Pregnant and Chained to a Lamppost

Rebecca today with dog Charlie and the lamppost she saved.  She never did get its name.
Photo by Roger Wilson, Glendale News-Press

You weren't expecting that title, now were you?

Back in 1994, animator Rebecca Rees was well on her way to producing her second son, Wilder, when she found herself in the center of a chapter of Glendale, California history known as "The Adams Hill Rebellion". Don't Google it, I just named it that.

The city, in its wisdom, was going to do a road widening project on an area of town known as Adams Hill. As the name indicates, it is a hill, with lots of very narrow little roads ribboned around it. Adams Hill is an old neighborhood (for Los Angeles), with Spanish style homes built in the 1920's. Rebecca owns and resides in one such home with her husband Jerry. 

Part of the city's road project included removal of the decorative street lamps that were as old as the homes they illuminated. The city apparently did not consider this to be a big deal, but Rebecca and her Adams Hill neighborhood did. They complained to the city, and Glendale being Glendale, the powers that be ignored them. 

So when the work trucks arrived early in the morning to raze the lights, Rebecca razed the roof. Six months pregnant, she rallied the neighbors to confront the workers. It was all recorded in the Glendale News-Press, which ran a follow-up story last Thursday. Here's an excerpt quote from Rebecca:

“I was out there, six-months pregnant. I went into the garage and got a bike chain and its lock and key and when they weren’t looking, I quietly put it around my back and around one of the posts and locked it. I didn’t say anything. Once they saw me, it got very quiet; they backed away. They didn’t want anything to do with it.”

At some point in all the excitement, the mayor, Larry Zarian, showed up. “He was running down the street saying ‘everything is just fine. No need to do that!’”

Short story shorter (should we add a long car chase?), the lampposts were spared. And Rebecca is no longer chained to them. 

So Rebecca can't be Pope (see earlier post). She did perform a miracle though!

-Steve

Read the whole Glendale News-Press article here.