[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”Section” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_color=”#d9ae52″ transparent_background=”off” make_fullwidth=”off” use_custom_width=”off” width_unit=”on” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” make_fullwidth=”off” use_custom_width=”off” width_unit=”on” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Title Header” _builder_version=”4.16″ text_font=”Crimson Text||||” text_text_color=”#ffffff” text_font_size=”30″ header_font_size=”63px” background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” background_layout=”dark” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” global_colors_info=”{}”] Altadena Chamber names Mark Goldschmidt Citizen of the Year [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”Section” _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_3,2_3″ admin_label=”Row” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_image src=”http:\/\/altadenaheritage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/gold-citizen.jpg” align_tablet=”center” align_phone=”center” align_last_edited=”on|desktop” admin_label=”Image” _builder_version=”4.16″ animation_style=”slide” animation_direction=”left” animation_duration=”500ms” animation_intensity_slide=”10%” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” animation=”left” sticky=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” global_colors_info=”{}”] [\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
by TImothy Rutt<\/b><\/p>\n
The Altadena Chamber of Commerce and Civic Association has named a long-time planning and preservation activist as Altadena’s 2013 Citizen of the Year.<\/p>\n
Altadena Heritage Chairman Mark Goldschmidt, a retired landscape architect, was named Altadena\u2019s Citizen of the Year for his work on the town council\u2019s Land Use Committee and as a board member and chairman of Altadena Heritage.\u00a0 Goldschmidt\u2019s honor is notable in that he is married to last year\u2019s Citizen of the Year, local historian Michele Zack.<\/p>\n
Goldschmidt, 67, has been active in Altadena Heritage as a board member and two-time chairman, as well as serving on the Altadena Town Council\u2019s land use committee from 2007-2011.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/b>Altadena Heritage describes itself as a \u201cnon-profit, volunteer-based advocacy organization dedicated to protecting, preserving, and raising awareness of the rich architectural, environmental, and cultural heritage of our foothills community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Goldschmidt comes to his interest in place after a life of international travel.\u00a0 Born in Berkeley and raised in Brentwood, Goldschmidt spent his early grade school years living in a hut in Uganda where his anthropologist father was doing field work.\u00a0 \u201cLater, we drove to Capetown in our 1953 VW microbus via the Congo and the Rhodesias. That’s what sparked lifelong interest in land and landscape,\u201d Goldschmidt says.<\/p>\n
He attended a French-speaking high school in Switzerland, took trains and hitchhiked around Europe on school holidays, and had unusual summer jobs his father would get him:\u00a0 archeology in the Rift Valley in Kenya, spending a week at Olduvai Gorge, and a summer in Sweden on a Viking-era dig.<\/p>\n
Goldschmidt graduated\u00a0cum laude<\/i>\u00a0from UC Berkeley in architecture, and from Harvard Graduate School of Design in landscape architecture. After moving to Los Angeles in 1984,\u00a0 he met his wife, Michele Zack, then a journalist.\u00a0 They moved to Altadena in 1986, where they raised their daughter Natalie and he worked on landscape projects that included the Getty Villa, the Getty Museum, the Skirball Cultural Center, and the UCLA\u00a0 Anderson School of Management.<\/p>\n
The family moved to Thailand for eight years, where he designed resorts and resort landscapes all over Southeast Asia and the Seychelles, which Goldschmidt calls\u00a0 \u201ca rich, satisfying, and often terrifying experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere I was, living in this mess of a city in a little cul de sac in a residential neighborhood [in Bangkok], and it seemed that everyone complained but no one ever tried to get together to work out local problems with the streets, flooding, canals, crime, traffic, ugliness,\u201d Goldschmidt said.
\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” global_colors_info=”{}”]\u201cI didn’t feel I could do anything, I didn’t belong to that community and \u00a0had a poor command of the language, but when Michele and I returned we both swore we would get involved in trying to improve our community.\u201d<\/p>\n
They returned to their Altadena home in 1998.\u00a0 Goldschmidt worked at Disney and other offices in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara.\u00a0 He also kept an office in Altadena where he designed gardens, pools and spas, mostly for private homes.<\/p>\n
Goldschmidt joined Altadena Heritage about 2001, and has served on the board for 12 years.\u00a0 He is currently coming to the end of his second stint as chairman.\u00a0 When he became chair again in 2008, the organization had dwindled to 60 members and was in danger of going away altogether. Goldschmidt and other members revivified it into an organization that is not only concerned about Altadena\u2019s architectural and historic heritage, but where the community is going in the future by sponsoring lectures, workshops, and meetings on everything from invasive pests to celebrations of Altadena\u2019s unique neighborhoods.\u00a0 Membership is now over 425.<\/p>\n
Goldschmidt\u2019s mark can be seen all over town: at the Old Marengo Pocket Park (which he designed\u00a0pro bono<\/i>); the Altadena Hillside Ordinance that tempers development on the hills; the Altadena Farmers\u2019 Market, which Altadena Heritage sponsored and helped to get through the interminable county approvals; and in fond memories of Altadena\u2019s 125th Anniversary Bash last year, where he served on the committee that threw together a community-wide celebration.\u00a0 Currently, Goldschmidt serves on the Community Standards District Updating Committee.<\/p>\n
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