Former La Cañada Flintridge resident Charlotte Menefee recently celebrated her 104th birthday in San Pedro.

The spry centenarian, who was born seven months after the Titanic went to its watery grave, co-owned Bow Tie Cleaners on Foothill Boulevard with her late husband Jerry “Shorty” Menefee. After his death in 1997, Charlotte lived in their hilltop home on Patagonia Drive until 2002, when she moved to San Pedro. Although she is the oldest resident of the Harbor Terrace retirement community, she dazzled family and friends at a Jazz Age party in July. Artfully made up with bee-stung lips, coiffed in spit curls and decked out in a beaded dress, she won an award for “Best Look of the 1920s” – an era that she remembers well.

“I saw ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ when I was 12 years old,” she recalled. “I learned to drive when I was 16. My folks had an old Chevy. My dad showed me how to crank it with your thumb on the outside, so you wouldn’t break your hand.”

The Nov. 19 birthday bash, held at the bayside residence of her son Quentin Pizzini and his wife Helene, drew family and friends from several states. The guests included daughter Judy Mickelsen and son-in-law Michael of Waltham, Massachusetts; grandsons Les Hammer of Pasadena and Stephen Hammer of Santa Clarita; grandson Ken Pizzini, wife Holly and daughter Emily of Sacramento: grand-daughter Vickie Hershberger of San Pedro, and grand-daughter Cathy Scheitlin, husband Mark and son Nathan of Lewisville, Colorado.

Daughters Eileen Hershberger of San Pedro and Ona Lee Snyder of Weldon, as well as grandson Bret, wife Leslie and daughter Cassandra, were unable to attend but sent their love and best wishes.

Other guests included Lynne De La Pointe, Scott and Cecilia Grover, Chuck and Claudia Hanchett, Julie Klassen, Kathie Green McKee, Donald and Norma Nordike, Balvina Orantes and sister Carmen Orantes, Jerry and Ellen Sturm, and Joe and Amy Viola.

What’s the secret to her longevity? “Before my grandmother moved to Harbor Terrace,” said her grandson Les Hammer, “all I wanted was an old Betty Crocker cookbook, filled with her notes. Somewhere in that book is her secret!”

Contributed by Les HAMMER