Page 2 June 3, 2021 EL SEGUNDO HERALD
Ode to Acacia Park and Pool Community Briefs
By Tim Wheeler
Acacia Park and Pool, a longtime fixture
of El Segundo’s west side, passed away
into history on January 20, 2021. Although
its passing was not unexpected, the 60
something symbol of neighborhood pride
was felled by the repeated crushing blows
from a jackhammer. The time of death,
officially announced by Father Time, was
8:00 a.m.
Over the course of its lifetime, Acacia Pool
was the summer place for several generations
of west side kids, especially those of
us who did not have a cement pond in their
backyard. I call this collective group The
OAP or Original Acacia Park’ers.
The adjacent park was available yearround.
Originally named Acacia Parkette, the
playground toys and sandbox were located
along the western property line, leaving a full
grass field for which the Baby Boomer Age
kids made full use, especially in the 1960s
and into the ’70s.
Kids from the ’60s formed the AFL (Acacia
Football League) as tackle and touch football
games were almost daily during the fall and
winter seasons. Another popular sport that
was played at our park was some form of
baseball. Games such as Over the Line, Work
Up, and the most popular, Wiffle Ball, were
played on our field. All games were played
under special Acacia Park ground rules that
we created.
The bushes at the north end of the park
had these purple berries attached to them,
making them the weapons of mass destructions
of many a tee shirt whenever someone
yelled, “Berry Fight!” Our OAP field was
done away with when the City moved the
playground equipment to the center of the
park and posted a No Ball Playing sign on
the building that housed the bathrooms.
Our park and pool were a safe place for
parents to send their children, mostly unsupervised.
Their only rule, a universal rule
all over town, “Be home before the street
lights come on.
The highlight of every swim day was
when the lifeguard would blow the whistle,
signaling for all kids to exit the pool.
After pouring a copious amount of liquid
chlorine into the water, all the kids would
then sit along the edges of the pool and delightfully
perform the “Chlorine Kick.” Ask
any adult today that ever swam at our pool as
a kid what they remember most; the answer
most likely will be said chlorine kick. Another
mainstay and forever memory of our pool
is that of Mr. Elephant, the painted elephant
head that adorned the pool’s water fill pipe.
I, along with three others, were at the park
on demolition day sharing memories such
as those described above, including a quick
game of Wiffle Ball and then performing one
final ceremonial chlorine kick on behalf of
all OAPers everywhere.
Acacia Pool is survived by its granddaddy,
The Urho Saari Swim Stadium aka “The
Plunge,” its sibling, Hilltop Park and Pool
next to the water tower, several generations
of OAPers, and Mr. Elephant.
I’ve seen the plans for the “New” Acacia
Park, and I believe the current residents of
town will enjoy what the City has drawn up.
Just remember to tell your kids….”Be home
before the street lights come on.” •
Your Neighborhood Therapist
Burkley Brandlin
BBS & Swatik LLP
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PUBLIC MEETING NOTICE
The public is invited to an informational meeting about a
new construction project at El Segundo High School: a new
Music Building funded by Measure ES.
Join us Wednesday, June 9th, at 5pm to view the initial design
plans. This meeting will be held on-line via Zoom. The link is
posted on the ESUSD website: www.elsegundousd.net
Contact Dr. Dylan Farris with any questions at dfarris@esusd.net.
El Segundo has Made
History the Last 1 1/2 years!
The El Segundo History Committee is
requesting photos taken in El Segundo during
the last year and a half. Documenting what
our community has looked like during the
Pandemic. We will add these photos to our
archives so that we have documentation for
the future generations to see.
Please send them to: info@elsegundohistory.
org. If you have questions please
contact: Sari Brann at 2brann@sbcglobal.
net or 310-364-0117.
Opening of New Gates at Tom
Bradley International Terminal
On Monday, Los Angeles Mayor Eric
Garcetti officially dedicated the West Gates
at Tom Bradley International Terminal, with
Councilmember Mike Bonin (whose Council
District 11 includes LAX), Los Angeles Board
of Airport Commissioners President Sean
Burton, LAWA Chief Executive Officer Justin
Erbacci and Turner Construction Company
Senior Vice President & Turner/PCL Joint
Venture Managing Partner Rory DeJohn. The
new facility serves both international and
domestic flights, while delivering a modern
guest experience that includes cutting-edge
technology, stunning architecture, a checkedbag
storage system and biometric boarding
gates. If you missed the live stream, you
can watch it in its entirety on Facebook and
YouTube. •
Fond Memories of My
Childhood In El Segundo
Tim Wheeler at Acacia Park and Pool.
Dear Neighborhood Therapist:
I am struggling with a major decision that
I have to make in about a month. Whatever I
choose is going to have long term effects, and
I am feeling paralyzed. I cannot stop thinking
about this decision, weighing the pros and
cons, and making lists. But I feel like I am no
further along than I was when I first started
to ponder it. I am afraid I’m going to wait
until the last minute, and then make the wrong
decision and end up regretting it for the rest
of my life. Is there some way around this?
– Fearing Regret, Hawthorne
Dear Fearing Regret,
The short answer is no, there is no way
“around” it. The longer, and I hope somewhat
more satisfying answer, is that while you cannot
avoid regret, you can learn to live with it,
because you are no doubt already living with
regret. We all are. It’s part of being human.
Imagine standing at the top of a very deep
valley, and the path diverges down either side.
You can continue down one side or the other,
but not both. You can see some of what lies
ahead, but eventually both paths disappear
around the bend, and you don’t know what
comes next. Though the paths are each different,
each is also appealing in its own way.
You know that as you walk down your
chosen side, you will see the path across the
valley, and you may well continue to wonder
if that might not have been a better choice.
Maybe it would have been! So you wonder:
is it better over there? Should I have chosen
the other path?
Perhaps the only way to know the answer
to this question is to retrace your steps. But
often, you are too far down the path for that
to make sense. And so you continue forward,
vowing to make the best of it and wondering
what would have happened had you made a
different decision. As life progresses, one path
leads to another path, more choices and more
paths not taken. We face countless choices
about who to date, what to study, where to
live, what job to take. This, for many of us,
creates that gnawing, lingering uncertainty of
the inevitable regret. There are so many other
choices we could have made where things
would have turned out differently.
Despite those “No Regrets” slogans you see
around sometimes, regret is inevitable. The idea
that we should - or even possibly could - have no
regrets is to assert that there has never been a
time when we were faced with more than one
good option in any situation (which we get every
time we go to an ice cream store, for example).
We do the best we can, forced to make some
decisions under pressure, or with little information.
We regret things we said, and things
we didn’t say, or talking to the wrong person.
Perhaps we are not that good at talking about
regret and disappointment after all.
You cannot take both paths at the same time.
Regret, then, is a real possibility. But it’s more
than that. It’s baked in. If you have made the
best decision you possibly could, given the
info available to you, your circumstances, and
interests, then I suspect that may provide a
very strong shield from the arrows of regret.
Please write to tom@tomandrecounseling.
com or text to 310.776.5299 with questions
about handling what is affecting your life, your
family, the community or the world. Tom Andre
is a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist
(LMFT119254). The information in this column
is for educational purposes only and nothing
herein should be construed as professional advice
or the formation of a therapeutic relationship. •