Town Embraces the President

By LAUREL BUSBY The Palisadian-Post went Ronald Reagan-crazy when the 25-year Palisades resident was elected the country’s leader in 1980. ‘Everything has changed,’ announced Post editor June Blum on the front page. ‘Nothing will be the same again’ever. And that is great, according to the consensus of Palisades residents.’ Reagan received 66 percent of the Palisades vote, winning each of the community’s 37 precincts as he defeated President Jimmy Carter. The Post’s editorial that week called Reagan’s election ‘a great victory for America’ and lauded Reagan’s promise to reduce income taxes by 10 percent, decrease government bureaucracy and lessen strictures on business and industry. The next month, the paper took on a new heading. For more than a year at the top of each front page, the Post proudly declared itself the ‘Home Town of President Reagan.’ The events leading up to his taking charge of the White House were covered heavily in the Post. An article was written about the Washington press corps that quickly descended on Los Angeles. In January of 1981, two full pages were devoted to Reagan’s trip to the airport as he and soon-to-be First Lady Nancy traveled to Washington, D.C. for the inauguration. When the Reagans’ limousine pulled up to the Air Force One jet, members of the Palisades High School band and drill team serenaded them at Los Angeles International Airport. The front page of that January 22, 1981, issue was also devoted to the inauguration. More than 25 Palisadians attended the events, including Mort and Bobbie Farberow of Mort’s Deli. Bobbie was quoted at the time describing a sign some Palisadians held in the stands reading, ‘Welcome to Pacific Palisades, home of our 40th President.’ Bobbie noted that Reagan saw the sign, waved and poked Nancy’s shoulder until she finally turned and saw it. However, the ebullience about Reagan eventually lessened after the couple sold their five-room Palisades home. The San Onofre house, which they moved into just after it was built in 1956, was put on the market for $1.9 million before the Reagans left for D.C. The place, which featured a ‘sweeping view of the Westside and the Pacific,’ took a year to sell. In January 1982, Belle and Morris Halpern and their attorney son Steven bought the house, which was originally built as a General Electric Showcase House with 5,000 sq.ft. and 11 rooms, including three bedrooms, three baths and two servants rooms and a bath. An octagonal swimming pool was in the back. The Post featured a photo and story about the house sale on the front page of its February 4, 1982, edition, but also dropped the heading ‘Home Town of President Reagan.’ (Editor’s note: This article appeared in last year’s 75th Anniversary edition of the Palisdian-Post.)