Presidio Historical Association President’s Report, submitted by Lucia Bogatay, May 2020
Hello to you all! I am Lucia Bogatay, the president of the Presidio Historical Association. Welcome to Zoom! Thank you for belonging to PHA! This talk, presenting my May President’s report, is an experiment during our lock-down to see if we can stay in touch with you all digitally. I will tell you about our activities, summarizing last year’s busy events, and what we hope to do this year. Samantha Davis, our Office & Membership Manager will expand on how we plan to use digital tools to offer events, and Paul Wermer will address the layoffs at the Presidio and how it affects PHA
We will ask you all for comments and suggestions at the end of the presentation. There is a way to raise a digital hand which you will find at the bottom of the screen under “participants” which opens a list of all those participating. At the left of this menu, at the bottom, is a blue hand. Click that to be recognized.
We held the election by mail and google, and here are the results: 40 proxies were received, either by mail or email. The slate of three members has been elected in good order.
First, Advocacy: Last year the big issues in the Presidio were the re-use of Fort Winfield Scott, and the continuing saga of the Tunnel Tops. Happily, the Presidio Trust decided against leasing Fort Winfield Scott to an awkward consortium of non- and for-profit institutions. Instead, the Trust will renovate and lease the remaining buildings itself. The Tunnel Tops are under construction, with actual topsoil in place, and a completion expected in the fall of 2021.
We wrote in support of preservation of the beautiful George Washington High School murals by Victor Arnautov. Our board member Robert Cherny has written a biography of Arnautov and is a powerful advocate in the crusade to save these magnificent murals whose destruction or concealment was insisted upon by activists and concealment was finally approved by the School Commission. The school alumni association is now suing the School District for violating CEQA.
Second, Publications: Author and board member Bill Yenne, has published our recent Communiques. We hope you have enjoyed them.
Third, our Events: Our list of events for last year is long. We had some memorable tours and talks.
- Our annual meeting speaker, The Presidio Trust’s historian, Barbara Sokolov, talked about her work with oral histories, with an example referencing the Fort Winfield Scott murals.
- In May we had a tour of the beautifully restored Alcatraz gardens. A docent volunteer for the Conservancy was our guide. The contrast of the floral beauty with the desolate rocky island was compelling!
- In September a group of us took another ferry ride, this time to Vallejo where we had a tour of Mare Island with guide Brendon Riley. The amazing collection of Tiffany stained glass in the chapel was a special treat, but the huge old dry dock, hand dug and made of solid granite block in the 19th Century definitely made the biggest impression on me.
- In October, Board Member Robert W. Cherny, Professor emeritus of History San Francisco State University, lectured on the Coit Tower Murals. The mural decoration of the interior of the tower was funded as a Public Works of Art Project, (administered by WPA) and was organized by Victor Arnautov who also painted many of the murals. The talk was sponsored in collaboration with the Interfaith Chapel on the Presidio where it was held. The Chapel is also decorated with Arnautov murals.
- November 4 was the 250th anniversary of Portola’s first sighting of the Bay in 1769. The tour was organized and led by Mitch Postal, director of the San Mateo Historical Society and Museum. Phil Faroudja coordinated our participation in a hike to Sweeny Ridge to celebrate the occasion.
- Our Holiday party was in the Bay School as usual.
- In January we had a tour of the affecting and beautiful new MIS museum in Building 640 in the Presidio. This was part of the Military Intelligence Service during World War II which trained Japanese Americans to be translators. This was yet another important way the Japanese Americans helped the WWII war effort despite the internment of their relatives. We hope someday to hold a program in their elegant new meeting room.
- In February was another interesting tour, of the Arian Press, in the Marine Hospital boiler building in the Presidio where we learned about typesetting, printing and binding of special editions.
This year’s planned events had included talks on military art of the Spanish period; on historic landscapes; and on a lesser known aspect of the Vietnam War, namely the war in Laos. We had also planned a tour of the shipyards at Marinship. Phil Faloudja had been planning a film festival for us in the newly renovated Presidio Theater. But the pandemic has forced us to rethink all of our activities. It has also forced postponement of San Francisco’s History Days celebration, an event to which we always enjoy contributing.
Samantha Davis, our wonderful administrator, has been sending out book recommendations, and other items of historical interest. It might be possible to have a discussion group online about some of these.
Samantha, please say a few words about how we plan to adapt our events to be compatible with social distancing.
{Samantha, about 10 minute – livestreamed talks and walks/tours, and Zoom (or other) discussion groups/}
Our best news is that we no longer have to move from our offices on Franklin Street. The virus apparently caused the new tenants for our space to cancel before signing a lease. Our landlord has asked us to stay on. They have offered us a new four-year lease with a very minimal rent increase. They will even replace the ceiling tiles, which are threatening to fall! We haven’t had any increase at all in the time we have been there. Organizing and purging our files is no longer urgent, but we will continue to reduce our paper storage needs. Four years anticipates that the church hopes to tear down our building and build a new housing tower. So, we have plenty of time to find a new location for PHA’s offices, and we plan to practice becoming virtual during this lock-down.
There are two new appointments to the Presidio Trust Board of Directors, who seem to be quite reasonable choices, Dr. Michael A. Weiner, replacing John Keker, and U.S. Navy Admiral Thomas Fargo (Ret), replacing Mark Pincus. Both new directors seem to have an appreciation for military history, and of the Presidio. It is also reassuring that neither of them is a real-estate tycoon. Dr. Weiner, 77, is an author and host of the nationally syndicated radio program Savage Nation. He has a PHD from UC in nutritional ethnomedicine, and lives in Marin.
Admiral Fargo, 71, had a distinguished 35-year career in the U.S. Navy where he was commander in chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet and the U.S. Pacific Command. He received the Navy Distinguished Service Medal. In retirement, he has lead transportation and technology companies and has served on several public and private boards. He lives in Hawaii.
Rob Thomson, the Presidio Chief Preservation Officer called to explain the staffing changes the Trust is making to narrow their focus to deal with the impact from its declining income now that many of its tenants cannot pay the full rent. Unfortunately, it involves delegating the interpretation of history, and consolidating the archaeology department under Rob’s jurisdiction. They have laid off the chief archaeologist, and the Trust’s only historian. In my architectural practice, I always hope to make a problem into an opportunity. With that in mind, Paul Wermer will give us a brief history of PHA, describe in more detail the changes to the Trust’s staff and focus, and how these changes might affect the PHA going forward.
[Paul talks here]
We would be delighted to hear some ideas from members for other ways to enliven our seclusion. Maybe some readings from original sources, maybe a seminar on some subject by our historians, or maybe some movies filmed in the Presidio could be streamed…
Please raise your digital “hand” if you have something to talk about today, and when you are recognized, please introduce yourself with a short biography…
Discussion
Thank you, I think we will end it here. I will close by hoping you will all stay out of harm’s way in order to reduce your chances of getting infected. We value you all. Goodbye, and stay well!