All in the Family at Wesley Palms

Employees enjoy working with family members


Francisco Murillo remembers the day in 1977 when he applied for a housekeeping position at Wesley Palms. The then 24-year-old got a ride from his dad to the retirement community high atop Mt. Soledad in Pacific Beach.

“That was the first time my dad told me the story of how he helped build Wesley Palms in the late 1950s and early 1960s,” Francisco said. “He was a pipefitter back then and was hired to use his expertise for Wesley Palms.”



Housekeeper Francisco Murillo has worked at Wesley Palms for more than 40 years. .

Wesley Palms opened in 1962 when Francisco was about nine years old. “Obviously I knew my dad went to work every day but I didn’t know exactly where,” Francisco said. “When he told me the story I was very surprised. I thought … I have a chance to work at a place my dad help built. How about that! Thinking back, I wish I could have visited my dad here when he was building this place.”

Francisco’s sister has photos of their dad at work at Wesley Palms. The iconic façade of main building is pretty much the same on the outside but of course, the new patio homes have replaced the original cottages. “That’s a huge change from the original cottages that my dad built. Back then, Wesley Palms was probably considered a new concept with its large open spaces and cottages. Now, the new patio homes at Wesley Palms are unique.” Francisco is now Wesley’s longest standing employee at more than 40 years.

Francisco isn’t the only employee with family ties at Wesley. Husband and wife, Laura and Juan Vargas have been working together for more than 13 years. Laura is the housekeeping supervisor and Juan is in the maintenance department. Laura began at the community first and then Juan joined her two years later.

“We both started in housekeeping but then after a few years Juan encouraged me to apply for the director’s position,” Laura said. “If I got the job, he knew he would have to transfer to another department since family members can’t supervise each other. He was sad at first that we would not be working closely together anymore but he soon found new energy on the maintenance team. He’s one of that department’s top employees now.”



Husband and wife Juan and Laura Vargas love working together at Wesley Palms.

 

“We take our first break together every day and then we don’t see each other until we get home,” Juan said. “Sometimes we like to swap stories around the dinner table about how our day has gone or we tell a funny story a resident told us.”

And then there is Muhannad Sofi and his 17-year-old daughter Delan Sofi-Haji. Muhannad has been dining room manager for 21 years and last year Delan joined the team as a receptionist. “I told Delan that Wesley is great place to work and left it up to her if she wanted to apply for a job here,” Muhannad said. 

“I kind of grew up here,” Delan said. ”My dad would tell me stories about how nice the residents are and how much fun he has doing his job so I decided to apply. Now I have my own stories to tell about our incredible residents.”

Wesley Palms’ staff are not the only ones who have family connections. Many residents are second generation. Longtime resident Bob Crabb’s mother lived at Wesley Palms in the 1970s as did resident Holly Steere’s parents and Becky Graber has the privilege of currently living at Wesley Palms with her mother.

“I’m not surprised we have both second generation residents and staff here,” said Executive Director Ben Geske. “Word gets out that Wesley is a great place to work and live. We’re a family here.”

 

Former Child Actor Dan Chang is Still Stealing Scenes at Wesley Palms

‘The talk of Hollywood’ appeared with Reagan, Gable, Wayne and Bogart in 1950s Hollywood Films

In the early 1950s, a Hollywood trade publication called Wesley Palms resident Dan Chang, a “four-year-old scene stealer” while another called him “the talk of Hollywood.”

“I guess a lot of people thought I was cute back then,” Dan says with a laugh. “The studio gave me some good publicity, that’s for sure.”

Between the ages of four and 11, Dan appeared in a little over a dozen movies and TV shows. His first role was that of a young Chinese refugee in the 1952 movie Hong Kong, a comedy-adventure-drama about a stolen golden idol, staring Ronald Reagan and Rhonda Fleming.

“There was a casting call for the movie and my father took me to the studio,” Dan said. “I got the part. I was only four years old and just remember following directions. I got to drive a car in the studio parking lot and remember learning to use chop sticks for one scene. I remember learning a lot of odd things on movie sets. In one film I was taught how to peel potatoes.”

He appeared with the likes of Clark Gable, Roy Rogers, Rhonda Fleming, John Wayne, Humphrey Bogart and June Allison, just to name a few of Hollywood’s biggest stars at the time.

“Many of my roles were small so I didn’t really get to know the actors except for Ronald Reagan,” Dan remembers. “Reagan was really nice both on and off the set. He treated me well. We took a lot of publicity shots for Hong Kong. The studio really played up our relationship. I also remember getting to sit on Roy Rogers’ horse Trigger.”

Although his acting career had been successful for almost a decade, just before his teen years his father asked Dan an important question.

“When I was about 11, my dad asked me if I wanted to continue acting or just go to school,” Dan said. “I’m not sure why he asked me but I said I just want to go to school. While making movies there is a lot of sitting around waiting and I would have rather been playing with my friends. I don’t regret quitting. It was fun while it lasted.”

Although he no longer acts, Dan jokes that his life and Ronald Reagan’s life will always be connected. “I was an engineering professor at UC Davis, a California public university, when Ronald Reagan was governor and I was in the Air Force when he was president and commander and chief, so technically he was my boss a few times since working with him on Hong Kong,” Dan said with a big grin.

Wesley Palms recently screened Hong Kong for residents. “Cute was the word everyone used when they saw me,” Dan said. “I got some good-natured ribbing.”

When Dan is not reminiscing about his acting career, he enjoys exercising and using the cycling equipment at the Wesley Palms fitness center. He and his wife enjoy their beautiful new patio home overlooking the Pacific.

Wesley Palms: Mid-Century Modern Reimagined

By Ben Geske, Executive Director at Wesley Palms Retirement Community



Wesley Palms Patio Home


When I first started working at Wesley Palms as the newly minted Executive Director, my boss told me, “You’re next Ben.” He was referring to the upcoming campus-wide redevelopment project. 

What he meant was that Wesley Palms would be the next Front Porch community to be “revitalized.” Subsequently, we held a “Visioning Meeting” to determine the direction of the “new and improved” Wesley Palms campus and the wheels were set in motion. 

It was determined that the entire Wesley Palms campus, including its central main building, would be demolished and rebuilt from the ground up. Density was to more than double and all existing trees, (including its iconic palm trees), were to be removed in order to accommodate the nearly 450 new accommodations that were to be built. It was not certain if the name “Wesley Palms” itself would remain after the campus-wide redevelopment was completed. An architecture team was hired and plans were drawn up and submitted to the City of San Diego for approval.  

But then we paused for a period of time and started to rethink our approach …

We asked ourselves just what is it that has made Wesley Palms such a wonderful and unique community for seniors for nearly half a century? Time and again we kept coming back to the openness, the beauty, and the wonderful array of plantings and trees that sets Wesley Palms apart from any other retirement community. If we knocked everything down, we reminded ourselves, then everything that has made Wesley Palms what it is and what it stands for would be lost forever.

Wesley Palm Patio Home Kitchen

So it was at this point that we started formulating “Plan B,” which called for preserving as much of the essence and beauty of Wesley Palms as we could, while at the same time upgrading the community to be a viable, cutting edge community that would be a leader in retirement living for the next century to come. In this vein it was decided that we should capitalize on the original mid-century architecture and celebrate what was all around us – not only on the Wesley Palms campus but in the surrounding Pacific Beach neighborhood as well. The architecture team of M.W. Steele was hired, along with Nuera Construction, plans were drawn up for a campus that would be remodeled in the mid-century modern ascetic.
The project broke ground on April 1, 2015, and as of this writing we are more than half-way completed with this award-winning, awe-inspiring project that is garnering praise from residents, staff, family members, and visitors alike. We are very proud of the campus as it blossoms into a beautiful, modern day showcase of elegance and sophistication, while at the same time paying homage to the relaxed and comfortable feel that is inherent in its mid-century modern design.

I encourage you to come for a visit and see our new patio homes and all the wonderful amenities that go with them.





On Right: Ben Geske, executive director
 at Wesley Palms Retirement Community

Yo Se Quien Soy / I Know Who I Am

By Jose Frescas, resident at Wesley Palms Retirement Community

I was the middle child in a family of six brothers and five sisters, born and raised in Woodland, California about fifteen miles from Sacramento.

From the day of my birth until I entered high school I was Jose. The policy of the school was that all Latino students should be called by Anglicized names. I suddenly became Joe. My parents were greatly upset by this. They had christened me Jose and preferred that to be how I was known. But they were also greatly concerned that I not be disobedient to a teacher, or "make waves" with the school authorities. So, Joe it was.

Just how traumatic that change may have been, and how much it influenced my sense of self-awareness is difficult to estimate, but the fact that I still feel constrained to talk about it all these years later must mean that its effect was significant. I do know that I felt then, and still feel today, that my identity had been stolen.

Subconsciously at least, I am sure it was involved in my decision nearly three decades later to study to become a Counselor. I was acutely aware that I had purposely chosen that path so that I would have the opportunity to work with other minority youth in helping them recognize their true potential and dare to pursue their dreams.

A rather indirect path had brought me to that time and place. Immediately after graduating from high school I enlisted in the Marine Corps and spent eight years in that service. Looking back I feel these were largely wasted years.

On becoming a civilian again I began to look around for a college to attend. No member of my family had ever pursued education after high school, and I remain the only one who has chosen that path. Since that opportunity for me was made possible by a service related disability pen­sion, I have to reconsider my earlier remark that my years as a Marine were wasted years. My Bachelor’s degree was earned at the University of San Diego and followed by a Masters in Counseling at the University of New Mexico.

I then went back home determined to become a counselor, friend and role model for other minority young people in the school where I felt my identity had been denied. The obstacles put in my way were too great to overcome. I persevered for only five months before deciding that the achievement of my goals could only be realized working outside the system. My parents had earlier shied away from "creating waves", but they had produced a son who did little other than that. I was not a trouble maker, but I was determined to give minority kids the helping hand that was never outstretched to me. Working in volunteer activities seemed the best approach to accomplish that goal.

Whether or not I succeeded is up to others to judge. I do cherish a resolution passed by Yolo County officials when I retired after 16 years of service to the Yolo Social Services Advisory community." They said my "lifetime commitment to those less fortunate will be forever remembered as an inspiration to others who believe in the future of Yolo County."

I have been told that I am the only person to be singled out for home by this civic body. Regardless, I am grateful that I had the chance to spend my life this way.


Yo Se Quien Soy / I Know Who I Am is an excerpt from Aging As An Art Form: Through the Eyes Of Residents of Wesley Palms by Wesley Palms resident Don McEvoy. The book contains 50 stories, experiences and life lessons either self-written or told to Don through interviews.

Don McEvoy is storyteller, former pastor and civil rights activist. Aging as an Art Form is available from Outskirts Press and Amazon.com. Proceeds from the book benefit the residents of Wesley Palms.

Wesley Palms Retirement Community Inaugurates Phased Redevelopment

Senior Living Revitalization Celebrates Mid-Century Modern Origins and Embraces Dedication to San Diego Community 


Wesley Palms, a Front Porch full-service retirement community on San Diego's beautiful Mt. Soledad overlooking the Pacific Ocean, announces a redevelopment plan comprising a revitalization of the iconic mid-century main building apartments and amenities, and the unveiling of 29 new patio homes in place of existing cottages in the first two phases. The phased revitalization commenced in April with the ethos to preserve the mid-century modern aesthetic of the original construction which opened in 1962. The revitalization will improve the 35-acre parkland and retain Wesley Palms' character, serving as an ode to an iconic era in California architecture and a complement to the style of the adjacent neighborhood. 

Architect’s rendering of one of the six new patio home models that will be offered as part of  the Wesley Palms Retirement Community revitalization project. This two-bedroom, two-bath twin home model  named “Verbena” measures 1,317square feet and features mid-century styling and an open plan design

The patio homes in Phases One and Two will be completed within the first fourteen months and are slated to open for residents in summer 2016. Wesley Palms welcomes new and returning residents to reserve their new home. Current residents will be given first priority and interested individuals are invited to join the 'interest list' for current and future phases. Currently there are 15 two-bedroom patio homes available for reservation.

Wesley Palms will continue its current operations as a vibrant, supportive community throughout the phased revitalization. Summer House at Wesley Palms memory care neighborhood and Courtyard catered living cottages will continue to accept new residents as openings become available.

Mid-century modern aesthetic fused with contemporary amenities

Details of the first phases include a transformation of 26 cottages into 29 exquisite patio homes, improvements of amenities within and around the main building, and enhancements of the extraordinary landscape. Wesley Palms' modern revitalization will enrich the retirement lifestyle offerings for current and future residents. Upgrades to the main building include:
Interiors will be converted to enhance connectedness among residents with added amenities such as a café, remodeled library and reading patio, business center, fitness/wellbeing center, chapel, and the addition of a heated therapy pool.

The structural integrity and iconic façade of the main building, with its signature chevron porte cochere and classic mid-century architecture, will be retained, given the mid-century southern California appeal of the original 1962 design.

Main building residences will be remodeled and refreshed with new windows, plumbing, electrical and HVAC.


The revitalization will introduce new single-story patio homes with the sleek style and function of mid-century modern design. Built with the temperate San Diego weather in mind, the twenty-nine patio homes in Phases One and Two will celebrate nature and open plan living, highlighting: an indoor-outdoor lifestyle with airy, barrier free designs to take advantage of parkland or ocean views; generous windows and high ceilings to welcome natural light and beauty of the natural landscape; sleek touches like mosaic glass backsplashes, cathedral ceilings, clerestory windows, designer kitchens and baths and large patios for soaking up the Southern California sunshine; walking paths connecting to outdoor courtyards, fostering a sense of community and encouraging neighborly gatherings.

"The new patio homes and added amenities are just a couple of reasons why we're so excited about what the revitalization brings to Wesley Palms residents and the greater community," said Wesley Palms Executive Director Ben Geske. "We have an extraordinary location, a unique history and a strong sense of community that we will celebrate and honor with this revitalization plan."

The Wesley Palms revitalization will be the latest endeavor in Front Porch's mission to create thoughtful and unique places that are respectful of the environment, celebrate the individual, and attend to the natural aesthetic of form and function. Attention to sustainability and reverence for the environment are key features of the new Wesley Palms community. For example, the revitalization will retain and enhance the following elements: the indigenous and mature landscape, reuse of foundational building materials, energy efficiency and low water usage, and selection of green building materials.

Wesley Palms calls its revitalization effort '360 degree living.' Overlooking downtown San Diego, Mission Bay and the Pacific Ocean, Wesley Palms offers all of the nearby benefits of San Diego living including beautiful beaches, world famous attractions, and the art and culture of La Jolla and San Diego just minutes away. Wesley Palms boasts convenient access to highways, San Diego International Airport, a cruise terminal, exceptional health care systems and excellent universities.

About Wesley Palms
A Front Porch full-service retirement community, Wesley Palms is located in San Diego's Pacific Beach neighborhood near the top of Mt. Soledad overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Wesley Palms boasts a 35-acre park with lush landscape inspired by Kate Sessions, famed San Diego horticulturist. The community is known for its energy and vibrancy, which is reflected in the community's design. In 2012, the community was awarded the National Association of Home Builders Gold Award for its innovative interior design in its remodeled lobby and common spaces. In 2014, the community received the National Association of Home Builders Silver Award for its design and development of Summer House memory care neighborhood at Wesley Palms. For more information about Wesley Palms, visit www.wesleypalms.org.

About Front Porch
Front Porch is Southern California's largest not for profit provider of senior living. Each Front Porch community has a unique style with a broad range of options and service, including independent living, skilled care, assisted living and memory support. Headquartered in Glendale, California, Front Porch is dedicated to doing everything Humanly Possible(SM) to meet the needs of older adults now and in the future. Using innovative design and socially responsible principles, Front Porch seeks to enhance the lives and lifestyles of active adults and seniors through development of unique communities in extraordinary locations. Front Porch has managed many award-winning redevelopment projects and remains dedicated to developing communities that are economically sound, environmentally responsible and supportive of community spirit.


For more information contact:
Michelle van Kriedt/Jamie Mesenburg
Email Contact
(415) 986-7212