HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-07-12; City Council; 20629; BARN THEATER CARRILLO RANCH KINDLE THEATERCITY OF CARLSBAD - AGENDA BILL 15
AB# 20,629
MTG. 7/12/11
DEPT. P&R
NAMING THE BARN THEATER AT LEO
CARRILLO RANCH THE
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DEPT. DIRECTOR «£PD2
CITY ATTORNEY ^-
CITY MANAGER /, ,_
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Adopt Resolution No. 2011-170 approving the Parks & Recreation Commission's
recommendation to name the barn theater at Leo Carrillo Ranch Historic Park the Kindle
Theater.
ITEM EXPLANATION:
Council Policy 48 (dated January 16, 2007) provides an opportunity to name parks, municipal
facilities, and amenities within those facilities in recognition of significant contributions that
individuals have made to enhancing the public life and well being of the residents of the City of
Carlsbad (Exhibit 2). Further, the policy allows city facilities to be named in honor of persons for
their outstanding contributions to the City of Carlsbad.
In April 2011, work was completed on the second and final phase of the historic Barn
restoration project at Leo Carrillo Ranch Historic Park. The Parks & Recreation Commission
has determined that it is fitting for the newly constructed theater inside the Barn at Leo Carrillo
Ranch be named the Kindle Theater in honor and recognition of long time park volunteers and
Carlsbad residents, Joan and Alan Kindle.
Joan and Alan Kindle definitely discovered their calling and passion in the advocacy,
preservation and interpretation of historic and cultural resources. Shortly after the Kindles
retired to Carlsbad in 1985, they fell in love with the open space, rambling adobes, and ranch
outbuildings that were to become part of the future Leo Carrillo Ranch Historic Park.
In a 1990 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Joan recounted a story of how her young
children loved to watch and be entertained by heroic crime fighters Cisco and Pancho in the
Cisco Kid television show (Exhibit 3). It wasn't until many years later that she discovered that
her new home in Carlsbad was located very close to Pancho's (Leo Carrillo's) historic hacienda,
and that she and Alan would be intimately involved with future park development.
Joan and Alan's list of contributions is significant, extensive and most impressive. Together,
they have freely dedicated a combined 52 years of volunteer service to the city. In 1994, the
Kindles received the Community Education award from San Diego based Save Our Heritage
Organization (SOHO) at the People in Preservation awards, in honor of their exceptional
accomplishment in preservation and interpretation of our cultural heritage.
DEPARTMENT CONTACT: Mick Calarco 760-434-2859 mick.calarco@carlsbadca.gov
FOR CITY CLERKS USE ONL Y.
COUNCIL ACTION:APPROVED
DENIED D
CONTINUED D
WITHDRAWN D
AMENDED D
CONTINUED TO DATE SPECIFIC D
CONTINUED TO DATE UNKNOWN D
RETURNED TO STAFF D
OTHER - SEE MINUTES D
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In 1996, the City of Carlsbad publicly recognized and honored the Kindles with the coveted
Citizen of the Year Award. In 2004, the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce honored them with
their prestigious Masters Meed award for their dedication to the Ranch and their service to the
community. Their list of awards and community recognition is remarkable.
Joan championed the preservation effort along with city staff to research, prepare, and submit
the nomination and officially list the Ranch in the National Register of Historic Places. She was
given the official City Council designation of volunteer curator, and worked tirelessly to bring the
Ranch and its unique collection of artifacts and memorabilia to fruition.
Joan was closely involved in the park master planning process, and helped to develop the
overall vision of what the park has become today.
Perhaps one of Joan's proudest moments was when she was able to successfully convince a
Las Vegas hotel and casino to lend her Leo Carrillo's custom built classic Chrysler Town and
Country (valued at more than $150,000 in 1991) and delivered it to Carlsbad in time for a
special celebration to commemorate Carrillo's birthday.
Joan has given generously of her time, talents and financial resources. She was instrumental in
getting the Carrillo Ranch Trust Fund established to receive donations of artifacts and
memorabilia to benefit the Ranch. For many years, Joan was one of the Fund's biggest
supporters, making thousands of unique handmade holiday ornaments, selling them and
donating 100% of the sales price to benefit the Trust Fund.
Joan worked closely with one of Carrillo's former neighbors, Elizabeth Bressi-Wiegand to
secure a donation of a one of a kind set of Monterey style furniture that once belonged in the
Horseman's bedroom at the Ranch. Thanks to Joan's dedication to establishing the Carrillo
Ranch Trust Fund as a catalyst for the city to receive such donations, the furniture is now on
exhibit and has been restored for everyone to enjoy for many years to come.
As founder and President of the 501 (c)(3) California Educational Corporation, The Friends of
Carrillo Ranch, Inc., Alan Kindle's contributions to the Ranch have been extraordinary. Alan is
well known for his dedication to education and interpreting Ranch history through art for many
thousands of Carlsbad school children. Alan designed and produced a slide show of historic
photos of Leo, his family, and the Ranch, and then took the show on the road long before the
park was ever open to the public. A modified version of that original presentation is still shown
in the visitor center to this day.
In 1995 The Friends of Carrillo Ranch, Inc. developed, funded, and implemented an innovative
and highly popular California history through art field trip program that is still offered today.
Fourth grade students from the City of Carlsbad have the opportunity to participate in a guided
tour of the Ranch, and then work with an art instructor to create a Ranch image using color
pastels. The best of the best student artwork (including the curator's choice) is featured
annually on the Friends website and is on display at the Ranch.
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Alan is devoted to advocating for and always supporting the best interests of the Ranch.
Thanks to the Friends, the park has benefitted from the funding of a new video for the visitor
center (currently in production), the donation of a six passenger electric cart to transport the
elderly and those individuals with special needs, interpretive signs, and first class audio visual
equipment just to name a few contributions.
Leo Carrillo Ranch Historic Park would certainly not be what it is today without Joan and Alan
Kindle. The Ranch and its development has benefitted greatly from their involvement. One only
needs to stroll quietly down historic Palm Lane on their way to view the historic hacienda to
witness and experience their contributions first hand.
For example, Alan and members of the Friends of Carrillo Ranch designed the first interpretive
walking tour of the Ranch, and Joan helped to research, design and install some of the earliest
interpretive exhibits.
Literally dozens of articles in the San Diego Union, North County Times, Los Angeles Times,
and Sunset Magazine chronicle Joan and Alan's involvement, love of history and their
dedication to preserving the legacy of Leo Carrillo and his Rancho De Los Quiotes for visitors to
enjoy.
Carrillo fondly recalls in his book The California I Love, "Now, here on the Rancho of the
Spanish Daggers, the past, the present and the future flash their many-prismed mirrors before
my eyes. The ever-lasting hills are my proscenium. The vaulted sky is my roof. The stars lean
down to pronounce their benediction."
Thanks to the extraordinary vision of Joan and Alan Kindle, and their love of the Ranch and
their community, visitors can still venture to Leo Carrillo Ranch to experience the past, present,
and make their own contribution to the future of what the place will become.
Staff has reviewed this honorific naming opportunity and has determined that it is consistent
with the Background, Purpose, and Statement of Policy of both the existing version of Council
Policy 48 Naming Rights of Parks and Municipal Facilities, and the proposed revised version of
Council Policy 48 that is currently under development—to be presented to the Council for their
consideration at a future meeting.
At their meeting of May 16, 2011, the Parks & Recreation Commission considered the naming
opportunity with a duration of 25 years, or for the useful life of the facility (whichever comes
first) consistent with the criteria identified in the current Council Policy and voted unanimously
(7-0) to recommend the City Council name the barn theater at Leo Carrillo Ranch the Kindle
Theater.
FISCAL IMPACT:
It is anticipated that there will be a onetime direct fiscal impact to the General Fund of
approximately $2,000 associated with the fabrication and installation of a sign documenting the
Kindle Theater name. The sign will be consistent with the Leo Carrillo Ranch Master Plan sign
recommendations. All costs associated with the naming opportunity will be absorbed into the
existing Parks & Recreation Department operating budget.
Page 4
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT:
Pursuant to Public Resources Code section 21065, this action does not constitute a "project"
within the meaning of CEQA in that it has no potential to cause either a direct physical change
in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment,
and therefore does not require environmental review.
EXHIBITS:
1. Resolution 2011-170 approving the Park & Recreation Commission's
recommendation to name the barn theater at Carrillo Ranch the Kindle Theater.
2. Council Policy 48, Naming Rights of Parks and Municipal Facilities dated January 16, 2007.
3. Newspaper article, "Pancho's Spread: Preservation: A Carlsbad woman remembers his
sidekick, Pancho, entertained her children on TV, has actor Leo Carrillo's hacienda her
crusade." Los Angeles Times, dated November 19,1990.
4. Letter of consent from Joan and Alan Kindle for the use of their last name on the barn
theater.
4
1 RESOLUTION NO. 2011-170
2 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
CARLSBAD APPROVING THE NAMING OF THE BARN
3 THEATER AT LEO CARRILLO RANCH THE KINDLE
4 THEATER
5 WHEREAS, Council Policy 48, entitled "Naming Rights of Parks, and Municipal
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Facilities" provides an opportunity for the public to name parks, municipal facilities and
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amenities within those facilities in recognition of significant contributions that individuals
9 have made to enhancing the public life and well being of the residents of the City of
10 Carlsbad; and
11 WHEREAS, Council Policy 48 establishes the criteria for the naming rights of
12 parks, municipal facilities, and amenities within parks or municipal facilities in
13 consideration of financial contributions or in recognition of any significant contributions
14 to the City of Carlsbad that it wishes to honor; and
WHEREAS, Council Policy 48 provides a procedure and criteria for the naming
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rights of parks, municipal facilities, and amenities within parks or municipal facilities; and
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WHEREAS in April 2011, work on the final phase of the barn restoration project
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was completed, creating a new theater facility inside the historic barn; and
20 WHEREAS Joan and Alan Kindle have contributed a combined 52 years of
21 volunteer service to the development and benefit of the City and Leo Carrillo Ranch
22 Historic Park; and
23 WHEREAS the City has received written consent from Joan and Alan Kindle, for
24 the use of their last name; and
25 WHEREAS, on May 16, 2011, the Parks & Recreation Commission considered
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the naming opportunity based on the criteria identified in the current and proposed
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version of Council Policy 48, and has unanimously voted to recommend the naming,
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1 and support the City Council's authorization to formally name the barn theater at Leo
2 Carrillo Ranch the Kindle Theater; and
3 WHEREAS, The City Council has reviewed the proposal and found it to be
4 consistent with the criteria identified in the Council Policy;
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NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of
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Carlsbad, California, as follows:
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1. That the above recitations are true and correct.
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2. That the barn theater at Leo Carrillo Ranch be named the Kindle Theater.9
3. The term of the naming shall commence on the date hereof, and shall
10 thterminate on the 25 anniversary of the date of this Resolution, or for the
useful life of the facility; whichever comes first.
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PASSED, APPROVED AND ADOPTED at a Regular Meeting of the City Council
of the City of Carlsbad on the 12th day of July, 2011, by the following vote to wit:
AYES: Council Members Hall, Kulchin, Blackburn, Douglas and Packard.
NOES: None.
ABSENT: None.
MATT HALL, Mayor
ATTEST:
JRAINE M. WOOD, City Clerk
(SEAL)
CTTY OF CARLSBAD Page 1 of 4
Policy No. 48
COUNCIL POLICY STATEMENT Date Issued 01716/07
Effective Date 01/16/07
General Subject NAMING RIGHTS OF PARKS AND
MUNICIPAL FACILITIES Cancellation Date
Supersedes No.
Specific Subject: Naming Rights Of Paries, Municipal Facilities, And Amenities
Within Those Facilities
Copies to: City Council, City Manager, City Attorney, Department and Division Heads,
Employee Bulletin Boards, Press, File
BACKGROUND.
The intent of this policy is to:
• Confirm the current practice of naming parks, municipal facilities, and amenities within those
facilities, after significant geographical, neighborhood and historical elements;
• Recognize significant contributions that organizations or individuals have made to the public life
and the well-being of the citizens of the City of Carlsbad;
• Provide guidance on how to apply for approval to name or rename parks, facilities, and amenities
within those facilities;
• Expand the current practice of naming parks to include all appropriate municipal facilities and
any amenities within a park or municipal facility.
PURPOSE;
To revise and establish the criteria and procedures for the naming rights of parks, municipal facilities,
and amenities within a park or municipal facilities in consideration of financial contributions or in
recognition of any significant contributions to the City of Carlsbad that it wishes to honor.
STATEMENT OF POLICY;
There are three types of naming situations this policy intends to address:
• The opening or reopening of parks, municipal facilities, and amenities within those facilities;
• Providing recognition of financial contributions to the City of Carlsbad;
• Honoring persons, organizations, corporations, or foundations in recognition for their significant
contributions to the City of Carlsbad.
Criteria for Naming Rights:
• Honors individuals, living or deceased, who have made a significant contribution to the City of
Carlsbad;
• Consistent with contribution level;
• Longstanding affiliation with the City,
CTTY OF CARLSBAD Page 2 of 4
Policy No. 48
COUNCIL POUC Y STATEMENT Date Issued m
Effective Date
General Subject: NAMING RIGHTS OF PARKS AND
MUNICIPAL FACILITIES Cancellation Date
Supersedes No.
Specific Subject: Naming Rights Of Parks, Municipal Facilities, And Amenities
Within Those Facilities
Copies to: City Council, City Manager, City Attorney, Department and Division Heads,
Employee Bulletin Boards, Press, File
• Provides a sense of place, continuity and belonging reflecting the geographic location,
community, neighborhood or street where the park, municipal facility or amenity within the
facility is located;
• Recognizes the historical and/or cultural significance of the area;
• Reflects unique characteristics of the site.
Names will not be chosen that:
• Cause confusion due to duplication or names sounding similar to existing locations within the
City of Carlsbad;
• Are the names of companies whose business is substantially derived from the sale of alcohol,
tobacco, firearms, pornography, and/or sexually explicit goods or services;
• Are discriminatory or derogatory considering race, gender, creed, religious or political affiliation,
or other similar factors;
• Recognize the birth, marriage or anniversary of specific individuals.
The City of Carlsbad reserves the right to reject or revoke naming rights opportunities by individuals,
groups, or organizations whose views or public statements do not promote die mission, norms and
values, or interests of the City.
Names of persons, organizations, corporations, or foundations will be considered when they have
made a significant contribution to the City of Carlsbad by:
Enhancing the quality of life and well-being of the City and its Citizens;
Contributing to the historical or cultural preservation of the City,
Contributing toward the acquisition, development, or conveyance of land or building to the City;
Exemplary or meritorious contributions to the City;
A direct relationship or association that exists between a former place of residence of the person
or group and the parks, facilities, and amenities within those facilities to be named.
Where the name of an individual is recommended after an internal discussion, written consent shall be
obtained from the individual, their next of kin, or their estate prior to the City Council's public
consideration.
CITY OF CARLSBAD Page 3 of 4
Policy No. 48
COUNCIL POLICY STATEMENT Date Issued 01/16/07
Effective Date 01/16/07
General Subject: NAMING RIGHTS OF PARKS AND
MUNICIPAL FACDLJTIES Cancellation Date
Supersedes No.
Specific Subject: Naming Rights Of Parks, Municipal Facilities, And Amenities
Within Those Facilities
Copies to: City Council, City Manager, City Attorney, Department and Division Heads,
Employee Bulletin Boards, Press, File
Where the naming opportunity Is the result of a financial contribution, the following factors must
be considered:
• The significance of the contribution made relative to the construction and operating costs of the
parks, municipal facilities, and amenities within those facilities;
• The cost of establishing the naming option (costs to be determined by the responsible Department
on an individual basis).
The duration of naming rights of parks, municipal facilities, and amenities within those facilities shall be
decided or negotiated on a case-by-case basis.
Naming rights of parks, municipal facilities, and amenities within those facilities may be renewed by
mutual agreement between all the parties.
Existing names will not be changed without consideration of the historical significance of the existing
name, the impact on die individual or organization previously named, the cost and impact of changing
existing signs, rebuilding community recognition and updating records (i.e. letterhead, databases, and
promotional materials).
Each naming right application will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
PROCEDURE:
Applicant(s) shall submit a written request for naming rights to the corresponding Department Director,
with justification to aid in considering the proposal. The proposed name shall be placed on the Board
and/or Commission agenda (if required), allowing appropriate time for review by the Board and/or
Commission and subcommittee if necessary, and to publicize and receive input from the public at the
Board and/or Commission meeting. The Board and/or Commission's recommendation will be forwarded
to the City Council for their determination of the official name.
In the case of City-sponsored support groups raising funds on behalf of the City (i.e. Friends of the
Library and/or Friends of Carrillo Ranch), it will be necessary to establish naming rights gift levels prior
to soliciting gifts and offering naming rights to prospective donors. No final commitment to name a park,
municipal facility or amenity within the facility can be made to a potential donor without the appropriate
0
CTTY OF CARLSBAD Page 4 of 4
Policy No. 48
COUNCIL POLICY STATEMENT Date Issued m
Effective Date 01/16/07
General Subject: NAMING RIGHTS OF PARKS AND
MUNICIPAL FACILITIES Cancellation Date _
Supersedes No. _
Specific Subject: Naming Rights Of Paries, Municipal Facilities, And Amenities
Within Those Facilities
Copies to: City Council, City Manager, City Attorney, Department and Division Heads,
Employee Bulletin Boards, Press, File
approvals as outlined within this policy. The support groups will first establish recommended gift levels
for naming rights. The recommended gift levels will then be submitted to the corresponding Department
Director for its review and then submitted to the corresponding Board and/or Commission. The Board
and/or Commission's recommendation on the gift levels will then be forwarded to the City Council for
its final approval prior to the support group soliciting donations for naming rights.
H (R s T 3
Cos Attacks Simes ARTICLE COLLECTIONS
Panchofs Spread : Preservation: A
Carlsbad woman, remembering when
the Cisco Kid and his sidekick,
Pancho, entertained her children on
TV, has made the restoration of actor
Leo Carrillofs hacienda her crusade.
November 19,1990! RAYTESSLER | TIMES STAFF WRITER
Once a week, the Kindle kids tumbled into place before the family's clunky black-and-
white Muntz television set, waiting for the man with saucer-wide eyes and the trim,
bent-nail mustache.
Within moments came the words that seemed to stretch all the way around the block,
the very words that always catapulted the four little viewers into laughter and goofy
imitation.
"Ohhhhhhh CEEEEEskohhh," said Pancho.
"Ohhhhhhh PAAAAnchohhh," replied Cisco.
"You could have given my kids banana splits and they wouldn't have come away from
that TV show," Joan Kindle recalled of those days back in the '505, when they lived out
East and when Leo Carrillo and Duncan Renaldo thrilled children across America in
"The Cisco Kid."
The Kindles especially liked Carrillo as Pancho, whose mirth, malaprops and other
inventive mutilations of the language ("Leh's went!" for "Let's go!") could not disguise
his simple dignity and a winding, backhanded wit.
The series rode off into the sunset in 1956 after 176 largely nonviolent episodes, and it
took destiny about another 30 years to bring the Kindles and Carrillo back together
again.
When Kindle and husband Alan retired to Carlsbad five years ago, they peered from
their home's upstairs window toward El Camino Real and Palomar Airport Road and
wondered about the cleft of land amid the area's burgeoning subdivisions.
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They learned the property was the lo-acre remainder of Carrillo's once-sprawling
Rancho of the Spanish Daggers, where the famous Broadway stage actor, Hollywood
star and proud descendant of a pioneer family entertained Gable, Lombard and
countless others, and kept the past alive.
Kindle wangled a tour of the rancho's hacienda complex, some of it looking worn and
vaguely soon-to-tumble, and was hooked.
Carrillo was gone, having died of stomach cancer at age 81 in 1961. But Kindle was
driven by the recollection of a kindly actor who gave her children joy, and in time
dedicated herself to the restoration of the authentic early California hacienda that
Carrillo built in 1937.
Kindle's interest, which infected her husband, led them to visit other places where
Carrillo had lived, devour books and articles about him and conduct research in
newspaper morgues, public libraries, and through historical societies.
"Leo wanted that place as a memorial to his family, but it never happened," said Kindle.
"The man is dead and his dream put in a closet."
Well, not quite.
The lo-acre site now belongs to Carlsbad, donated under the city's parkland dedication
requirement by developers who in recent years bought much of the surrounding rancho
to build new homes.
This year, the city won a $490,000 state preservation grant, but it will take more like $2
million to restore the adobe, tile-roof hacienda and turn it, along with the surrounding
land, into a public park, which is exactly what the city and Kindle have in mind.
Kindle's academic fascination with Carrillo grew into a new-found cause when she
learned that a proposed nearby road extension would have cut across the grave of
Conquistador, Carrillo's palomino.
Hearing her protests, the city agreed to change the road realignment, and, "from that
point on, I began to sit in on (Carlsbad) Historical Preservation Commission meetings."
Her zeal for Carrillo and the rancho eventually got her named the city's volunteer
curator of the Carrillo Ranch Archives, but she's not alone in her love for the place
Carrillo designed by pacing off yards and pronouncing where he wanted rooms built.
After the city took control of the land, Keith Beverly became the resident caretaker,
spending six years living in Carrillo's home and wandering the quiet, remote grounds,
among the old cantina, the carriage house and other places once noisily alive with
animals and throngs of Carrillo's guests.
/3
"It was the experience of a lifetime. I wouldn't trade it for anything," said Beverly, now a
senior management analyst for the city and involved in planning the rancho's future as a
park.
Starting in 1992, the city plans to begin turning the lo-acre property into a park and
hopes to buy another 5 to 8 acres to enlarge it.
But, for the time being, "we have no strict development plans for the ranch," said
Beverly, and the hacienda's seclusion and minimal access have kept it a virtual secret
from much of San Diego County.
It's not completely forgotten, as workers early next year will begin reinforcing the old
structures to make them earthquake safe, an eight-month project expected to cost
$360,000.
It will take a lot of time, money and effort to preserve something built by a man whom
most people under 40 never heard of, a man who, if anything, is rather remembered is
an oafish footnote to entertainment history—sort of a Latino flip side of Gracie Allen.
Yet there was far more to Carrillo than that.
And, as for his beloved rancho, although it was built in this century, it is considered a
finely-constructed reminder of the young California developed by Carrillo's ancestors,
who belonged to an original Spanish land-grant family.
His great-great-grandfather, Jose Raimundo Carrillo, rode from Baja to San Diego in
1769 with Father Junipero Serra. Pio Pico, the last Mexican governor of California, was
another relative.
"He was creating his own heritage," said San Diego architect Wayne Donaldson, who is
overseeing the project to strengthen the hacienda complex. "He was trying to impose the
essence and warmth of early California living."
Born in Los Angeles in 1880, Carrillo's perambulations led him to become a cartoonist
for the San Francisco Examiner, where he would cover events, then recount them for the
newsroom in uproarious Chinese, Italian or other dialects.
He was a well-known stage actor in New York and a vaudeville veteran before
comfortably settling into the glamour age of Hollywood, being featured in 100 films,
including Viva Villa and Phantom of the Opera.
Carrillo's most endearing and enduring role was sidekick Pancho in "The Cisco Kid"
series, a character he was chosen to play at age 75. The Cisco Kid first appeared in
literature as a murderous Anglo in a short story by O. Henry.
Hollywood perpetuated the Cisco Kid in various movie incarnations, but what finally
evolved was a gun-loving Latino cavorting about the Old West. The Pancho role was
played as a stereotypically slow and dim-bulb character, an offensive interpretation that
drew diplomatic protests from Latin American nations.
By the time Renaldo and Carrillo brought their Cisco and Pancho to television, the duo
portrayed Latinos who were poised and amiably committed to thinking their way out of
trouble and using humor as a foil.
Renaldo and Carrillo often appeared publicly before children, and Carrillo furthered his
celebrity by riding in Rose Bowl parades and speaking always of California's proud
Spanish history.
His refuge from the world was in Carlsbad, where he bought 1,700 acres in 1937, then
added 3,000 acres to constitute his Ranch of the Spanish Daggers. Carrillo also had a
little spread in Santa Monica, but Carlsbad was a working rancho, with hundreds of
cattle and horses.
The buildings included the "Deedie House" where Carrillo's wife, Edith, could steal away
to work alone on her pottery and painting.
Waxing eloquent in his autobiography, "Now, here on the Rancho of the Spanish
Daggers, the past, the present and the future flash their many-prismed mirrors before
my eyes. The ever-lasting hills are my proscenium. The vaulted sky is my roof. The stars
lean down to pronounce their benediction."
Very poetic, but the hacienda also was one helluva party house, where Carrillo's friends,
including Renaldo, enjoyed legendary barbecues, music and demonstrations of Carrillo's
horsemanship.
But all that ended with Carrillo's death, and his only child, an adopted daughter,
Antoinette, eventually sold the rancho by the piece before she died in 1978 at age 60.
Now, there remains just the 10 acres, the hacienda complex and the determination not
to let them crumble away.
Kindle and others will see to that.
As a transplanted New Yorker, Kindle still gets emotional about visiting the ranch.
"It's like a religious experience. There is a feeling there. He left so much of himself and
old California history. For someone from outside California—you just don't realize." Her
most challenging task as curator of the Carrillo archives is to relocate the furnishings,
possessions and memorabilia that vanished largely through the family's estate sales.
She put the word out and has received hundreds of phone calls, including one from a
struggling artist who had come into possession of many original photographs of Carrillo
and the rancho.
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Kindle is asking for help to obtain more Carrillo artifacts, hoping for donations to the
nonprofit Carrillo Ranch Trust Fund. The items would establish a park museum, and
Kindle also envisions showings of Carrillo's movies. She has contacted studios and other
owners of the movie rights, so far tentatively securing permission to use seven films.
"I think Leo would be honored," she said.
Cos Anjjeks (Times
Copyright 2011 Los Angeles Times
(__ )/ i r f »;> / f 4
May 10,2011
Carlsbad City Council
Parks & Recreation Commission
1200 Carlsbad Village Drive
Carlsbad, CA 92008
Dear Mayor Hall, City Council Members and members of the Parks and
Recreation Commission:
We would like to thank you and the city for the offer to officially name the interior
theater portion of the barn at Leo Carrillo Ranch Historic Park after us. We are humbled
by the gesture. It has been a pleasure to be involved in the planning and operations of the
Ranch for more than two decades. It is certainly an honor to be considered in this naming
proposal, and working with the staff to help the Park take shape has been a lasting passion
of ours. Seeing the barn theater restoration project come to fruition is an exciting
achievement of which we all deserve to be proud.
Should the proposal be approved by the Parks and Recreation Commission and the
City Council, you have permission to use our last name in the naming of the interior
theater portion of the barn at Leo Carrillo Ranch as the "Kindle Theater."
Thank you for your consideration and for this opportunity.
Yours truly,
Joan Kindle
AlarTKindle
2622 El Aguila Lane
Carlsbad, CA 92009
760/438-1666
n