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Tag: Frank Bowman

  • October 6th in Seal Beach History

    On this date in 1963, the Long Beach Independent Press Telegram’s Women’s section ran a profile of the posh Larsen Hall off-campus women’s dormitory at 1310 Electric Avenue in Seal Beach under the breezy headline, “Larsen Hall — Books ‘n Bathing Caps.”

    Coeds Judy Delulio and Jeannine Merril studying in the library at Larsen Hall

    Larsen Hall was previously seen here in this post covering February 21, 1964 – a scandalous post filled with shame, dishonor, ignominy, and disgrace. (I may be overstating a bit.)

    Ah, but what a difference four months makes! On October 6, 1963, the situation still appears sunny at Larsen Hall, inspiring the unnamed reporter to observe, “Dorm living today is like camping in mink.” The reporter felt that the two-story dormitory, “just a bikini-brief walk from the beach,” had “nearly all the the attributes of a resort hotel.” These attributes included a dining and lounge area, a central pool patio, a sundeck, a separate snack room off the kitchen, a secluded library, an intercom system, and an automated laundry. The entire facility could accommodate 37 students.

    Some of the current students did homework and dangled their feet in the pool the day the reporter visited.  Judy Delulio from Lake Tahoe shared that “You’re never lonely here. We stick together — there’s always something fun going on: a popcorn party, a starfish hunt at the beach, a special excursion. Best of all, we have neat management.”

    Ah, yes. The management. At this stage, there’s nothing but praise for Frank and Joan Silone. Frank drove the “girls back and forth to school in the hall’s private bug of a bus” and did the cooking, “turning out menus that would please a gourmet.” Joan helped with sewing and the evening song fests. 

    Just another poolside day in coed paradise – Sherry Delulio plays catch while Jan Petersen strums a guitar and Terry Suffet tries to read

    But there was trouble (and poorly reproduced from microfilm photos) in the sad future of Larsen Hall.

    – Michael Dobkins

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  • February 21st In Seal Beach History

    On this date in 1964, Seal Beach Police issued a warrant charging 33-year old Frank Silone with two counts of grand theft-felony.

    Silone and his 25-year old wife, Joan, managed Larsen Hall, a Long Beach State College approved off-campus coed dormitory located in a Seal Beach apartment building located at 1310 Electric Avenue. Thirteen students had registered there for the spring 1964 semester.

    Unfortunately, no background check had been required for Silone, and he was approved as dorm manager after a personal interview and being vouched for by the previous owners of Larsen Hall and Silone’s father-in-law, a USC professor (Go Trojans!). This is sad for the thirteen students, since Silone had served a prison sentence from 1960 to 1963 and had even escaped from Chino Minimum Security Prison before being recaptured and sent o San Quentin. Perhaps not the best candidate for a coed dormitory manager.

    Silone was charged with “misapplying in excess of $200” in funds received from two girls for room rent. He and his wife had skipped town shortly after February 17, the electricity had been turned off by the Edison Co., and the student manager of the hall had to convince the bank to cash a check so food could be bought for the hall.

    Frank Bowman, the Long Beach State College housing coordinator, quickly removed Larsen Hall from the list of approved housing and wrote a letter to the parents of the Larsen Hall coeds informing them that their offspring would need to move to approved housing. The college would aid students without rent money, Bowman assured.

    You can read about Larsen Hall in a happy post from October 1963 here.

    – Michael Dobkins

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