DIGS is the premiere luxury real estate lifestyle magazine serving the most affluent neighborhoods in the South Bay and Westside of Los Angeles, California.
Issue link: https://www.southbaydiggs.com/i/1488251
22 DIGS.NET | 12.16.22 DECEMBER 16, 2022 | ISSUE 292 TO OUR READERS South Bay DIGS welcomes your feedback and encourages reader response to our editorial features. Please send your letters to the Publisher at 722 1st Street, Unit D, Hermosa Beach, California, 90254 or via email to WDOW@southbaydigs.com. Please include your name and contact information. Letters may be published and we reserve the right to edit. ADVERTISING For inquiries, please contact Publisher Warren Dow at 310.373.0142. EDITORIAL For editorial inquiries, please email Editorial@SouthBayDIGS.com On The Cover OAXACA, MEXICO DESIGNED BY LUDWIG GODEFROY @CASATO LUDWIGGODEFROY.COM FEATURED ON PAGE 65 722 1st Street, Unit D, Hermosa Beach, California, 90254 Office: 310.373.0142 South Bay Digs Magazine is published every other Friday by m3 Media, LLC. Reproduction in any form or by any means is strictly prohibited without the prior written consent from m3 Media LLC. The Publisher and advertisers are not responsible or liable for misinformation, misprints, or typographical errors. All advertised properties are subject to prior sale or withdrawal without notice. Real estate advertised in this publication is subject to the Federal Fair Housing Act. M3 Media will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate which is in violation of the law. All persons are hereby informed that all dwellings advertised are available on an equal opportunity basis. Any and all submissions to this publication become the property of m3 Media, LLC and may be used in any media. CREATIVE SERVICES & AD DESIGN/ORIGINAL ARTWORK PROVIDED EXCLUSIVELY BY SOUTH BAY DIGS. © 2022 Micro Market Media, LLC. All rights reserved. Founder & CEO / Publisher President & COO Chief Growth Officer Digital Media Director Video Editor Senior Graphic Designer Senior Graphic Designer Contributing Writers Senior Staff Photographer Warren J. Dow Bud Moore Kyle Coats Kieron McKay Matt Polizzi Jim Alba Rufus Agbede Jenn Thornton Constance Dunn Karine Monié Joclene Davey Abigail Stone Paul Jonason CO N N E C T W I T H U S Listen & subscribe on iTunes, digs.net or your favorite podcast provider. The Titans of Real Estate INFLUENCERS PODCAST S O U T H B A Y History Tidbits DRE#: 01368971 Maureen Megowan 310.541.6416 mdmegowan@gmail.com FRED ROESLLER One name stands alongside that of Frank Vanderlip in the history of Palos Verdes Estates, and that is Fred Roessler. Frank Vanderlip is known as the Father of Palos Verdes, but Fred Roessler is the Father of the City of Palos Verdes Estates. Hans Frederick Bernard Roessler, or Fred, as he preferred to be known, served for 25 years, from 1940 until his death in 1965, as the mayor of Palos Verdes Estates. He was the city's first mayor, taking office after leading the fight to incorporate that became successful in 1939. He was elected to the first city council, and its members voted him to be the city's first mayor. After serving in the U.S. Army in France during World War I, Roessler settled in Los Angeles, where he married Edna Lucille Hansen in 1921. He and Edna first moved to the Peninsula in 1931 to a house in the Miraleste area. Together, they helped Margaret Chadwick establish Chadwick School, contributing $100,000 toward the project. The prestigious school opened in January 1938. Before then, Chadwick had been educating children, including those of the Roesslers, in her home. The Roesslers moved to a house on Via Coronel in December 1937 in what would become Palos Verdes Estates. Roessler later recalled getting a phone call the very night they moved in asking him to help with the drive to incorporate PVE as a city. After a bitter two-year struggle, the measure calling for incorporation passed on Dec. 9, 1939. 419 votes were cast, and the final tally was 213 for, and 206 against. Palos Verdes Estates officially became a city of the sixth class on Dec. 20, 1939. During his tenure as mayor, the fiscally conservative Roessler kept the city on a tight leash, never once allowing it to go into debt with the issuance of municipal bonds. He also fought to preserve the city's rural residential character, resisting the urge to build larger roads and add other elements found in the South Bay's more commercially developed areas. As a member and one-time president of the Palos Verdes Homes Association, he worked to limit business development and to keep the city's Spanish character, including requiring houses to have tile roofs. Roessler had suffered from heart trouble for years, and had been hospitalized three times before suffering a fatal heart attack early in the morning of Jan. 30, 1965. He was 71. The city never forgot its first mayor. A memorial fountain was dedicated to him at Palos Verdes Estates City Hall on Easter Sunday in 1968, where a bust of him also stands.. The City also renamed the Palos Verdes Swim Club pool, opened in 1930, as Roessler Memorial Pool in April 1969. The above is an excerpt from my book "Historic Tales of Palos Verdes and the South Bay". For more info see http://www.southbayhistory.com. .net