get off topic a little but for anyone who's interested in San Pedro it should be entertaining.

We also go over San Pedro themed costume ideas for Halloween. Suggestions were sent in via Instagram and we talk about each one of them.

She feels that not a lot of people know where San Pedro is, and she hopes that the town will get more exposure. The changes are exciting but only if people know about it to enjoy it.

LINKS:

Instagram @buxumbaker

https://www.instagram.com/buxombaker/

SPONSOR:

Siren's Java & Tea

https://www.instagram.com/sirensjavateahouse/?hl=en

In the intro I make a PSA reminder to register to vote if you haven't already. Oct. 22nd is the last day to register to vote (link below).

Julie and I sat down with our Siren's coffee in her former art studio, her artwork still hanging on the walls. She and I first talked about her initial impressions of San Pedro when she moved here over thirty years ago with her husband, then what it was like becoming one of LA's first fire women. We talk about the challenges she faced early on in her career and the challenges she would face as a woman, such as doubting herself when she went through hardships even though her fellow male fire firefighters were going through the same hardships, and not getting the help she needed when she was learning. She also had to deal with false rumors about her spreading through the rumor mill.

She credits the Girl Scouts of America for exposing her to the mosaic art form that she's fallen in love with and has since created multiple public large scale murals in the San Pedro area. Often tagged with graffiti, Julie took it upon herself to make the large retaining wall on 25th Street a work of art, in hopes of creating a more beautiful and impressionable drive from Palos Verdes to San Pedro. She spoke to the homeowners that line up against the wall and they all gave the "OK". Julie believes that San Pedro is wonderful town made up of artistic, hardworking good people. She hopes that more locals will buy art from local artists and spend more money in our local economy.

LINKS:

https://registertovote.ca.gov/

https://www.juliebendermosaics.com/

Instagram @julie.bender.mosaics

https://www.instagram.com/julie.bender.mosaics/?hl=en

Megan and I are huge fans of Misty Copeland but Megan knew of her before she was a ballerina and later she had the privilege of actually interviewing her a couple times at the top of her career as a dancer. Together we discuss her first time trying ballet in our humble Boys & Girls Club and her first two years of training at our local ballet school. We discuss her time with her first ballet teachers, the Bradleys, as a child prodigy and her upbringing in San Pedro. Her schooling took place in our local elementary, middle and high schools, and she performed in local performances of the Nutcracker in our Warner Grand Theater.

Megan and I discuss the multiple points along Misty's career where her journey as a dancer might've ended; one of them being that her impeccable dancing ability and potential may have never been spotted by the right people, once as she faced drama between her ballet training and her personal life that forced her to take extreme measures. She also experienced a brief eating disorder due to poor body-image, and another time where her career was almost certainly doomed because she performed a major show in excruciating pain. Nothing has been able to stop Misty's tenacity and grace.

Misty has caught the attention of the world dancing for major artists at their concerts, getting sponsored by one of the US's major athletic apparel companies, as well as appearing in a music video for one of hip hop's biggest artists. She also served a national role appointed to her by former President of the United States. Misty has gone on to break barriers in the African-American community as the first woman of color to make it so far as a ballerina at the most prestigious ballet company, preforming coveted roles in major productions. She has broken mold for women in ballet as she did not have the ideal "ballet body" and is setting the example for women of all shapes, sizes and backgrounds to follow their dreams.

LINKS:

https://mistycopeland.com/

Under Armour Campaign "I Will What I Want"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lbzg-YKw5KM

Drake's "Nice For What"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9BwWKXjVaI

Barack Obama & Misty Copeland

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMwS6XA-PAg

SPONSOR:

Siren's Java & Tea

https://www.instagram.com/sirensjavateahouse/?hl=en

In this episode we talk about growing up as a dancer in San Pedro, how it prepared him for being in a band and where the inspiration came from for their latest single "Robber In A Dress". Wolf grew up as a ballet dancer, dancing in almost every local performance of the Nutcracker since he was a child. His parents, Cindy and Patrick Bradley own the local ballet school and they were also the couple that took in a prodigy dancer who would go on to become a celebrity ballerina. Wolf tells me how his band, The Habits, got air time on KROQ for the first time and the big opportunities that followed. Their single "Calling Me Up" was catchy and got the attention of major companies in the music industry.

LINKS

YouTube - Robber In A Dress

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFJjEhHSdqE

Instagram @habitstheband

https://www.instagram.com/habitstheband/?hl=en

SPONSOR:

Siren's Java & Tea

https://www.instagram.com/sirensjavateahouse/?hl=en

In this introduction episode hear what inspired me to start a local podcast and what makes San Pedro so special with local historian and columnist for San Pedro Today magazine, Angela "Romee" Romero. Romee and I talk about what makes San Pedro so special and what set's it apart from other towns. She tells us a little about San Pedro's history, first as it's own city and when it became Los Angeles. Romee informs us on how we got our name and even gives us some insight on why it may be pronounced as San "Peedro" and not San "Pey-dro". I learn what makes up "the big three" as our demographic and what brought so many immigrants to our tiny town. We learn why San Pedro was so attractive to immigrants and why San Pedrans are big on voting. As we banter we talk about how common it is to run into people we know all over town no matter where we go which is a big characteristic of living in San Pedro.

https://www.instagram.com/thatssopedro/

https://www.instagram.com/sirensjavateahouse/?hl=en