Hermosa Beach resident Elaine Palmer Wright turned 100 years old Wednesday.
Wright celebrated her centennial with a party this past Saturday, drawing some three dozen relatives from all over the world. And for Wright, looking back on the passage of time, having a good time in the South Bay does not appear to have changed all that much.
“We did a lot of bicycling. We’d bicycle, have a drink, and go on to the next house,” Wright said. “We had such a good time. It was very innocent.”
Wright and her husband Alan bought their house on the Strand in 1950. (She does not recall the price they paid for the house, but believes it was in the neighborhood of $25,000.) Her husband, she said, discovered Hermosa after joining a friend on the Red Car to the area from Los Angeles.
They moved here full time in 1967. In the intervening years, she and her husband lived in Beverly Hills and spent the summers in Hermosa. The annual ritual of heading to Hermosa was highly anticipated by the family’s children. Her son Dennis looked forward to soaking in the burgeoning surf scene at 22nd Street. He recalled popping into the Surfboarder restaurant, where the proprietor would post pictures of prominent local surfers.
The Strand was mostly built out when they first bought the home, Wright said, but the houses were far smaller. Most were only one story, with the occasional home reaching two. The biggest difference in the physical appearance of the area, she said, is the broadening of the sand beach. The combination of peak tides and storms used to regularly send seawater into the home’s front yard, she recalled.
The Wrights became fast friends with many in the area, regularly socializing with the Adams, Comley, Gould, Schneider and Seawright families. Her children recall a quieter Hermosa with far fewer visitors. Commenting on her mother’s love of cycling from home to home, Wright’s daughter Lanie, who now works for the Hermosa Beach City School District, said people spent less time at bars and restaurants, and did more at home.
“It wasn’t crowded at all,” Lanie said. “It felt like more of a secret.”
Every Fourth of July, the families would regularly gather for parties at homes on a nearby walk street, kids playing in the sand and surf.
“We were not allowed have fireworks on beach. But we did it anyway,” Lanie laughed.
Wright was born in Phoenix in 1916. She attended Los Angeles’ Immaculate Heart High School, and spent a year at Stanford University.
Her father, a prominent physician, took her on many trips to different parts of the world in her youth. Once, while accompanying her father to a medical conference, she had an audience with King Leopold III of Belgium.
Asked to comment on the source of her longevity, Wright was unsure. She remained active, and was an avid golfer till past the age of 75. The key, Wright said, may have been an overall lack of stress.
“I had a good husband who didn’t work me too hard, and I had lots of help from the kids,” Wright said. “Maybe I’m more relaxed. I don’t worry as much as some people.”
