This photo was sent to the LOG by pensioner Lawrence Ray Owens of Culver City, Calif. It was taken at the Don Hotel (Wilmington, Calif.) in 1970. From the left are Owens, manager MC&S; Tom Randall, Maritime Trades official; Joe Goren, Wilmington port agent, MC&S; Tom Pitts, labor counsel; Ed Turner, MC&S president; Frank Drozak, SIU vice president; and Joe Spinazzola, MC&S.
Located in downtown Wilmington, the Don Hotel was close to all the union halls and docks. Wilmington was the gateway to Catalina, Honolulu and the South Pacific. The hotel had 125 rooms, and 25 retired seafarers paid $30 monthly to stay there. The MC&S also had a steward department trainee program in Wilmington, and 20 students lived on the hotel premises.
The Don Hotel was purchased in the late ’50s and sold just before the MC&S merger into the SIU in 1978.
Owens is retired with 35 years of sailing (from 1960-1995).
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