Another missing Hermosa time capsule
Seymour Bilowit with son Scott. Photo
When officials buried Hermosa’s “millennium time capsule” at the foot of the Pier Plaza pedestal clock in 2008, they registered the underground cylinder with the International Time Capsule Society, which promises to keep a record for whomever decides to dig it up 100 years later.
And it’s probably a good thing. If the 21-year-old society had existed in 1972 or 1962, two other Hermosa time capsules might not be AWOL.
A time capsule containing personal letters, an old Easy Reader and other memorabilia from Hermosans was buried March 18, 1972 in conjunction during a grand opening ceremony for Empire Savings and Loan in what is now the Citibank building on the Plaza.
The capsule was to be opened on March 18, 2000. But the time came and went, and the capsule remained buried, and nobody seemed to remember the precise burial spot. Mermaid Restaurant owner Quentin “Boots” Thelen, who has since passed away, thought the capsule was buried north of the building, underneath what is now a small parking lot. Others said the capsule lies at the bank building’s cornerstone, or perhaps under a concrete planter.
Another hunt was recently triggered for a time capsule that definitely was buried Oct. 27, 1962, at a location that is a bit less definite, perhaps somewhere south of the historic Bijou Theaters building on Hermosa Avenue.
Seymour Bilowit, 92, the founder of Seymour Jewelers, was at the burial ceremony, and said the capsule was to be dug up in 50 years – October 2012. He said he took a brief look for the capsule, hoping to see the bronze plaque that once marked its spot.
“I didn’t see it where I thought it would be,” Bilowit said.
The capsule, a 55-milimeter artillery shell, contains newspaper clippings and business cards, among other things, and was buried in conjunction with 1912 Days, an annual celebration to mark the year the Hermosa Beach Chamber of Commerce was founded.
The stainless steel capsule buried six feet deep by civic leaders in January 2008 contains items from groups and individuals, including photos, a cell phone, a lawn-bowling ball and an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie on DVD.
Also included was a parking citation that, with the anticipated late fees, would cost the capsule’s openers $60,000.
The items were bolted into vacuum-sealed Mylar envelopes along with small packets of a moisture-fighting agent.
The International Time Capsule Society, based atOglethorpeUniversityinAtlanta, estimates that 10,000 capsules exist worldwide.
Oglethorpe also houses the Crypt of Civilization, a 20-foot by 10-foot chamber, sealed airtight, containing historical artifacts scheduled for opening in 8113.
The crypt, in the granite foundation of the university’s Phoebe Hearst Memorial Hall, contains specially preserved microfilm storing the Bible, the Koran, Homer’s Iliad and Dante’s Inferno, and voice recordings of Franklin Roosevelt, Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin.
The Guinness Book of World Records calls the crypt “the first successful attempt to bury a record of this culture for any future inhabitants or visitors to the planet Earth.”