Janet Salomonson M.D. FACS
photo credit:  Susan Cloke

St. John’s announced with great sadness the death of Dr. Janet K. Salomonson.  They said, “our beloved Medical Director of the Cleft Palate Services and gifted plastic surgeon, passed away yesterday, September 10th after an illness. While an intensely private person, she was known throughout Saint John’s and the surrounding community, and internationally, for her deep devotion to her patients, their families and her associates.

“At Saint John’s, she held the position of Section Chief of Plastic Surgery and served as a member of the Surgery Committee, the Pediatric Committee, and the Surgical Value Analysis Team.”

There will be a memorial mass at Saint John’s on Thursday, September 26th at 12:00 p.m. in the Sister Marie Madeleine Chapel. 


Donations may be made in her honor to the St. Johns Cleft Palate Institute, Faces of Hope and Rotoplast.

In 2011 Dr. Salomonson agreed to be interviewed for the Hometown Hero column.  She wanted people to know about the problem of cleft palate and  that it was a solvable problem.
What follows is the reprint of the 2011 column.

Hometown Hero: Janet Salomonson M.D.
SUSAN CLOKE
Columnist, the Mirror
April 29, 2011

Santa Monica plastic surgeon Janet Salomonson will be in Guatemala this coming summer performing operations to correct the birth anomaly of cleft palate.  “We never turn away any child who is healthy enough to go through the operation.   I stay for one or sometimes two weeks in the host country and typically perform about five operations every day.  We work until the work is done,” said Dr. Salomonson.

“For reasons we still don’t know, even though the human genome has been mapped, normal structures don’t form in the lip and palate and children are born with cleft palate.  Not only is cleft palate disfiguring, it’s important to have the structures in place as early as possible so the child can learn to speak correctly.  It’s best to do the operations in stages.  We do the lip first, especially with a child under 10 months and then return to repair the palate.

“If the cleft palate is not corrected when they are very young the child can still learn to speak, but often they can’t speak clearly and can have difficulty being understood.”

Salomonson has been to Nicaragua, Guatemala, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and the Philippines to perform cleft palate surgeries. This is her tenth year of working with Faces of Hope and Rotaplast, two Rotary sponsored groups, which arrange trips for teams of medical professionals to work internationally donating their much-needed medical skills.

“We go with a spirit of humility and with respect for the local culture.  We work with the local people.  Their knowledge is helpful to the success of our work.  We partner, whenever possible, with local physicians and are always on the look out for local physicians who want to be trained in cleft palate surgery.

“We bring the supplies, everything from sutures to anesthesia, our own scrubs, antibiotics, so that we are not taking from the local facility.” Doctor Salomonson noted.

The visits of the medical teams are announced on the radio, in the newspapers and on banners and flyers.  The radio seems to be the way most people learn about the program.

The organizing group goes ahead of the medical team and scouts out the situation in the host country to make sure that the basic requirements for operating and achieving good surgical outcomes can be met. They also make the arrangements for lodging and meals for the medical team members.

The daughter of Swedish immigrants to Minnesota she has the famous Midwestern straightforward manner and self –deprecating style.  Her mom was a stay at home mom and her dad worked on road construction. They wanted the American dream of education and a better life for their child.

Her parents had originally met when her mom was a ‘summer child’ on a farm.  It is a typical Swedish custom, kind of the Swedish equivalent of sending your kid to camp, for city children to go to farms in the summer.  On the farm she was given a kitten, the food was great and she had a wonderful time.  She liked the entire farm family, including the older son.  Years later, they met again and decided to marry.

Salomonson’s path to studying medicine was incremental.  She knew when she was in Maplewood High School in St. Paul, Minnesota that she was drawn to math and science.

This took her to the University Of Minnesota as an undergraduate to study Chemical Engineering.  Many of her professors worked in the field of bioengineering and medicine.  Salomonson admired their work and decided she would apply to medical school and become a medical researcher.

In Medical School, also at the University of Minnesota, she fell in love with the clinical work and decided that, as much as the research meant to her, it would mean more to work with patients.   One more incremental move took her to UCLA for a surgical residency, starting in general surgery and then specializing in plastic surgery.

She holds the hard earned and well deserved prestigious title, Janet Salomonson, MD, FACS, Plastic Surgeon/Medical Director of the Cleft Palate Center at Saint John's Cleft Center.

At the invitation of a beloved former teacher, Salomonson went back to Minnesota to give the commencement address at her old high school.   She told the graduates, “You won’t remember for long who won the super bowl or even the Nobel Prize, but you will remember the teachers who taught you about the world and the people who were important to you.  Fame is not what is important.  What is important are the people in our lives.”

Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights To Hold Annual Membership Convention

 

Evening Outlook Front Page SM Rent Control Wins
  photo credit: Outlook Archives

SUSAN CLOKE

Columnist, the Mirror

Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights (SMRR) began 34 years ago. They will hold their Annual Membership Convention this Sunday at 2 pm at the Church in Ocean Park. 

SMRR has enjoyed 34 years of political dominance in Santa Monica electoral politics. In anticipation of the upcoming SMRR Convention, today’s column features an interview with Patricia Hoffman, co-chair of SMRR. Future columns will feature political leaders in Santa Monica with other points of view.

What was the impetus for forming/organizing SMRR?

A group of local senior citizen retirees, calling themselves the Santa Monica Committee for Fair Rents, was alarmed at the rapidly rising rents and condominium conversions that had begun to plague the Santa Monica renter community.

They were chaired by Santa Monica Housing Commissioner Syd Rose, and initiated the first rent control measure in 1978.

When the 1978 measure failed the organizers redoubled their efforts and supported the April 1979 Proposition A.

It was our first victory. Rent Control passed. SMRR candidate Ruth Yannatta Goldway became the first SMRR candidate to win a seat on the Santa Monica City Council. Cheryl Rhoden won a seat in the following November.

Rent Control came about because of a few things. The speculative market for property in Santa Monica, the ease and frequency of evictions of long time tenants and the belief that everyone should be secure in his or her home.

Did winning mean that SMRR held a majority of the Council seats?

In April of 1981, Ken Edwards, Dolores Press, Dennis Zane, and James Conn were elected for the first SMRR majority on City Council and Ruth Goldway became the first SMRR Mayor.

However, Goldway lost her seat and SMRR failed to win two other seats in the 1983 election.

In June of 1984, Santa Monica voters approved a measure to change the local elections from April of odd years to November of even years.

That November, Edwards, Zane and Conn were reelected but Press, who was a write-in candidate and got more than 13,000 votes, was replaced with Herb Katz. The SMRR majority was restored in 1988. And have mostly, but not always had a majority since then. 

Why did SMRR decide to focus on issues other than rent control?

Rent Control has always been the number one issue in SMRR. The Rent Control Board was established as part of the implementation of the Rent Control Law and is crucial to making sure rent control is implemented as intended by the people.

However, SMRR has always been a big-tent non-partisan organization. This has been both an asset and a challenge. The organization has one of the best platforms of any organization. It is a progressive document that looks at real needs of real people.

The only means of holding people accountable to the platform is the electoral process. This includes the democratic endorsement conventions to select SMRR candidates and the general citywide elections.

Do SMRR elected officials vote as a bloc?

SMRR-endorsed candidates often disagree on how to implement the platform. This has led to some fractionalization within the organization from time to time.

What is most important to you about Rent Control?

Since Rent Control, there are many more tenant protections from harassment and evictions. Rent Control was an important step in making Santa Monica child friendly. Before Fair Housing laws and Rent Control, tenants could be evicted for having children.

Why does SMRR run candidates for School and College Board elections?

The answer is simple. We care about education.

Renters knew that they were likely to be able to raise their families in place. That meant that they could participate fully in the schools. It also helped stabilize the existing decline in enrollment in our public schools. Rent control was, and is, good for the schools.

Santa Monica renters vote heavily in favor of school measures, both parcel taxes and General Obligation Bonds. Renters pay a significant share of these taxes.

Just as it is with City Council candidates, the School and College Board candidates are selected at the SMRR Convention. Their questionnaires and interviews are focused on education issues.

Do you, does SMRR, have regrets about things done in SMRR’s name?

It is hard to have too many regrets about a democratic process. There certainly have been candidates whom I did not support who won the SMRR nomination. There have been elected officials who have left something to be desired.

But we have also selected and elected some of the best officials Santa Monica has had.

I especially miss the leadership and guidance of Ken Genser. He didn’t start out as one of our best council members but he grew on the job. His death has made it much more difficult for the City to move forward with a coherent plan.

What will happen at the 2013 Convention?

The main business of this convention/annual meeting will be electing the SMRR Steering Committee. The focus of this meeting will be Rent Control and Housing.

How are other issues discussed and decided?

The Steering Committee conducts SMRR business between general meetings and addresses local issues of concern and statewide issues of importance to SMRR.

Quality of life issues have always been important to SMRR, as they have been to most of the people of Santa Monica.

There is significant disagreement on how to best protect and enhance the quality of life, though. It would help if we could have a common vision of what Santa Monica should look like in 5, 10 and 20 years. Unfortunately, the LUCE is too broad and doesn’t provide enough guidance.

What are the major challenges facing the City today?

There are a number of challenges facing Santa Monica today. Many of the worst have regional components but we also have local issues. We are suffering traffic congestion problems that are both local and regional. We have not completed re-writing the zoning codes necessary to implement our most recently adopted Land Use and Circulation Elements. We have too many Development Agreements in process and we are currently fighting a lot of battles about height and density of new development.

You have lived in Santa Monica since 1979, you are married to the physician Gene Oppenheim, and you have three children; Jonas, Lucas, and Jed. Why did you get involved in local politics? Why SMRR?

Growing up in Van Nuys made living in Santa Monica seem almost perfect. I was excited about having the seats of government almost in my back yard. Participation was natural. It was exciting to be able to participate in a progressive movement. There were different groups meeting each week to discuss issues such as Rent Control, Social Services, the Arts, and Education. It was a wonderful time.

For more information about Sunday’s convention, visit www.smrr.org/news/2013Convention.html

What Say You?

What Say You: Martini Anyone?

La Posada Hotel Winslow AZ

SUSAN CLOKE

Columnist

Route 66. La Posada Hotel, Winslow AZ.  Built between the railroad tracks and Route 66, La Posada Hotel was originally built in the late 1920’s by the Santa Fe Railroad and the Fred Harvey Company for the people riding the Super Chief on the Chicago-Los Angeles route. Through the good work of Allan Affeldt it has once again become a destination hotel.

In the first half of the 1900’s Harvey Company built hotels and restaurants along the routes of the railroads in the western United States.  Fred Harvey is credited with being a leader in promoting tourism to the Southwest.  Samuel Hopkins Adams’ novel about the Harvey waitresses, The Harvey Girls, was made into a film of the same name starring Judy Garland.  Her song from that film, On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe, won an Academy Award.

The famed Mary Colter was the architect for La Posada Hotel.  Colter designed the hacienda style Spanish Colonial Revival La Posada in 1929.  She designed the hotel, the 6-acre gardens, the furniture, the china, even the hotel uniforms.  El Posada was listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1987.

Colter may be most widely known as the architect of the 1922 Phantom Ranch buildings at the bottom of the Grand Canyon and the cabins on the rim of the Canyon and Hermit’s Rest.  

Colter also worked for the Santa Fe Railroad where she designed the Turquoise Room Dining Car and the now highly collectible Mimbreno china and flatware for the Super Chief Chicago-Los Angeles rail service.  

In the 1930’s and 40’s the Santa Fe Super Chief was the classiest train between Chicago and Los Angeles.  The idiom of the day was “I just chiefed in from the Coast.”  

One of her last designs was the Streamline Moderne cocktail lounge at Union Station in Los Angeles, which now can be seen on Los Angeles Conservancy tours.

The Santa Fe railroad closed the hotel in 1957 and used the facilities as offices, wrecking havoc on the interior of the building.

Along came Allan Affeldt and Tina Mion.  They bought the hotel with the intention of restoring it.  “Our friends thought we were crazy,” said Affeldt who calls himself a “serial eccentric entrepreneur”.  He is married to Tina Mion, whom Ed Ruscha called the “foremost figurative artist in the Southwest.”

Work on the hotel restoration is ongoing.  Also planned are the converting of the old train station to an Art Museum, planting a vineyard and making wine, a sculpture garden and a potager.  James Turrell is designing a “sky space” for La Posada and when Turrell’s Roden Crater opens La Posada will be the embarkation point for visitors. 

Allen Affeldt bought La Posada in 1997 and began work on the restoration of the original Colter design.  He said,  “I believe we save great buildings in the same way we save families, cities and nations: one day at a time, with constant investment and courage, undaunted by naysayers and long odds.  I believe in the sacredness of place, and in the power of great architecture to inspire creativity, kindness and civic responsibility.”

You too can “chief in” from the Coast.  This time on an Amtrak train.  You can still disembark at the front entrance of La Posada and enter the restored hotel and have a great meal at The Turquoise Room.  Named for the dining room on the Super Chief.  The Turquoise Room at La Posada is run by James Beard nominated chef, John Sharpe. 

Sharpe is developing a menu of Native American inspired foods such as cornhusk wrapped and baked salmon or locally sourced churro lamb for the squash blossom and lamb sampler platter.  Breakfast might be corn polenta with fire roasted tomatoes, fresh spinach poached eggs and corn salsa or waffles and pancakes served with locally produced prickly pear or mesquite syrup.  He brings the idea of eating locally and sustainably grown produce and products to the La Posada kitchen.

Each of the fifty-three rooms in the hotel is named for a famous hotel guest.   Presidents Roosevelt and Truman; actors Mary Pickford, Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart, Gary Cooper; aviators Amelia Earhart and Pancho Barnes; Albert Einstein; all were guests at La Posada.

My thanks to Meaghan McNamee, the bartender at the Martini Lounge at La Posada, for her stories about the hotel.  A local resident, the daughter of a Scottish Irish father and a Navajo mother, she calls La Posada “a magical place.”

Martini Anyone?  On the Super Chief a martini was 30 cents.  Today, at the hotel they are a little more! 

What Say You?