History of Paramount - A personal Perspective by Pete Mokler

 

Every Tuesday, we meet at Paramount Progress Park, have lunch together, in a nice comfortable conference room, with live Piano Player, and  keep each other updated on what has been going on in our lives. We sing together, we greet each other, we show our patriotism and our "service above Self" attitude, most importantly, we have fun! Each week, we have an outside speaker who talks about a subject which usually appealing to all of us. This way, we never stop learning and our mind keeps expanding while being entertained at the same time!

 

During January, we hosted  Art Contest, Music Contest and Speech Contest for Paramount High School Students. Prizes were awarded to winners, And,  top winners of each contest will compete in our Rotary District Contests. 

 

 

Last Tuesday, we had Pete Mokler who discussed  some early Paramount history from the early days as a dairy region southeast of Los Angeles (then known as Hynes-Clearwater), and illuminated some family history including his Zamboni grand-parents and uncles, as well as Moklers including Victor, Lynn, Lloyd, Jerry and a host of sons, daughters, cousins and friends going back to the 1920's. Pete Mokler (President-Elect, Rotary Club of San Pedro) is a registered architect and a native son of Paramount.  

 

 

 

 

 Did you know . . .

Before Paramount became a city in 1957, the area was made up of two small communities called Hynes and Clearwater. The towns were home to a number of dairies, which in their heyday had 25,000 cows. By the early 1930's, in fact, Hynes boasted the largest hay market in the world, handling 135,837 tons in 1932 (Kansas City was second that year, with 111,943 tons). Each morning under the "Hay tree" (still to be found at Paramount Blvd. near Harrison St.), the day's price of hay was set, then quoted around the world.