The Hermosa Beach Chamber of Commerce and Visitor’s Bureau will present its Man and Woman of the Year awards at its annual gala on Feb. 10. This year’s honorees are Lt. Tom Thompson of the Hermosa Beach Police Department and Dr. Alice Villalobos.
The awards are a tradition that dates back to 1959, said Chamber President Kim MacMullan.
“If you look at the plaque displayed at the wall outside the [Hermosa Beach] Historical Society, you will see a roll call of some of the most influential and prominent residents,” of the last sixty years, MacMullan said in an e-mail.
The man in blue
To get a sense of the extent of Lt. Thompson’s record of community service, you could watch an episode of “Beach Beat,” a local-public access program Thompson helped produce (Younger residents, however, might be a bit confused about what a “VCR” is, and why they were occasionally stolen from homes).
Thompson regularly appeared in “Beach Beat” along with Lt. Andy Harrod of the Manhattan Beach Police Department during the series’ seven-year run in the ‘80s and ‘90s. It was one of the first examples in the state of a local police department bringing crime news and crime-prevention tips to the public over the airwaves.
While police work has changed over Thompson’s 37 years, crime in Hermosa is relatively similar (easily preventable thefts still predominate). “Beach Beat” is part of a legacy of communication that Thompson developed over those 37 years.
“Whether it’s an irate citizen, a business owner or a city official, I think my strongest suit is being able to talk to anybody,” Thompson said in an interview.
In addition to his patrol and detective duties over the years, Thompson has been a familiar presence in the community. He helped start the DARE program in Hermosa Beach schools, and was active in setting up the city’s Neighborhood Watch program.
“I think if Lt. Thompson was actually not attached to a civic project or program, notice of his absence would be immediate,” MacMullan said.
Thompson has also left a physical mark on the community, co-chairing the city’s Sept. 11 memorial on Pier Ave.The memorial, which includes a bench covered with buttons representing each person who died in the terrorist attacks, reflects the kind of detailed planning and consensus building that helped Thompson earn the Chamber award.
“That was an involved process,” Thompson said. “There were so many people present at the dedication ceremony, and it just all came together because we were all working toward the same goal.”
The compassionate companion
The sight of a person taking a small dog into a restaurant has become so common in Hermosa that it is easy to forget how strange it once would have seemed. Animals play an increasingly intimate role in the everyday lives of humans, and one of the key figures in this development happens to reside in town.
“Animals have moved from the backyard to the porch to the kitchen,” said Dr. Alice Villalobos. “And now they’re in the bedroom.”
Villalobos opened Coast Pet Clinic on PCH in the summer of 1977, which has since become VCA Coast Animal Hospital. Since then, she has become a leader in the field of animal oncology, and is known as the mother of Veterinary Hospice. Villalobos was delivering a lecture to the American Veterinary Medical Association when she coined the term “pawspice.”
The pawspice work led to the creation of the Human-Animal Bond Scale, a metric designed to assist vets and caregivers with ethical quandaries that emerge toward the end of animal lives.
“She is revered by everyone she knows, with two legs or four,” MacMullan said.
In addition to her professional work, Villalobos started the Peter Zippi Memorial Fund for Animals. The fund was named for a young vet who worked for Villalobos and died in a plane crash at Torrance Airport.
The accident occurred when Villalobos’s practice was just starting, and Zippi had foregone a paycheck the month before he died. Villalobos attempted to give the check to Zippi’s parents at the funeral, but they refused.
“His parents said, ‘No, spend it on animals, it’s what he would have wanted,” Villalobos said. “So I went to the bank that day and deposited it. And that money became the start of the fund.”
The foundation began by focusing on helping the indigent with pet care expenses, and the memorial fund has helped rescue and place over 15,000 animals to date.
