When Jesse Gonzalez was a boy growing up in Redondo Beach, much of South Redondo was filled with strawberry fields, there was a roller coaster just south of the pier, and you could take a streetcar to downtown Los Angeles.
Gonzalez, who turned 100-years-old on Nov 8, said Redondo was a much nicer place when it was less crowded. He is still proud to call the city home for the past century even though he has seen a lot of changes.
“A long time ago, Redondo was nicer,” he said. “It had merry-go-rounds, a ballroom and all kinds of entertainment. A lot of people got up early in the morning to go to the amusement park.”
Today, Gonzalez lives comfortably at home, only takes two prescription pills and still passionately roots on his beloved Dodgers, though sometimes it is tough love.
“I got disgusted with them Dodgers,” he said. “We used to have a team in Redondo. We played $900 per game. If you win, you got paid. If you lose you don’t get paid. That’s the way they ought to do the Major Leagues.”
We sat down with Gonzalez at his Avenue A home with several of his daughters and granddaughters. Father to eight children, 15 grandchildren and a fourth great grandchild soon-to-be, Gonzalez is one of eight children to Mauro and Maria Gonzalez, who are recognized as the first Mexican family known to arrive in Redondo Beach in 1905.
He said his father walked 1,300 miles from Pengamo, Guanajuato to Redondo Beach where he got a job offloading lumber. At that time, ships docked just off the Avenues. Four years later, he made enough money to bring his wife to California.
So what’s the secret to a long life, besides a healthy obsession with baseball? Gonzelez says apple cider vinegar, which he takes a teaspoon twice a day.
“I recommend everyone buy a bottle of apple cider vinegar,” he said. “If you don’t have a bottle you ought to run down and get one.”
Another secret to his good health, said his granddaughter, is his sense of humor.
“I’ve always said the reason he has lived so long is because he wanted to,” said Laura Fernandez. “He was sick in his 90s and almost died in the hospital, but he fought so hard. Just being around people makes him happy.”
Growing up in Redondo Beach, Gonzalez remembers discrimination because there were just so few Hispanic families. He was told to not to walk down certain parts of town or he couldn’t go to the Plunge on one occasion. He dropped out of Redondo Union High School before graduating and got a job building ships, which he continued during the war. He then became a longshoreman rising through the ranks to foreman, which he worked for 40 years.
It was at a dance that Gonzalez shared a first date with future wife Benita, who went to Narbonne High School. She was 16, he was 20, which wasn’t unusual in those days, and they married just a few years later. The couple shared 65 years together before Benita’s passing. What then is the secret to a long marriage, we asked.
“I was barely home,” he joked.
When Gonzalez was working at the port, he rarely took a day off even for the birth of his own children. After having four daughters, news of his first son was made over the loudspeaker at work. Always the hard-worker, Gonzalez built the home he lives in today by himself in 1953 with the help of his father and some friends. Over the course of four years he worked on it during his vacations.
The home near Alta Vista Elementary School sits on two lots with a wonderful backyard where Gonzalez still shares large family gatherings.
So what’s next for the Redondo centenarian? Gonzalez says he wants to live another 100 years.
“I want to break the record,” he said.
