Widening of Highway 99: The state cometh
The state cometh. Some property owners with land along Highway 99 in Lodi received letters from CalTrans recently, saying the agency was planning to take, in some cases, about 20 feet of their property for the widening of highway overpasses. Owners should receive fair market value for the property. Apparently the state is planning to raise, widen and remove some structures over highway 99 through Lodi, according to those who received the letter. Slow traffic ahead.
ON THE ROAD: Lodians Wayne Craig and Ron Addington got the experience of a lifetime recently when they were invited to tour TV personality Jay Leno’s world famous classic car collection in L.A. The tour was conducted by … drum roll … Mr. Leno himself. Wayne says, “Jay greeted us in the parking lot then spent over two hours with us, enthusiastically sharing his passion for restoring and driving the most exotic cars in the world.” No photos were allowed, except for one group shot that included Leno and his visitors. When he isn’t working at his day job as President and CEO of the Lodi Memorial Hospital Foundation, Wayne is a docent for the annual Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance car show.
WHO’S WHO: Last week’s memorial service for Stockton building tycoon and L.A. Chargers owner Alex Spanos was an invitation-only, who’s who event, attracting many of America’s rich and famous, including NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, former California Governors Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger, former George W. Bush Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, and Lodi resident Mono Geralis. A prominent member of the Lodi Greek community, Mono was among the invitees lucky enough to meet and have pictures taken with Goodell and other VIPs. Mono knows everybody and has connections to prove it.
SIGN OF THE TIMES: It began friendly enough. They were just regular campaign lawn signs, each promoting their favorite candidate, each on opposite corners. One for Jerry McNerney, the other for Marla Livengood, who is running against McNerney for Congress. Civil enough. Then one day a much larger McNerney sign pops up on the corner of Crescent and Elm, across the street from the Livengood lawn sign. A few days later a gigantic sign for Livengood is installed across the street, including a lighted American flag. If signs could talk, these two would be shouting at each other.
UPDATE: Sarah Mayer, the Lodi mom of two who suffered a brain aneurysm a couple weeks ago, is still in critical condition at a Sacramento hospital. Several hundred people of have donated to her GoFundMe page, aptly named “Sarah Can Do It!,” generating over $38,000 to date, a testament to the generosity of her friends and strangers.
IN WITH THE NEW: Carl and Joel of Pure Form PFT are purchasing the Twin Arbors Fitness Works gym on Lockeford Street, according to their online video. They also operate several other locations including one on east Pine in Lodi.
‘TIS THE SEASON: Have you gotten your flu shot yet? Used to be that they were only administered by your doctor. Have times changed! Nowadays you can get them almost anywhere, from your local pharmacist to your grocer. All this has gotten Patsy Lithco thinking about all the familyowned pharmacies that were once downtown and across town, but are now gone. There was Graham’s Drugs at the corner of Elm and Sacramento Street, Lodi’s first pharmacy.
Then came Zimmerman’s Pharmacy on Pine, which later became Rinn’s, then Mann’s Rexall Pharmacy. Across the street was Crete’s; down School Street was Weihe’s Central Drug. Then there was Wilson’s Pharmacy on School, where Smack Pie is today. City Drug was at the corner of School and Oak, which later became Avenue Drug when Felix Marincovich moved it to Lodi Avenue and Crescent. It later moved near Fairmont and Lodi Avenue and became Fairmont Drug when Larry Shalo, and later Dennis McComb, owned it. Hunnell’s Professional Pharmacy opened in the shopping center at Lee and Lodi Avenue (where the Butcher Shoppe is now). Snyder’s Pharmacy on Cherokee Lane, Lakewood Drug and the Medicine Shoppe on Ham Lane round out the list. The beginning of the end for “mom and pop” drug stores began when Long’s Drugs (now CVS) opened on Lodi Avenue in the mid‘60s. The only remaining small drug store is Fairmont Pharmacy. The rest are history.
BANK ON IT: Lodi’s Farmers and Merchants Bank has completed its purchase of the Bank of Rio Vista, having paid some $40.7 million for it. F&M now has $3.4 billion in assets and 30 locations in the region.
THE LINEUP: Pat Maple writes, “In 1970 it took less time and effort to draft a young man into the Army than it does to register a vehicle in CA today!” Must have been to the Lodi DMV.
GROUNDBREAKING: Some major construction projects should be breaking ground within the next 60 days, including the new bowling alley on Sacramento and Lockeford, Papapavlo's Bistro and Bar on the corner of Lockeford and School, and the Dancing Fox expansion on School and Walnut. City officials report that all of the building permit reviews are “very close” to being done.
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