Photos by Ben Cipponeri, Richard Jantz, Diane Moody
Greetings Ahhh…The joys of summer of youth! Summers get shorter and shorter each year. But I remember as a kid, waiting for school to end and then waiting for school to start as the summer drew to a close. Now there is now waiting and summer happens fast. Heck, life happens fast. Soon our youngest daughter goes off to college and it just seems like yesterday they were eating ice cream in 5th grade. Our wonderful cover by Michael J Mangano really captured this. It seems like it was just yesterday kids were born, we got married, we were in grade school and just like here in Modesto USA, it seems like The Class of ’62 was not so long ago. ModestoView spent some time with George Lucas and we were very excited to hear how much growing up in Modesto meant to him. We were honored to present George with a “Legend of the Cruise” monument that will soon be in the sidewalk on 10th St. See our interview with George at www.modestoview.com
Modesto was in the New York Times last month and it was all good. There we were, sharing the global stage with our most famous native son, George Lucas, as he shared his American Graffiti story. For all of you branders out there, this is who we are. Brands happen naturally. We are the home of American Graffiti, George Lucas, and the birthplace of Rockabilly and Rock and Roll. These are positive things that are loved around the world and call Modesto USA their home. People around the world are seeing us for what we are and can be. Modesto, it is up to us to tell our own positive story and make positive things happen. We need our city leaders to understand that positive civic culture leads to jobs, creativity and a solid economy.
We have some transitions this month. Our All Ages editor Abbey Murphy leaves the pages of ModestoView to take on the challenge of being a student at UC Berkeley. We are lucky that we have a very talented Girl Scout that will be taking over her column that was started by Madison Murphy back in 2006. We welcome Leia Johnson to the ViewCrew and can’t wait to read about her community perspective. We are also honored to have Aaron Rowan writing the Acoustic View. He presents many events including the successful Modesto Unplugged Festival last month. We have so many talented writers and I couldn’t be more proud.
ModestoView is all about taking positive action. We are sponsoring and creating some of the events and projects that are making positive change in our community like the Modesto Cruise Route, Classic Community Murals, Rockabilly History Project, The Legends of the Cruise Walk of Fame and we are sponsoring music stages and art and music projects that create civic pride. We will be presenting a Café at the Romance of Old Havana fundraiser for Boys and Girls Club. Come see us on July 27 and have a Cuba Libre! We are raising funds for MoBand, the Gallo Center, Salvation Army and so much more.
We are the change that we need. If our friends in Modesto all get together to make something happen, I know there will be a good result. Our advertisers are so very important to help us produce and print the ModestoView Magazine and our readers will reach out to good businesses. Our message of good news reaches across our county and beyond and if you read ModestoView, you know who the best businesses are in town. We are more than an ad, we are a way to build Civic Pride, every day and teamwork is the key.
You are all part of our ViewCrew and ModestoView is for you. Please tell us what you like and how we can make ModestoView better.m
Have a great July Chris Murphy Published and Founder. ModestoView (love you Becky)
On the Cover “The joy of summer?” Sometimes you get a lot and sometimes you don’t. The very talented Michael J Mangano captured the summer spirit of the super cute Thomas Damrell and Sofia Johnson on an ice cream outing at Loard’s Ice Cream in Downtown Modesto. All the makings of a fun summer day are right here and we thank these kids for their time, Michael for his talent and Loard’s for the amazing ice cream.
