Authors of Arcadia books Nov. 17

Arcadia City Councilman Gary Kovacic’s long-awaited follow-up collection of essays called More Visions of Arcadia will be showcased November 17 during the third One Community, One Book program produced by Arcadia’s Best Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit community events group.

This year’s program, Arcadia by Arcadians and Neighbors – Authors of books about Arcadia, California, will also feature authors Carol Libby and Elizabeth Pomeroy.

The City of Arcadia is partnering with Arcadia’s Best Foundation on this year’s program to celebrate the release of More Visions during the 10th anniversary year of the popular original book edited by Kovacic and published as Arcadia celebrated its 100th birthday in 2003: Visions of Arcadia: A Centennial Anthology. The upcoming 576-page More Visions is chocked full of 145 essays and nearly 400 photographs. More than 70 of the contributing essayists from More Visions will participate in a book signing after a Q&A with the authors led by Arcadia’s Best Foundation’s Scott Hettrick.

Each of the three authors will give separate talks offering interesting anecdotes they learned about Arcadia, as well as fun and fascinating stories about the process of researching, writing, and editing their books. The joint Q&A will follow, during which the audience will be invited to participate. Libby’s most recent book is Chronicles of Arcadia. She also co-authored the Arcadia edition of the national book series Images of America. Pomeroy has included extensive writings about Arcadia in her many books, which include the Pasadena edition of Images of America, as well as Lost and Found: Historic and Natural Landmarks of the San Gabriel Valley and John Muir: A Naturalist in Southern California.

All three authors will sign their books, which will be available for purchase. Free refreshments will be provided by the City of Arcadia. The Church of the Good Shepherd is at 400 W. Duarte Road, Arcadia.

Gary Kovacic

About Gary Kovacic Gary A. Kovacic was born in Pasadena in 1951, moved to Arcadia when he was six weeks old, where he has lived since 1952 (except for his years at UCLA). He attended Santa Anita Elementary School, Dana Junior High School, and is a graduate of Arcadia High School (Class of 1969). He played baseball at Arcadia National Little League, was a delivery boy for Barron’s Pharmacy in West Arcadia, and spent five summers as a day camp counselor for the Arcadia Recreation Department at Wilderness Park.

Gary was a two-term member of the Arcadia Planning Commission and chaired the Santa Anita Village Architectural Review Board for seven years before being elected to the Arcadia City Council, where he is currently serving his fourth term (1996 to 2006; 2008 to 2016). He has also served five terms as mayor (including being one of the Centennial Mayors in 2003).

His other community service includes:

1. President/CEO of the Arcadia Performing Arts Foundation

2. Board member of Foothill Unity Center, Inc.

3. Volunteer coach of Arcadia High School’s Constitution Team.

When not editing essays, he practices eminent domain and land use law in Los Angeles. Gary and his wife Barb have two children (daughter Kelly and son Casey) and live in the Village area of Arcadia. He is also the editor of Visions of Arcadia: A Centennial Anthology, published in 2003 to celebrate Arcadia’s centennial and featuring a 363-page collection of 130 essays and more than 90 historic photographs about life in Arcadia.

Gary’s other community activities have included service on Methodist Hospital’s Bio-ethics Committee, Congressman David Dreier’s Military Academy Nominations Panel, and the boards of the Arcadia Educational Foundation, Foothill Unity Center, and Arcadia Historical Society. Since 1995, Gary has been a volunteer coach of Arcadia High School’s award-winning Constitution Team. In 2010, the team won the national championship in Washington, D.C. He is also an active member of Arcadia’s Church of the Good Shepherd.

Gary’s past awards include being named Arcadia’s 2006 Citizen of the Year by the Arcadia Chamber of Commerce; the Lucky Baldwin District (Boys Scouts of America) Distinguished Citizen Award; the Chinese American Education Association Distinguished Service Award; the Arcadia Chinese Association City Service Award; and the AUSD “Golden Apple” Award.

In 2006, Gary chaired citizen campaign committees for Measure A ($8 million bond measure for a Gold Line grade separation at Santa Anita Avenue) and Measure I ($218 million bond measure to improve Arcadia schools). Both Arcadia bond measures passed with over two-thirds of the vote.

Gary is a partner in the downtown Los Angeles law firm of Sullivan, Workman & Dee, LLP. Since 1976, he has concentrated his law practice in the area of representing property and business owners in eminent domain, land use, and zoning matters.

Besides family and friends, Gary’s extracurricular passions include cycling, UCLA athletics, trout fishing, writing, and Yosemite.

About Carol Libby

Carol Libby

Carol Libby was named Citizen of the Year in 1977-78 by the Arcadia Chamber of Commerce and has been doing even more community volunteer work each year since then. Her decades of service with the Arcadia Historical Society as well as the original Arcadia Historical Museum and one of the primary proponents of the current museum were recognized in June with a “Hats Off to Carol Libby” program by the Society.

She has been actively involved with numerous community organizations since moving to Arcadia with her husband Hal in 1956 (the home Hal’s parents bought in 1938) — you will see her pictured almost wherever you go, including on the walls of the new Methodist Hospital wing from her days as a volunteer there.

Carol volunteered for more than twenty-five years at the Arboretum, has been active in the Arcadia Historical Society since 1986, served as curator of the Society’s museum from 1995-2001 and has served on the Society’s Historical Marker Committee since its inception. In addition to authoring and co-authoring several books noted above, she has also made many presentations and hosts many events at her home.

Carol’s interest in Arcadia’s history began while listening to stories told by her father-in-law, Philip A. Libby, a member of Arcadia’s city council for several years. She was president of First Avenue PTA, Baldwin Stocker PTA and Arcadia Council PTA, and served as chairman of the successful Base Revenue Election in 1977. She received a Golden Apple Award, an Honorary Service Award and Continuing Service Award from Baldwin Stocker School PTA, and the 2001 Senior Citizen Award. She received the City Appreciation Award for her work in the restoration of the Hugo Reid Family Statue.

Carol holds a B.A. degree in Education and a M.A. in Child Development.

About Elizabeth Pomeroy

Dr. Elizabeth Pomeroy

Elizabeth Pomeroy, a California native, graduated from Stanford University and holds a Ph.D. in English from UCLA. She served on the staff of the Huntington Library for ten years, and also worked at the W.M. Keck Foundation in Los Angeles.

She has taught English at Pasadena City College for a decade, and earlier taught at UCLA, UC Irvine, and California State University Los Angeles. Her first teaching years were in middle school and high school.

Living in Pasadena for the past thirty-five years, she has been active in local organizations, serving as Board member of the Pasadena Historical Society, Pasadena Sister Cities Committee, the Sierra Club and other groups. She has served the City of Pasadena as a member of the Recreation and Parks Commission and the Library Commission.

She is also a writer and contributed a weekly column on historic places entitled “Lost and Found,” for the Pasadena Star-News and San Gabriel Valley Tribune. In the year 2000 she established Many Moons Press, which publishes books on Southern California history and nature.