Greetings Friends and Happy New Year!
I hope that you all had a very happy holidays and great New Year and wish you an exciting new 2020. Wow, we are at the doorway to an exciting new Roaring 20s, the 2020s that is. There are so many parallels in where we are as a culture, but we need to act responsibly in planning this decade so it doesn’t end like the last 20s. I encourage you to really get involved this year, find local projects that mean something to you and let’s make our community with more participation, more activism, more engagement so that we are all working together, making the city that we want. This should be a decade of historic preservation and creativity.
Modesto turns 150 years old this year. Sure there are cities in Europe that are 2,000 years old and in the middle east and china that are thousands of years older, and there were native villages here before us, but we have accomplished a lot in our 150 years and have a lot to be proud of and do we have stories to tell. This year will be a special project with ModestoView and the City of Modesto as we try to condense our 150 years of history into something fun and readable that will make you want to learn more. We are going to look at each of the decades each month this year and please let me know if you want to contribute to this effort. We want to make Modesto history fun and interesting. We are unique, have some very special stories and people that have brought us to where we are. I am convinced, that if we draw on our history, and what makes us unique, we will have a brighter future. We have so many local resources that we can go to like the McHenry Museum, the McHenry Mansion and www.historicmodesto.com and we are all richer and more independent when we know our history. It will be fun as we go through the 10s and 20s and lead up to the cruisin’ and midcentury 50s and 60s and then finish the year in real time. Please contact me if you want to be a part of this at chrism@modestoview.com
The most exciting thing happening this year is the creation of the Graffiti USA Museum. Finally we can create a cultural experience, celebrating our classic car, cruising and rock n roll history that will attract fans from all over the world. Modesto native George Lucas gave Modesto a great gift in the film American Graffiti. Celebrated as one of the top 100 films of all time, it captures a great time in Modesto. People already come from many countries to experience Graffiti Summer, and now we will have a museum that will bring it all together, attract more tourists, and educate our own citizen about how cool we are and why our history is important for our future. Millions visit the retro CarsLand at Disneyland because of a movie, let’s make the same magic happen here. Read more on page 8.
As we begin our next 150 years, we need Modesto’s brand to include our history and future. Please watch the Final Cut Podcast Community Branding with Mike Daniel and me. It is a great new series where we can talk about the opportunities that we have to build our community connections and celebrate who we are. Check it out here https://www.facebook.com/finalcutmediainc/videos/460304354864973/
Speaking of fun. ModestoView in a Box? One of the highlights of our hear is the annual ModestoView commercial for the Ill List. We are so proud to sponsor the Ill List and this commercial is a Hall of Fame. Watch at your own risk. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJD1MGOhG8U
2020 is about new beginnings, fresh ways of looking at our history and our future and just figuring out how to make living here better and more fun. We welcome Victoria Popoff to the ViewCrew with her new WellnessView column that will cover a wide range of Wellness issues throughout the year. None of this would be possible without our ViewCrew of promoters, creators, artists, musicians and athletes that care a lot about making a great positive message for Modesto and our local businesses that advertiser here so that we can create, print and distribute this publication each month. We are here for you, Serving Civic Pride Daily.
Have a great 2020
Chris Murphy, Publisher and Founder – ModestoView
chrism@modestoview.com
