Schools

405 Closure Snarls Class' 50th-Year Reunion Plans

The Hamilton High School Class of '61 will have a tough time reuniting on July 17, says an Encino couple who helped plan the gathering.

A year ago, Kathy Gazin and some of her classmates from Los Angeles' Alexander Hamilton Senior High School Class of '61 thought July 17 sounded just right for a 50-year reunion.

But now, Gazin and the reunion attendees will have to contend with what is expected to be a traffic nightmare during the 53-hour closure of the 405 Freeway starting that weekend.

Almost 100 people had said they were coming to the reunion in Encino, according to Gazin, with many planning to drive or fly in from around the country, some from as far away as Brazil.

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"Nobody knows exactly how long it's going to take [to get through the traffic]. The planning of this [closure] has really mucked it up," Gazin said.

She and her husband, Harvey Gazin, were so concerned about the timing of the closure that they both went to a community meeting at the Skirball Cultural Center hosted by the 405 project manager, Mike Barbour, and other public officials.

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By the end of the meeting, Gazin was not only worried about her guests, but also what she saw as poor planning of the entire project.

"If they knew they were going to do the project when they did, why did they wait to tell us a month before?" Gazin asked.

After learning of the project date, Gazin and the other members of the planning committee reached out to the attendees, advising them to book hotel rooms or find other classmates to stay with to avoid the traffic.

But the logistics of getting to Encino, which lies right in the heart of the closure that will stretch 10 miles from the 101 to the 10 freeways, has already become too much for some. About 25 have dropped out, Gazin said. 

"Even a couple of people on the committee changed their minds, and figured that because the Sepulveda Pass area was going to be blocked off that they weren't coming," Gazin said.

"We have concerns about the caterer getting to us. They're coming from a different part of the city and we don't know if they're going to be able to get there in time to set up. They say they'll be able to, but we're not so sure."

Though members of the planning committees have held reunions before, the 50-year reunion of the Class of '61 was going to be the biggest yet. The 100 people who said they would come represented about a third of the entire class, Gazin said.

Both Kathy and Harvey Gazin are keeping their hopes up, despite what will probably be a tortuous commute for the reunion guests. With a traffic jam as large as the closure is expected to create, the only other advice the Gazins have been able to give is simple.  

"They need to leave early. Really early," Harvey Gazin said.


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