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View Winners → See You in 50 years City of El Monte
Arcadia Weekly Jul 23, 2012
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The cover set in place over the time capsule. To be open again only in 2062. -Photo by Dena Burroughs
Lots of things can happen in 50 years. In 1962 a gallon of gas cost 28 cents, a dozen of eggs was 32 cents, and the first Beatles recording was just being released. One must assume the next 50 years will change the world that much more and counting on it the City of El Monte buried a time capsule last Wednesday in the Historical Museum’s courtyard. The capsule is to be opened again in 2062.
This event was related to the 100th anniversary of the City of El Monte. When the city turns 150, the capsule will help that community picture what life was like for us today. Inside the white cylinder were placed a current City of El Monte newsletter, photographs of the City Council members, 2012 currency coins, a cell phone, a Police Chief Uniform and Badge, and several other items.
In a short ceremony for which a few dozen people were present, the sealed cylinder was driven into the ground and an elegant cover was glued over it, after which residents and council members took pictures next to it. Mayor Quintero posed with his daughter Emma, who will be 53 years old the next time the capsule sees the light.
It was an (almost) perfect celebration that provided a sobering opportunity to think about the passage of life and what each of us can attempt to accomplish in the next five decades. (Had a copy of the El Monte Examiner been included in the time capsule, it would have been perfect!)
The sealing of the cylinder was followed by the first concert of the Rockin’ Wednesday Summer Series at Arceo Park with the homegrown musicians of “Gamblers Mark” playing rockabilly tunes and music from the 50s, 70s and 80s. The band is popular between the youth of El Monte as each of its members graduated from a local high school and the son of the band leader, who happens to be great on the guitar, is currently a student at El Monte High School. The park was alive with residents moving throughout it, many of them teenage girls with bright red lips dressed in full skirts and boys with red suspenders sporting slick pompadours.
