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Herald Publications - El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 2, No. 50 - December 10, 2020
Inside
This Issue
Certified & Licensed
Professionals.......................7
Classifieds............................2
Entertainment......................2
Food.......................................7
Hawthorne............................3
Huber’s Hiccups..................3
Lawndale..............................4
Inglewood.............................5
Legals.................................4,6
Pets........................................8
Weekend
Forecast
Friday
Partly
Cloudy
60˚/46˚
Saturday
Mostly
Sunny
64˚/48˚
Sunday
Mostly
Sunny
67˚/49˚
Lawndale Tribune
AND lAwNDAle News
Hawthorne Press Tribune
Featuring the Weekly Newspapers of Hawthorne, Inglewood and Lawndale
The Spirit of Giving Brings
Holiday Toys to South Bay Kids
District 2 Councilman Alex Padilla welcomed residents and guests to the D2 Community Center for his annual Holiday Toy and Food Drive. The toys and goods will go to local families in need during the
holidays. Photo courtesy City of Inglewood.
Main Street Mainstay Dornblaser
is Still Loving His Stylistic Life
By Duane Plank
When El Segundo hairstylist Joe Dornblaser,
owner of Dornblaser’s Hair Design, was
contacted to set-up an interview with an El
Segundo Herald scribe for a possible profile
for the paper, he hesitated a bit, then agreed.
And then nothing happened — no communication
for a lengthy stretch. Finally, almost two
months later, Dornblaser, who has been cutting
hair for more than four decades, returned an
email and said he was still interested in the
interview. He apologized for the delay in
answering the email, writing that “I’m not
on my computer very often (my world is
mostly low tech) and I’ve been putting in a
lot of extra hours at work.”
In the COVID-19 era, with face-to-face
interviews deemed somewhat problematic, the
old-school Dornblaser, who proudly sports
a rotary telephone in his store, asked if we
could do the interview in person, as opposed
to on the phone. So, we did.
Dornblaser said his grandparents moved
to El Segundo around 1930 because they
wanted to “get out of a big city” environment.
As a third-generation resident of El
Segundo, Dornblaser attended El Segundo
High School, where he played football and
baseball, at times being coached by the
legendary John Stevenson in both sports.
He graduated in 1977, then, prompted by
his father, Bill, picked-up his cosmetology
degree at El Camino College, and began
cutting hair in his father’s shop located at
137 Main Street, in 1978, and bought the
business from his father in the mid-90’s.
Bill Dornblaser was quite an athlete himself,
taking part in the 1952 Summer Olympics
as a member of the men’s water polo
team that garnered fourth place in the tournament,
and was coached by El Segundo
icon Urho Saari, stacked with members of
the El Segundo Swim Club. As a youth, Joe
followed in his father’s aquatic footsteps,
swimming for the El Segundo Recreation
Park Swim Club, but, he said, rebelled
against the family swimming tradition when
he entered high school, focusing on football
and baseball.
On being coached by Stevenson, Dornblaser
said that while Stevenson was a great baseball
coach, “I had a better experience with
him as a football coach. He was an amazing
coach. He taught us tackle football from the
ground-up.” Dornblaser said that Stevenson
was a stickler for detail, instilling into his
players that they must not only know their
position responsibilities, but also the assignments
of the rest of the players on their side
of the ball.
On the baseball diamond, Dornblaser
called Stevenson a “good commander on the
field, (who) got the most out of his players.”
Dornblaser gained some notoriety around
town when he was selected as a member
of the 1974 World Series Championship El
Segundo Babe Ruth team that took the 13-
15 title in the tournament that was played
in Abbeville, Louisiana.
As part of his “give-back” to the community,
Dornblaser has served as the Babe
Ruth Beavers manager for six seasons.
A big proponent of youth sports, Dornblaser
has also served stints managing and coaching
teams in the El Segundo Little League
and Girls’ Softball programs and volunteering
his time in the American Youth Soccer
Association soccer program, working as
a referee.
He is a big proponent of local sports
programs and laments that outside club
and travel teams often siphon off young El
Segundo athletes. He yearns for the days of
yore when local youths would bond together,
playing in-town recreational sports for a decade
before departing for college. “You get to
play with friends in a small community,” he
said regarding in-town sporting opportunities.
“There is nothing better than beating your
buddies. I believe in youth sports,” citing his
Joe Dornblaser See Dornblaser, page 5