Mountain Views News          Saturday, June 21, 2014

3

Mountain View News Saturday, June 21, 2014 

REMEMBRANCE

WHAT YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT THE 
REMARKABLE HONEYBEE IN SIERRA MADRE

PAUL C. DUNCAN

Beloved husband, father, 
grandfather and great grandfather. 

Our "Pop" passed away at home on June 13, 2014 
at age 85. Born in Broken Arrow, OK Preceded in 
death by his daughter Francine and eight brothers 
and sisters, he is survived by his wife of almost 64 
years, Marga-ret; his daughters Kathy (Cory) and 
Christine McClain (John);grandchildren Kimberly 
Pollock (Tim), Laura Lukac (Elmir), Amy McClain, 
Matthew McClain; and four great grandchildren 
Reagan, Kennedy Pollock , Layla & Erik Lukac 

He worked in law enforcement for over 40 years, 
including the LAPD, and then devoted his retirement 
years to fishing, traveling ,volunteering for Mobile 
Missionary Assistance Program (MMAP) for 17 yrs 
102 - 3 week projects and spending time with his 
family.

 For many years he was an active member of Bethany 
Church in Sierra Madre. After he retired he joined 
the infamous Beantown coffee group with Gordon 
Caldwell Gary Wood, George Mauer which met 
every weekday morning at 9 am. 

A memorial service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, June 23rd at the First Church of the Nazarene 
of Pasadena. In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting donations in Paul’s honor to Rainbow Acres, 2120 
W. Reservation Loop Rd. Camp Verde, AZ 86322-8408.

In Sierra Madre, as in communities across the 
nation and around the world, bees pollinate 
about 70 per-cent of our food including 
providing us honey. Without our bees, we 
would not have melons, tomatoes, apples, 
almonds, cherries, cranberries, grapes, citrus, 
alfalfa, macadamias, gourds, pears, plums, 
peaches, kiwis, macadamias, sunflowers, 
canola, avocados, zucchini, lettuce, broccoli 
and even cotton (over 100 food crops to 
mention a few!). The beef and dairy industries 
rely on bees to pollinate the alfal-fa and 
clover fields for feed. Even corporations such 
as Starbucks and General Mills — owner of 
Haa-gen-Daz — rely on bees to pollinate their 
coffee and more than half of their ice cream 
ingredients. 

Honey is the backbone for over 250 processed 
beverages, sauces and foods. The cotton 
we wear is a direct result of bee pollination 
efforts. Bees wax provides powerful pain 
medicines (called apis therapy) which offers 
effective relief from fibromyalgia, rheumatoid 
arthritis and multiple sclerosis. In America 
alone, bees directly provide commerce with 
$44 billion annually! 

The United States military, intelligence 
community and Homeland Security are 
now using bees to replace “sniffer dogs” for 
detecting potential bombs, explosives and 
landmines. The Red Cross estimates that 
between 50 and 100 million landmines exist in 
80 countries, maiming 22,000 people (mostly 
children) eve-ry year! Bees are becoming the 
frontline detectors.

Bees are also the frontline detectors of lung 
and skin cancers, diabetes and tuberculosis. 

Quiet simply, we humans cannot live without 
nature’s best friend, our honeybee.

WHY ARE BEES DISAPPEARING?

Around the globe, and in Sierra Madre, 
bees are dying. Globally, bees are dying by 
the billions from what scientists call Colony 
Collapse Disorder. One of the biggest and 
most dangerous components to bees and to 
humans of Colony Collapse Disorder is the 
use of pesticides. Pesticides, in particular the 
class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids, 
have been over-used and found in plants, 
vegetables, soil and ground water. Not only 
are these pesticides, which are not needed 
in our environment, killing the much 
needed bees, they are also killing other 
pollinators such as the Monarch butterfly 
and are even dangerous to the much-loved 
hummingbird. But what humans don’t know 
is that neonicotinoids are ex-tremely deadly 
to humans and these pesticides are found in 
our agriculture and the food we eat, as well 
as our ground water. THIS IS ALARMING! 
Medical science has identified the use of 
pesticides in our food, our water, around 
our homes, as a key and increasingly leading 
cause to a variety of cancers in humans. In 
particular children are very vulnerable to the 
toxins of pesticides.

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP SAVE OUR 
HONEYBEES

First and foremost, STOP using pesticides 
around your gardens where bees need to 
work and to polli-nate! Don’t buy plants 
from mass retail shops such as Lowe’s or 
Home Depot, which have been found to 
contain high levels of neonicotinoids. Garden 
organically. Purchase from your independent 
and local nurseries and hardware stores who 
are certified organic or do not use plants 
treated with neonicotiniods. Follow the state 
of Oregon’s ban on the use of neonicotinoids. 
Use this link: http://www.beyondpesticides.
org/dailynewsblog/?p=12881>

Plant bee-friendly flowers (yellow and blues) 
in large single color blocks throughout Sierra 
Madre.

Encourage homeowners to plant fruit and 
nut-bearing trees (as the nectar from these 
trees will become a safe, chemical-free source 
of bee food).

STOP exterminating our bees! Should you, 
or your neighbor, find an unwanted bee hive, 
have it properly removed by a bee expert who 
will remove the entire hive and relocate it 
safely, without the need of using a dangerous 
pesticide on your property exposing your 
family to deadly toxins. To find a local expert 
for bee removal and relocation (without the 
use of pesticide) go to this link which is a 
bee rescue hotline: http://honeylove.org/
rescuebees/ You can also call this local Sierra 
Madre number and ask for Warren Betts: 
626.836.3040. We will help you relocate your 
bees safely and will never use pesticides on 
your property. The bees will be removed and 
relocated somewhere else where it is approved 
and safe for them to live.

If you have honeybees, enjoy them! It took 
evolution on Earth billions of years to 
create the “perfect pol-linator,” which is 
our honeybee, as well as bumblebees. Plant 
pesticide free plants and flowers that at-
tract them to your garden. A garden comes 
to life when beautiful plants and flowers 
attract honeybees, hummingbirds and other 
pollinators, such as the Monarch butterfly.

Install bird fountains and bird baths which 
add water features and natural sounds to your 
garden. You will witness your garden come 
to life. Rest assured that honeybees are NOT 
dangerous.

Yes they have stingers but honeybees are pre-
programmed by nature to never sting without 
provocation. Bees rarely attack animals or 
humans unless an animal or human comes 
too close to where the hive is located. Bees in 
your garden will never sting. Your bees will 
get to know you and work with you.

Please give the honeybees a chance! 
Honeybees sustain our food chain and food 
supply. Without the honeybee you and your 
children’s health are certainly in jeopardy.

For more information, please contact:

The Sierra Madre Honeybee Society

Warren Betts: 626.836.3040

Or Visit:

http://honeylove.org/rescuebees/ 

To order a copy of THE INCOMPARABLE 
HONEYBEE by the world renowned bee 
advocate Dr. Reese Halter

Please email Dr. Reese Halter: drreesehalter@
gmail.com

This article courtesy of the SM Honeybee 
Society


INTRODUCING LIZZIE OF SIERRA 
MADRE’S LIZZIE’S TRAIL INN AND 
CREATOR OF DELICIOUS CHICKEN & 
RAVIOLI DINNERS 

By Jeff Lapides

 On Saturday, 
June 28, 2014, 
the Sierra Madre 
Historical 
Preservation 
Society will 
host its second 
annual Chicken 
& Ravioli Dinner 
in honor of Lizzie 
and the good 
times associated 
with her 
establishment, 
Lizzie’s Trail Inn. 
Please join us as we continue the spirit of Lizzie: her 
congeniality and friendship and delicious food! So, 
who was Lizzie and how did this come to be?

 Sierra Madre knows her as Lizzie, the operator of 
the Trail Inn on East Mira Monte at the foot of the 
Mount Wilson Trail in the 1920s and ’30s. History 
knew her as Elizabeth Louisa Ciez Adler Weiss 
Stoppel McElwain. She led a colorful but all-too 
short life.

 The roots of her family names of Ciez and Adler 
are unknown. Her younger son’s birth certificate 
lists Ciez as his mother’s maiden name. But Lizzie’s 
obituary in the Los Angeles Times lists her maiden 
name as Adler. Lizzie was born in the Russian 
Empire on September 20, 1888. Her village was near 
Kiev in today’s Ukraine. According to her obituary 
in the Sierra Madre News of January 4, 1939, within 
months of her birth, her mother died and her father 
was killed. 

 The story continued: A family with nine children 
took her in, and when she learned in 1906 of being 
adopted, the now-eighteen-year-old Elizabeth ran 
away to Kiev. A kind woman in the city welcomed 
the girl into her family. As it turned out, this woman 
was a sister of Elizabeth’s birth mother – her aunt! 
Her new family immigrated to Cincinnati, Ohio, in 
1909. 

 Lizzie met her first husband, Louis Weiss, and they 
married in Cleveland. They welcomed their first 
child, Joseph, in Ohio and relocated to Los Angeles 
in 1911. In 1913, their second son, Ruben, was born.

 By 1920, Lizzie was the landlady at a rooming house 
at 309 Temple Street in Los Angeles (currently 
the site of the County of Los Angeles Heating and 
Refrigeration Plant). According to the previously 
cited obituary, she was fluent in nine languages and 
volunteered as an interpreter at the Los Angeles 
County Hospital on Mission Road on the east side 
of the Los Angeles River. Her husband passed away 
the following year. It’s worth noting that Mr. Weiss 
was 35 years Lizzie’s senior.

 Residing at the rooming house was Louis August 
Stoppel who was to become Lizzie’s second husband 
in 1927. In the meantime, according to Dr. William 
White in 1996, Mrs. Elizabeth Weiss bought the 
business at the Trail Inn on her birthday in 1925. By 
October of the following year, Louis Stoppel’s name 
appeared on search warrants and a disposition of a 
guilty plea for illegal manufacturing of alcohol at the 
Trail Inn and the adjacent Richardson House.

 During Lizzie’s years at the Trail Inn, the 
establishment developed a sterling reputation for 
her kitchen fare, especially her fried chicken and her 
ravioli dinners. It also had a less savory back story of 
sexual trysts in the three cabins above the inn, and, 
of course, the moonshine. But everyone agreed that 
Lizzie was most congenial and had many friends.

 On November 1, 1935, Lizzie’s declining health 
(thought to be due to breast cancer) led her to 
relinquish the Trail Inn. Louis Stoppel had left 
Lizzie sometime in the early years of the decade. But 
on December 16, she once again assumed the lease 
and the business. In 1936 Lizzie married Edward 
Harding “Mac” McElwain and got the support she 
needed.

 Even though Lizzie was ill, she continued to 
personally pay bills and taxes through December 
of 1938. But the end came on January 3, 1939, at 
the age of 50. Lizzie is buried in East Los Angeles 
at the Home of Peace Memorial Park on Whittier 
Boulevard.

 Lizzie’s Trail Inn lives on as the City of Sierra 
Madre’s mountain history Museum. The Museum is 
operated by the Sierra Madre Historical Preservation 
Society and is open Saturdays between 10 and noon. 
The spirit of Lizzie—congeniality and friendship—
continues to greet all visitors.

Lizzie’s Famous Chicken & Ravioli Dinner Saturday, June 
28, 2014 (See flyer on page 9)


SIERRA MADRE CITY HALL ART SHOW CALL FOR ARTISTS

 The City of Sierra Madre is 
seeking artists for the City Hall 
Art Shows. Art Shows at City 
Hall are held throughout the 
year and feature local artists 
in a variety of mediums. The 
shows are up for 8 weeks and 
artists can host a reception for 
friends and family. 

 If you are interested in 
being considered for an 
upcoming art show, please 
submit examples of your work 
electronically to amatsumoto@
cityofsierramadre.com. Please be sure to keep electronic submissions to less than 4MB total per 
email. Submissions are received by the Sierra Madre Art Review Board which decides which 
submissions are featured as part of the rotating art shows. 

Please note the following considerations:

• Art should be family friendly and the Art Review Board reserves the right to determine which art 
pieces are shown at City Hall
• All art needs to be hang ready
• Artists does not need to live in Sierra Madre to be considered
• The Art Review Board is seeking a variety of art mediums for consideration. Examples include: oil 
painting, watercolor, jewelry, photography and more. 


For questions about the City Hall Art Shows, please contact Community Services Manager 
Adam Matsumoto at amatsumoto@cityofsierramadre.com or by phone at 626-355-5278.

Sponsored by Sierra Madre Music 
SIERRA MADRE MUSIC BANDS (Top 40 Covers)
Sponsored by L.A. County Supervisor Michael D. AntonovichOPA OPA (Latin Jazz)
Sponsored by Sierra Madre Kiwanis Club & Friends of the Sierra Madre LibraryGEM CITY JAZZ CATS (Big Band)
Sponsored by Sierra Madre Volunteer Firefighters AssociationHARD DAY’S NIGHT (Beatles Tribute)
Sponsored by Spero FoundationDECADES OF ROCK (Rock and Roll Covers)
Sponsored by Sierra Madre Civic ClubWOODY AND THE LONGBOARDS (Beach Boys)
Sponsored by Sierra Madre Rotary ClubELVIS (Elvis Tribute)
Sponsored by Sierra Madre Community Foundation 
CASH UP FRONT (Johnny Cash Tribute)
Sponsored by Senior Community CommissionREX MERRIWEATHER (Big Band)
All concerts are free and held from 6:00pm-8:00pm at the Memorial Park 
Bandshell, located at 222 W. Sierra Madre Blvd. Seating is on the green. Be sure 
to bring blankets and lawn chairs for seating. Alcohol is prohibited. Spectators 
are encouraged to support local organizations that may provide refreshments. 
CONCERTS IN THE PARKPRESENTED BY THE KENSINGTON 
Sponsored by Pasadena Community Orchestra - 6:30pm-8:00pmPASADENA COMMUNITY ORCHESTRA (Classical)
JUNE22JUNE29JULY6JULY13JULY20JULY27AUG3AUG10JUNE14AUG17
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT THE COMMUNITY SERVICES OFFICE AT 626.355.5278