Downtown Arcadia – Patriotic Festival

Christine Zito: 0:01

Hello and welcome to Arcadia FYI. My name is Christine Zito and I am the host of this podcast show. What is Arcadia FYI? Well, thanks for asking. It’s going to be a show focused on community here in the city of Arcadia. The podcast will feature some really great interviews that I’m looking to inform, enlighten and, yes, even entertain. And, yes, we will address some of the concerns that us residents have regarding the local issues here in the city of Arcadia. Furthermore, I will provide information about activities outside our community that you, your family and your friends can participate or enjoy. You can hear Arcadia FYI at arcadiafyicom or on your favorite podcast channel like YouTube, apple Podcasts, spotify, amazon Podcasts and iHeartRadio For your information. When you go to arcadiafyicom, you can tell me what you would like to hear on this show, because our voices count and I want your voice to count. So let me know what you would like to hear by just filling out the form. It comes straight to me and I will work on it. I would also like to thank our sponsors Longo Toyota Thank you so much for being a part of this show and Star 7 Financial, with the founder, francine Chu. I wouldn’t be able to do this without you, so thank you very much. All right, let’s get this party started.

Christine Zito: 1:37

For your information, this is the first episode and it’s about something very dear to my heart. Very dear to my heart it’s downtown Arcadia. In studio, we have the movers and shakers that make it all happen. And well, they just really put downtown Arcadia on the map, that’s for sure, and a lot of you probably already know about downtown Arcadia, but I’m hoping that today you might learn just a little bit something new, something that maybe you didn’t know. So in studio, we have the wonderful and always laughing Donna Choi, hello. And the notable and, if I can say, legendary, mj Filmstrom, hello. And never the least and he has a bigger title former mayor Peter Amundsen. How you doing, sir Fine?

Former Mayor Peter Amundson: 2:23

Thank you for having me.

Christine Zito: 2:24

Oh, no problem. Okay, I’m going to ask you guys a few questions. I’m going to start with Donna. Donna, okay, all right, here we go. Where were you born and raised? Very close to here.

Donna Choi: 2:34

West Covina, california.

Christine Zito: 2:37

Really, you were born in West Covina.

Donna Choi: 2:38

I was born in West Covina but I grew up all over California. My dad was in the fire service, so I lived all over and now I reside in Los Angeles County and I’m happy to be here in Arcadia.

Christine Zito: 2:49

Oh, that’s good. Do you have family? Are you married?

Donna Choi: 2:52

Single Alien oh, I have a, really awesome husband, five chickens, a really great feral cat that’s no longer feral and we’re working on the aliens. I may be one, but we’ll find out later.

Christine Zito: 3:07

Okay, all right, mj Filmstrom. So what is your business?

MJ Finstrom: 3:12

my business is called hot dogs and we help people get smarter and more creative with their marketing that’s.

Christine Zito: 3:18

You know what I have to say. I work with MJ and you are the best when it comes to social media marketing.

MJ Finstrom: 3:23

I, I tell you that, thank you.

Christine Zito: 3:24

And email marketing. So do you have family, married children?

MJ Finstrom: 3:28

I have one daughter. She goes to University of Hawaii, and I have a husband and I have a dog and I live in Arcadia. I’ve worked here in Arcadia for many, many years. Your daughter goes to.

Christine Zito: 3:36

University of Hawaii. Oh bummer Aloha, oh my gosh Hawaii Okay and also in studio. Come right up to that microphone there, Peter. Peter Amundsen, how are you doing?

Former Mayor Peter Amundson: 3:50

Now, where’s your business at? I know you do. It’s in the city of industry.

Christine Zito: 3:52

And what is it that you do?

Former Mayor Peter Amundson: 3:53

I have Minuteman Transport. We are a refrigerated warehouse and transportation company and what we say is we feed the families of the Pacific Southwest. And during the pandemic we would find out if all the things going on, we were the most essential, pretty much most essential because we fed the families as they were hunkered down. We were on the streets making it happen.

Christine Zito: 4:15

So you have trucks.

Former Mayor Peter Amundson: 4:17

And a refrigerated warehouse.

Christine Zito: 4:18

Oh, wow, see, I didn’t know that. I knew you were a councilman and you were a mayor. Do you have family, married Single? I knew you were a councilman and you were a mayor.

Former Mayor Peter Amundson: 4:25

Do you have family Married Single Alien, I’m married, I’m about 37 years and we have three children and I better get this right Six grandchildren.

Christine Zito: 4:39

Oh wow, Do you like being a grandpa?

Former Mayor Peter Amundson: 4:42

I do. Someone said the other day, if I knew how much fun it was, I would have gone straight to being a grandpa.

Christine Zito: 4:48

That is great. That is great. So I had these little bio quiz. I just want to do this so we can get to know you a little bit more. Donna, what’s your favorite board game?

Donna Choi: 4:59

Well, I really like to play all board games, but I like Ticket to Ride a lot. I love Monopoly and I love does Parcheesi count? Because I love Parcheesi, parcheesi’s oh and Yahtzee oh and Yahtzee, as my mother would say Hatsy Tatsy, give me a Yahtzee oh, that is really great, mj, when you wake up in the morning, what’s your favorite smell?

MJ Finstrom: 5:25

Oh, I was hoping I’d get the board game. I thought that would be poker. My favorite smell is nothing.

Christine Zito: 5:32

Is nothing Okay. Well, let me ask you this what has been your greatest mistake in the kitchen?

MJ Finstrom: 5:45

Oh, there’s a lot of questions. I’m too creative in the kitchen, like I’ll start, and then I’m like, oh, because I’m creative at work, I’ll add things to it. It’s just epic failures all the time. But I am known for my air fried bundt cake.

Christine Zito: 5:57

Now, yeah, I don’t I’m, I didn’t know it, yeah okay, well, okay, that’s another show, that’s another show. Yeah, all right, peter, do you have any animals?

Former Mayor Peter Amundson: 6:06

Yes.

Christine Zito: 6:06

You have a cat. Are you a cat dog, a cat dog? Are you a dog person or a cat person?

Former Mayor Peter Amundson: 6:10

I’m a dog person, okay.

Christine Zito: 6:12

What two things would you like to ask your dog? And he can answer you back.

Former Mayor Peter Amundson: 6:19

Why are you moping around the house so much? Because we think we know we lost. We lost another dog and I think, I think, uh, I think he’s still looking for his buddy and uh, second question um, I, I don’t have a second question.

Christine Zito: 6:39

I’m sorry, just why he’s moping around yeah all right, let’s get into why we’re here, downtown Arcadia. Now, how long has Downtown Arcadia been Downtown Arcadia and how did it go ahead and talk about the history?

Donna Choi: 6:52

Well, this is Donna. Downtown Arcadia was founded in 2014, but I’d really like to throw the baton over to Peter, because Peter was so instrumental in getting this community benefit district started, supported and alive. So, Peter, why don’t you take it away?

Former Mayor Peter Amundson: 7:09

All right. Yes, I’m sure many people remember there was Rick Caruso wanted to build the shops in San Nita and I was just recently elected to the city council in 2006. Yay, so I was just recently elected to the city council in 2006, and went through multiple hearings as the liaison, the planning commission. I mean these hearings went to 2 o’clock in the morning, then it gets to council people. But my one takeaway was is that the people want it. The people wanted a downtown, they wanted the shops at Sydney, they wanted the project to be built and because they’d say the kids had them all, uh, and they needed some place and they, they kind of yearned for what monrovia had, you know, and um, the city of arcadia had had a project 2000 where it renovated the, the streets. Then it walked away and so I had the.

Former Mayor Peter Amundson: 8:05

When I was on council, I kept on hearing this, the desire for downtown, and it used to be a kind of. In 2010, I became mayor and I kind of made it my, I kind of made it the. They used to have a little thing where they gave the mayor a little bit of control, not a little control, but they gave him like an extra project, they gave him a little flexibility on that and I made mine was the creation of the downtown because I felt the desire that they had for it. And so at the time we had redevelopment money, which pretty much it was money that was taxed, money that was put aside it would only be used toward redevelopment. And I went to the council and the council seemed like they had all gone. I served with some great men on council and they all had gone to the same hearings I had and realized that there was this desire for a downtown. I had and realized that there was this desire for a downtown, and so I came with the idea to create a downtown and it was felt pretty, it was pretty well received because they all felt they had all felt what I had felt, that there was this desire for downtown. And so we started allocating some money and in the midst of it we lost redevelopment.

Former Mayor Peter Amundson: 9:30

So and so redevelopment. The governor brown took the money back and there there was a mindset that you couldn’t do anything without redevelopment money and that we had a paradigm shift. Actually, the city brought a really great guy on, tim Schwer, who had a different mindset, where we could go out and we could actually draw a business and we didn’t have to depend on government money. But the thing is in the middle of this, as I said, we lost redevelopment and, rough memory, $150,000 or something like that. We were going to front. In fact I was down in Italy, a little Italy driving through in San Diego on Sunday and the company that we hired actually managed a little Italy, and so he helped us put it together. But it was a little tenuous because in the process of losing redevelopment, we had to take general fund money to create it, and I didn’t know if the council redevelopment money was for redeveloping. But general fund money is, as one of the council members used to say, it was real money.

Donna Choi: 10:38

Yeah, it was real money?

Former Mayor Peter Amundson: 10:40

I hope so, and you know they all I say to much my uh great appreciation. Uh, they all, just they all uh backed me in the motion of creating the downtown Arcadia. Uh, the goal was, though, we were priming the pump, we were creating it as a city and we wanted it to be actually led and uh financed through the businesses that actually encompass downtown Arcadia. So I actually didn’t know if it was going to pass For sure. City manager told me it was. We were on vacation down in Cabo and I flew back just for the vote, and it’s kind of funny. You’re going through security and you don’t have any baggage and they go. What’s this guy’s gig? But came back.

Christine Zito: 11:24

I got a vote.

Former Mayor Peter Amundson: 11:24

I got a vote it was a 5-0 vote and we went out and we put it out to hire and created it. So it was. It was it has really strong grassroots because we all felt you know Arcadians wanted a downtown and it wasn’t going to be as simple as what Monrovia was and we found that out too.

Christine Zito: 11:44

Did you run into problems with comparisons?

Former Mayor Peter Amundson: 11:46

We tried, you know, but downtown Monrovia is downtown Monrovia.

Christine Zito: 11:49

Yeah.

Former Mayor Peter Amundson: 11:50

And I think we found out that we had to create something that was more Arcadiesque, yes, and so I know there’s a lot more in the stories, but that’s kind of you want to know the founding of it. So we hired this consultant and he went out and did polling to figure out where the downtown association could be, where there was favorites, where we could get to vote for. So that’s why the downtown configuration is as it is. Is is is because you know we wanted a positive vote, and so right and so okay, now thinking of the what are the boundaries?

Christine Zito: 12:25

so you have it from. Okay, you’re coming, let’s, let’s, because it’s Huntington and First Avenue, so let’s, let’s come like we’re coming down from the racetrack and Huntington and Sarah Clark so once again, once again, I’m getting Donald correct.

Former Mayor Peter Amundson: 12:39

Remember, on my understanding, it starts at Santa Anita, right.

Donna Choi: 12:42

Correct. It’s First Avenue Santa Anita to Second, To Second Huntington. I’m sorry, Huntington from Santa Anita to Second and First Avenue from California where the middle school is up to Santa Clara just above the train tracks. Okay, got it.

Christine Zito: 12:59

And the train station. So that’s all downtown Arcadia.

Former Mayor Peter Amundson: 13:02

So often people ask me where is downtown Arcadia? It actually was the first in Huntington where the old City Hall used to be Right yeah. And to me they made a terrible mistake when they tore down that great piece of architecture, but that’s a different podcast.

Christine Zito: 13:21

Okay, yeah, we’ll talk about that later, peter.

Donna Choi: 13:23

You know. One other thing I’d like to mention about the founding is we’re very lucky that we had our founding board. Member is April Verlato. We had a lot of really great buy-in from the Chamber of Commerce and Matt Denny’s and some very important businesses in town, so we were very lucky that people donated their time.

Christine Zito: 13:42

Yeah, now, I didn’t know it was grassroots. So I think that that really shows integrity and the people that support.

Former Mayor Peter Amundson: 13:50

It was. There was a lot In fact, once again, as I said, when the city primed the pump for it, but they really wanted it to be led by the community. And you know she mentioned Matt McSweeney who really stepped out of his own comfort zone to kind of be the face of it. And then, you know, april and some other business people were really important in its nurturing and actually in its growth, actually in its growth and so but yeah, this was not something that the city hall or even well, we’ve had a great relationship with the chamber and to me we worked hand in hand with them. But to me it was more organic than the city just dictating something.

MJ Finstrom: 14:33

Right. Well, I think it’s also important to note that it’s not the city, it’s a separate entity. Although we’s not the city, it’s a separate entity, although we partner with the city a lot on different things. A lot of times people think something that downtown Arcadia is doing is the city of Arcadia, and it’s not. It’s this entity, it’s this private, it’s this nonprofit organization made up of volunteers and people who are, you know, part of this business district. It’s a self-assessed tax district and people don’t realize that it’s not the city. But you know, we love working with the city, but the things we do aren’t it’s, you know, we. Often the city gets credit for that.

Christine Zito: 15:10

Yeah, you know, and that’s a good thing, a good note right there for people to know that it’s not downtown Arcadia, is not the city of art. I mean working the city, Arcadia government.

Donna Choi: 15:23

That’s absolutely correct. And now you get to see why we’re so lucky to have MJ Finstrom. Yeah, she spells it out just as it is, so that everybody knows the facts. And and she’s right about, the assessment is on the property. So a lot of times, people, people, I’m just a block outside the district, well, you’re not paying into the assessment, but we want everyone to come play with us, so everyone is invited. I hope you all heard that yeah, I think that’s great.

Christine Zito: 15:50

Well, let’s talk about how. What makes downtown arcadia so fun?

Former Mayor Peter Amundson: 15:56

Can I get a little history of that too, since uh you, as a lifelong Arcadian and born, you know I was, uh, uh, try to remember the Arcadia Methodist hospital.

Former Mayor Peter Amundson: 16:05

So I lived there a while, uh you know, we, we tried, you know, and we, we tried running it, we uh, as you know, as uh, trying to get it to go and it was.

Former Mayor Peter Amundson: 16:16

It was kind of it’s kind of rough, you know, if Matt’s running this business or April’s doing her thing and you need something. So we were, I think, as a downtown association, we’re really blessed when, when, uh, we stumbled across Donna, who, donna, who brings such a great, uh, vitality and life, and then, at the same time, mj came on board and she brings this creativity, you know, when you know so many times, like when the pandemic hit us and I’m going, oh man, we can’t have fireworks, can’t do that and you know, she find, they find a way to shift gears and make you know, some people say, make, you know, lemonade out of sour lemons. But you know, some people say, make you know, lemonade out of sour lemons. But you know, they’ve done a really good job. They bring a life and a vitality. A great team, the dynamic duo, I’d say, of the downtown Arcadia.

Christine Zito: 17:07

I know. And so these events, who? Okay? So, yeah, mj, like I said, she’s rocks. Okay. So with the events, yes, she rocks, okay. So with the events, yes, there is. You have, well, the ones that I, when I first started getting involved with Downtown Arcadia, you had the Patriotic Festival, correct, I love the Patriotic Festival. Then you have the Halloween we do Halloween Haunting, halloween Haunting. And then you have the Holiday, holiday Fair, holiday Fair. And then, just recently, the last couple of years, is the Lunar Yep.

Donna Choi: 17:37

Lunar New Year.

Christine Zito: 17:38

Festival, lunar New Year Festival. Who thinks of these things?

Donna Choi: 17:42

Well, you know, the Patriotic Festival and fireworks was Peter’s dream and I remember when we first met, it was the Patriotic Festival, no fireworks, and he and I both shared our love for fireworks and patriotism and the country, and it was a really cool meeting of the minds and we worked really hard to get the fireworks and so we that’s how that came about. Peter is the chair of the Patriotic Festival. He’s a real patriot. So this was his dream to see that happen. And then this year we had some horrible tragedies strike the region and we decided now is not the time for fireworks, let’s do something new, exciting, that all of the community can enjoy. So we brought the first ever drone show to downtown Arcadia.

Donna Choi: 18:33

I said it as those past tense. So you have the opportunity to see it on June 28th.

Christine Zito: 18:38

On June 28th. Yeah, and MJ, you had a great you know wrench in that, didn’t you? And getting the drones here.

MJ Finstrom: 18:48

Not, it really wasn’t me. Donna was the one who found the drone producer. She’s like she hustles when it comes to those kinds of things, and but we all were, you know, we all kind of decided that, you know, I mean this is a big shift and we are known for pivoting. I don’t know this. I’ve been here for 10 years. I didn’t realize that until Donna told me that last night. And probably every event.

MJ Finstrom: 19:09

We have some sort of wrench that gets thrown at us and we have to pivot and this was one of those wrenches, but we’re really embracing it because it’s really about honoring which. Peter is really well established with technology and, if anybody knows me, I’m a tech nerd and I love that kind of stuff and Donna and I have uncovered like all these things that you can do with a drone and we started to think, okay, how can we make this really special? So we invited the community to share their ideas for what kind of drone displays, and so we’ve had so many people submit ideas and you’ll see them come to life on June 28th. It’s going to be really fun and the technology behind the drones is fascinating and actually you can get a VIP ticket if you really want to see the drones firsthand.

MJ Finstrom: 19:56

At First Avenue Middle School they’re raising money. Everybody’s leveraging our events. The cool thing is that we bring community together so people can get to know each other, the community can get to know all the community players. It’s really one of the only places where you can reach that many people in Arcadia and people are lined up. Donna has them lined up to get a booth. I mean, it’s been so fun on that level, you know, it’s just great.

Christine Zito: 20:19

How many people actually attend just the Patriotic Festival?

Donna Choi: 20:23

Well, we have the ability to do cell phone pings and know how many people with cell phones are there. Last year it was 17 000 cell phones. That does not count the children, that does not count the over 20, can we safely say over 20 000. Oh, easy, easy yeah, and, and people also fill up all of the restaurants in downtown Arcadia and they’ll go hang out even at County Park if they want to have a different view. It’s a really great sense of community and it’s free.

MJ Finstrom: 20:54

Did we mention that? Oh my God, wait a minute.

Donna Choi: 20:56

What Free, free, free, all of our events are free and I want to make sure we did say it’s 5 to 9.30 on Saturday, june 28th and it’s on First Avenue between Huntington and Diamond Now what are some of the giveaways you’re giving away? Mj. What do we have?

MJ Finstrom: 21:15

Well, thank you to the fabulous Stephen Rhee. He always brings the best prizes to our giveaways.

Christine Zito: 21:22

Okay, don’t tell me, wait a minute. Stephen Rhee’s giving away Dodger tickets. He is, he’s giving away Dodger tickets.

MJ Finstrom: 21:28

They are going to be behind home plate on the 4th of July. Yes, we also have one night stay at the new Hilton when it opens up. It’ll be opening up, I think, around October time frame, so two people are going to win a one night stay for that. We also have a bike from rei that downtown arcadia has bought and every year we give away by. Oh my god, that’s the fun part that’s pure joy.

Christine Zito: 21:53

Last year we had a kid always doing participating in we’re buying the bike, yeah, yeah so it’s sponsored by downtown arcadia.

MJ Finstrom: 22:00

But these kids that and these people that win the bike, they go. I mean that’s where the pure joy is when we’re down. I mean that makes all of this hard work worth it to see a kid who just won a new bike and this is the biggest one. You might have to look it up. Some of you, some other people, might have to look this up, but black, pink tickets it’s a very popular. I think they’re worth about $3,000. Ask your kids If you have kids in high school. They will know who Blackpink is.

MJ Finstrom: 22:28

Go ahead. Donna Explain this.

Donna Choi: 22:30

Blackpink is a Korean all-girl band and they are so amazing. If you saw the White Lotus, lisa is on there, she played Mookie, and we also have Rosé is in there. They are just awesome. They’re. The whole spectacle is wonderful. So thank you, stephen ree, for that. Oh, stephen ree is giving away the tickets.

Donna Choi: 22:54

Yes, onto the dodger tickets and the black paint and uh, mj is right, the new hilton arcadia that is right across from san anita Anita Track is going to be open in October, soft open in August, so you’ll all get the chance to go on the rooftop bar to see the San. Gabriel Mountains with a glass of wine in your hand. That’s right. I can’t wait for that.

Christine Zito: 23:16

So, focusing on the Patriotic Festival, it’s going to be from Diamond to Huntington, but there’s going to be food carts, food trucks, booths, and I do want to say, if you want to meet me, I’ll be serving wine. I pour wine every year at the Patriotic Festival and also at the holiday and Lunar I pour wine. I’m Italian, so I got to pour wine.

Donna Choi: 23:44

Always for the first hour it seems. I don’t know what happens to you after that first hour.

Christine Zito: 23:49

Christine zito, I would say two hours, yeah, about two and a half times.

MJ Finstrom: 23:53

After that, I take my wine and you’ll, yeah, I go up and down, yeah, so the good thing to note is the street closes at 12 o’clock, okay, so people trying to get traffic, and then we open it with some remarks from officials, and then we have a mini parade, mini parade. This is not the Rose Bowl parade, this is a mini parade. We call it a promenade.

Donna Choi: 24:12

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

MJ Finstrom: 24:13

A tiny little mini parade but it’s very fun and a lot of community groups march down and we have the pep band from Arcadia High School.

Former Mayor Peter Amundson: 24:19

We have Purdy Purdy, that’s right.

MJ Finstrom: 24:21

Yeah, we have people passing out flags. It’s very fun, and then at 7 o’clock is our big giveaway. So make sure, if you want those tickets, you’ve got to go to ArcadiaDTcom to sign up to get the tickets. What was that?

Christine Zito: 24:36

ArcadiaDTcom, donna, and you can find all the information at DowntownArcadiaorg and also at ArcadiaFYIcom.

MJ Finstrom: 24:43

I’ll make sure to put that all on there. Our big giveaway is at 7 o’clock. You have to be present.

Christine Zito: 24:49

And the drone fireworks will start 9 o’clock, 9 o’clock 9 pm, I mean there is so much traffic when the fireworks happen in downtown Arcadia, I mean it is like people are at the park. I mean you can’t move down First Avenue. It’s just a beautiful thing to see the community, it’s gonna be awesome, tradition and uh and technology coming together well, thank you for making history today, being the first guest to come on to arcadia.

Christine Zito: 25:16

Fyi and next are the next podcast. Oh, I do want to say this. This is a dream come true for me. My business is in downtown Arcadia and I, I just can’t.

Christine Zito: 25:29

I can’t thank God enough for that and thank you for the blessings in that. But the next, the next podcast, we’re going to have someone that is also in downtown Arcadia. She owns a photography business, she wrote a book and we’re going to be talking about her book and her car, because she drives race cars. I think she does drifting, she used to do drifting, and that’s all I’m going to say. So I want to say thank you MJ, thank you, thank you Donna, thank you Peter, for being my guest in downtown Arcadia. Don’t forget Patriotic Festival, june 28th that’s a Saturday Starts at 5 o’clock.

Donna Choi: 26:08

5 o’clock. And Christine, before we leave, I want to thank you for having us on here, you, the award-winning commercial producer. And what was that big award you got? Telly the Telly.

Christine Zito: 26:21

That’s a huge deal. It is a. I want it for a television commercial and an online video for Arcadia Chamber and a telly is like an Oscar.

Donna Choi: 26:32

You’re very accomplished and well served. Thank you All, right, thank you.

Christine Zito: 26:38

Thank you, guys For your information. When you go to Arcadia FYI, I want to remind you to let me know what you would like to hear on the show and I will work on it to make sure that your voices are heard in our community, especially here in the city of Arcadia. I want to thank again our sponsors, longo Toyota. They are a great dealership and if you’ve never been to Longo Toyota, I highly recommend that you go, because it’s more than just checking out cars. They have this huge acreage that looks like a mall with all kinds of things inside, so you’ve got to go check that out. And to Star 7 Financial, francine Chu. You’re great people and until next time, be blessed and make it a great day.