Ernie O’Dell: The Man Behind the Monument

By Katharine Blossom Lowrie

About this sponsorship: In honor of the 60th anniversary of Sir Edmund Hillary’s historic ascent of Mount Everest, Patch and Grape-Nuts are teaming up to highlight those who inspire people around them to climb their own mountains.

Ernie O’Dell got the idea for a new veterans memorial in Redondo Beach back in 1995, about the time he was elected Redondo Beach City Treasurer. What had passed as a memorial up to then was nondescript circle of stones on the far side of Veterans Park, a lush, seaside landscape dotted with Moreton Bay fig trees and cypress pines. The so-called memorial was also completely out of view of a rotunda and grand stairway leading to the park. One problem: The grand stairway—built as part of a city beautification project for the 1984 Olympics—actually led to a retaining wall and iron railing.

Aside from opening up the entryway and extending the staircase, O’Dell decided the next logical step was to build an appropriate monument at the foot of the stairs, an idea he took to Parks and Recreation Director Greg Kind in 2003.

Now retired from the city, O'Dell remembers Kind asking, "Can you just draw up a little concept of what you have in mind?" What happened next surprised Kind.

The city treasurer—the man responsible for generating tax revenues and investing Redondo’s $70 million-$80 million portfolio—had produced a skilled rendering. "He didn’t know I could draw," said O’Dell, who was trained in automotive design at Los Angeles Art Center and once headed the art department at Hughes Aircraft.

In 2003, O’Dell’s design was estimated to cost $200,000. The city council unanimously approved the project, but there were "budget constraints," O'Dell said, and the project became "a fundraising issue more than anything else."

With the help of a wheelchair-bound ex-Marine, the late John Simpson, and a close-knit band of South Bay veterans, the Redondo Beach Veterans Memorial Task Force was formed and a $50,000 allocation by the city was matched with $65,000 over 10 months. Fundraising efforts continued with the sale of memorial bricks and plaques.

On Veterans Day in 2010, ground was broken for the monument, composed of tall stone chairs surrounding five granite pyramids representing the U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard.

The surrounding walkways are paved with bricks supplied by families and organizations who paid $100 per brick to contribute to the $300,000 memorial. The names etched on the bricks and plaques are the most meaningful part of the monument for O’Dell. "It’s not that we did it for us, we did it for them," he said as he placed a brick in the walkway. "People here ... a piece of their heart is here. That’s a wonderful thing."

Here, Ernie shares in his own words how the Veterans Memorial materialized.

Question: What is the biggest challenge you've taken on?
Answer: Veterans Memorial at Veterans Park in Redondo Beach. Veterans Park was founded shortly after WWI. Located adjacent to the Pacific Ocean next to the Redondo Beach Pier, the park consists of approximately 17 acres of pristine oceanfront property. The Catalina and Torrance Boulevards entrance was enhanced for the 1984 Olympics, and improvements included a nice rotunda and grand entry. Although the new rotunda looked like an entryway, it did not provide an entrance to the park. It led instead to a barrier wall that separated the park from the entryway. It dawned on me that by creating a functional entryway at Torrance and Catalina boulevards, it would connect the grand entry and the park below and be a great enhancement to the park. I set about to design a new entryway and a much improved and enhanced Veterans Memorial. After submitting my design to the Parks Director, the rendering and letter requesting approval of a new memorial was sent to the Mayor and City Council. The council approved the concept for the new memorial in 2004. But with the economy in recession, and budgets being tightened, funding was not available. The Redondo Beach Veterans Memorial Task Force was formed to provide support and raise funds for this project. The original budget was approximately $200,000. After approximately eight years (2004-2012) the task force raised over $300,000 for completion of the memorial. The memorial celebrated its grand opening on Memorial Day of 2011 with approximately 500 in attendance.

Q. What inspired you to take on this challenge? Inspired by the Grand entryway not providing access to the park, I decided that a new entryway should be created, and a new enhanced memorial built. Fundraising was the hardest part, but we were successful in raising over a quarter of a million dollars, and finishing the project in record time, while establishing a world class memorial.

Q. Did you succeed? Yes, we did succeed, and now the park has a beautiful grand entryway and a beautiful new memorial consisting of a 50-foot circular plaza containing 24 custom-designed benches that surround a pentagon containing five pyramids representing the five services. The five pyramids form a 20-foot star where a 35-foot flagpole stands proudly. The flagpole, the pyramids, the benches and the stairs are all lit with photo-sensitive timers for night display and safety. The pyramids weigh 5,100 pounds each and are surfaced in polished black granite and proudly display the five services on circular bronze plaques. All lighting is weather-resistant stainless steel with low-wattage LED lighting. It offers the latest in lighting technology while providing tasteful lighting with low electricity consumption. The design is beautiful and well accepted by citizens and veterans of Redondo Beach. The city is very happy to have the new memorial in place.

About this column: We are dedicating the months of April and May to telling the stories of people locally and statewide who have overcome the impossible, affecting positive change in their own lives, or in communities. Sponsored by Grape-Nuts.