A Chronicler's Perspective

Things my kids may not know about or have forgotten or were too young to remember or not yet born …

In 1963, when Julie was 6 months old we had a car repossessed
for failing to make a few payments…the car was a new 1963 Pontiac Tempest Le Mans and we loved that beauty…it was so freaking beautiful…its total cost was around $2,200 yet we had to finance it…these days that's a down payment! the monthly payments were around $85 but having been laid off a few months after buying it it was repo’d right out of our apartment garage …I’m not sure those repo guys were allowed to open garage doors in those days or even today, but it thought me a few lessons…lock your garage door…and don’t miss making car payments…or buy a used car…

· Almost the same week (Julie was still 6 months old) John F. Kennedy was assassinated …a very sad day in America…it was the first time we voted…we were Democrats way back then (like my parents) and voted for JFK…

· In 1970 we sold our first home for $29,000, having paid $19,000 for it and made $10,000 profit! We were stoked to make that kind of money, but saddened years later when the same house sold for $200,000 and then later for $500,000…today its cost is sadly lower…

· But with the $10 grand we were able to stop working for others and begin our own business…there is nothing better than working for yourself…

· I was 30 when I started Cardoza-Di Lallo & Associates, a landscape architectural firm in Costa Mesa with Bob Cardoza, and our first employees were Dann Mikkelsen and Rose Reed, Bob’s neighbor, as our part time bookkeeper…we were fortunate to have good friends as our first clients and all home builders, Dick Rollins who built mobile home communities all over California, Gene Giannuli a VP with Larwin Homes in LA who built homes and some of our first Model Home Complexes and Dave Germain a VP with AVCO, first developers of Laguna Niguel…if you know Laguna Niguel our firm designed Crown Vally Parkway as well as the East and West Nine developments at the golf course...
We are still friends with all the above...some are retired but thankfully I am still breathing, working and loving it …