Regarding the Glendale Sundowner City [Resolution Passes Council Recognizing Glendale’s ‘Sundown Town’ History,’ Sept. 17]. While it was probably all correct, the way it was written made me believe that all of Glendale was just bigoted racists. Maybe some, but not all. There were many good and fair people. I came to Glendale with my parents in about 1951 or ’52. Growing up in Glendale (500 block of East Chestnut) I personally saw many non-racist situations.

First, my father was a bus driver for Glendale City Bus Lines. I would ride with him a lot during school vacations and holidays. One of his favorite lines went through Northwest Glendale from Broadway and Brand over Kenwood and up Grandview. In the mornings and late afternoons there were many people that I will refer to as household servants. You know, maids, nannies, cooks, etc. Never once did I see anyone directed to sit in a particular area of the coach. Pop was polite and friendly to anyone who dropped their fare in the meter box. The passengers would be a mix of people who worked in Glendale and people who lived in Glendale and one of the most affluent portions too. I never saw any anyone mistreated by anyone else.

Second and best I was a personal party to. We had a family friend who was a Glendale police lieutenant. As such his entire area he covered was the entire city. Remember, this was 1959 to ’61. I do not remember the exact year. But I remember clearly everything that happened. I will not mention his name, but I will steal from Fotrest Gump and call him Lt. Dan. Well, there were times when Lt Dan wanted company and he would pick me up and I would ride around with him. At the time I was a high school  senior or a Glendale College student. One evening after dark, we were going south on Glendale Ave just above Wilson and we both saw a car ahead the was shooting fiery sparks from one of the rear wheels. The car was about a block or so ahead of us. Lt Dan turned on the lights and pulled the car over just about a half block north of Broadway. The car was a 1958 Buick and it turned out it was occupied by a well dressed (Sunday go to meeting) black family. You know, dad, mom and a couple of kids. I checked out the car while Lt Dan was talking to the driver. The rear wheel had gone flat and the driver had driven on it so long that the tire was gone and they were running on the rim. I found out later that the driver said he knew he had a flat, but he knew better than to stop in Glendale after dark. Lt Dan’s response to the driver was that if he and his family would get out of the car I would change their tire for them because they we to well dressed to do it themselves. They did and I did my assigned job. After the tire was changed the family got back in their car and left. With their knowledge of our intentions, we escorted them to Glendale Ave and San Fernando Rd. They went left and we went right. Now that was the GPD being far from racist. This is how I remember Glendale.

 Everything in that article is history. Our job as citizens is to be sure it does not repeat itself. I will not accept responsibility for anything that happened before I turned 21.

Tom Suter
La Crescenta