Red Diaper Baby Mid-Life Transitions: An Autobiography of J. Marx Ayres, Volume 2: 1946-2011

By J. Marx Ayres

Following up on his experiences in World War II in Red Diaper Baby Volume 1, Marx Ayres has concluded his biography by telling the story of his life post-war, from 1946 through 2011.

See the about page at the end of the book for more information

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Feb 28, 2012
• ISBN: 9781466913615

J. Marx Ayres

This book describes the personal, professional, and political changes in my post-WWII life. After attending Purdue University to obtain a master’s degree in mechanical engineering plus course work on a PhD at the University of California, Berkeley, I gave up an academic career to pursue other interests in singing and Third Party progressive politicians (like Henry Wallace). I took a job with a large consulting engineer in Los Angeles as a heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) design engineer. I did all the things expected of a single man: (1) get married, (2) have three children, (3) buy a house and remodel it to accommodate a growing family, (4) encourage the children with their schoolwork and music lessons, and (5) send the kids off to college. At the same time, I was building my professional reputation in the building construction industry. I was employed by a large architect-engineer firm, became their chief mechanical engineer, and later resigned because they wanted me to work on a new US airbase in Spain. As a result, I started my own consulting mechanical engineering business. It grew rapidly, and I brought in George Hayakawa to form Ayres & Hayakawa. During this period, I vigorously opposed the House of Representatives Un-American Activities Committee, the anticommunist legislators, and Senator Joseph McCarthy. Many of our personal friends lost their jobs during these thought-control smear campaigns. I divorced my wife, Anita, and George Hayakawa about the same time. Spending the rest of my life with Anita was not appealing to me, and I wanted to do more exciting engineering projects in energy conservation, solar design and off-peak cold storage, and computer designed HVAC systems. I moved Ayres Associates to the sixth floor, and Hayakawa Associates remained on the seventh floor of the same building. During this transition time, I regained my health and sexual vigor by taking five classes per week of intense yoga, jogging, taking tennis lessons, and participating in weekly matches. As I entered my new single life, I was surprised to learn that a healthy fifty-year-old man was attractive to forty-year-old women. This attraction led to many interesting and exciting sexual encounters. I bought a unit in the Sea Colony II condominium complex, which was part of the City of Santa Monica urban renewal program at the south border and Venice (Los Angeles County). The unit was my “bachelor’s pad” until I met Fran Rissmiller from my yoga class. She wanted to move in with me, and when I suggested rent, she bought 50 percent of the condo. We never bothered to get married, and after three remodeling projects, we have happily lived together for thirty years. I continued a variety of social activism including continued support of the Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research and the Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth. I end the book with descriptions of memorials for the deaths of my two sons, Ron and Gary. Ayres is a retired consulting mechanical engineer with over fifty years of experience in the design, analysis, and construction of mechanical service systems for all types of buildings and industrial facilities.

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© Copyright 2012 J. Marx Ayres.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

ISBN: 978-1-4669-1360-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4669-1359-2 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4669-1361-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012901907

Trafford rev. 02/25/2012

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Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

CREDITS

INTRODUCTION

1. AYRES STUDIO

2. ADVANCED EDUCATION

3. HVAC ENGINEER

4. SINGING

5. SOCIAL ACTIVISM-1948-1955

6. MARRIAGE

7. PEREIRA & LUCKMAN

8. MARINELAND OF THE PACIFIC

9. START BUSINESS

10. CHILDREN

11. SOCIAL ACTIVISM-1956-1975

12. AYRES & HAYAKAWA

13. DIVORCE

14. SINGLE LIFE

15. SEA COLONY II

16. AYRES ASSOCIATES

17. FRAN

18. SOCIAL ACTIVISM-1976-2011

19. FAMILY

APPENDIX

ABOUT THE BOOK AND AUTHOR

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

- Rachel Cohen who managed to read my handwriting and type the manuscript for this book, and additional thanks to Rachel for indexing and coordinating the cover graphics for this book.

- Fran Ayres for her encouragement, patience and support while writing the manuscript and producing the book.

CREDITS

- Jason Farrell of Use All Five, Inc. Venice, California for the design of the book cover.

- Special Thanks to Jeffrey Stanton, for his photographs of Pacific Ocean Park.

Dedicated to my son,

Garrett P. Ayres

1957-2010

INTRODUCTION

This book is a continuation of my life story, presented in Volume 1 Red Diaper Baby on the USS Bowfin, which covered my family history and my life through World War II when I served as a Naval Officer on the famous submarine. A red diaper baby is a baby named after a Socialist or Communist leader-in my case, it was Karl Marx.

Volume II starts with my decision to continue my engineering education under the GI (Government Issue) Bill. While at sea, I wrote a letter to my former Mechanical Engineering (ME) professor, F.W. Hutchinson, at the University of California Berkeley (UCB). He encouraged me to come to Purdue University where he was starting advanced courses in building sciences (i.e. heat and mass transfer) and offered employment as a Research Assistant at the Purdue Research Foundation.

Hutchinson was conducting research in Panel Heating at UCB, where he was an Associate Professor of ME. Purdue offered him a promotion to a full professorship and the position of Director of Research in Panel and Solar Heating. The Purdue Research Foundation had obtained funding from interested industries, constructed two research houses, and needed a strong new Director. He had a new job and needed graduate students. I accepted his offer and headed home to Los Angeles knowing where I was going for the next few years.

The education at Purdue and later at UCB pointed me toward an Academic career. I found academic life to be too restricting for my other interests in music, theater, singing, social activism, politics and women. So I left UCB and returned to Los Angeles to explore these exciting new areas of a single life. This required earning a living while waiting to become discovered as a singer. It did not take long to see that this was an illusion and I returned to the real world for employment. See the Appendix for (1) Tables 1 and 2 of my former employment, (2) a Curriculum Vitae (CV) when I started my own business as a Consulting Mechanical Engineer, and (3) my 2005 CV & Publications, reproduced from my webpage (which can be found online at www.jmayres.com).

I have organized this book with chapters to generally follow events and projects chronologically.

1. AYRES STUDIO

Background

When I returned to Los Angeles, I moved in with my mother (Martha), my little brother (Dan), and my little sister (Annabel) and her husband (Anker Sims), plus their baby (Eric). I slept with Dan in one bedroom and the other two bedrooms went to Martha and the Sims family. Ank and Annabel were both attending the University of Southern California (USC)-Anker taking courses in chemical engineering and Annabel in education. They somehow arranged their classes so they could take turns babysitting little Eric. Dan went to school and I decided to spend some time upgrading the Berendo Ave. property, before seriously looking for a job. I put in a flagstone front porch and path from the public sidewalk, repaired and rebuilt the front yard fence, planted some fruit trees and upgraded the front and side yard lawns. My mother made an Ayres Studio sign that we hung from the front porch trellis. She also put the Startled Fawn statue on the lawn in front of the large weeping willow tree. That status was on exhibition for years at the Los Angeles County (LACO) Museum and only recently returned to the sculptor. My older brother Orlando (who died in a 1938 oil industry explosion) posed for the statue when he was 13 years old. I always asked why the boy had short horns on his head.

The 60 ft. wide by 145 ft. deep lot was located on the west side of Berendo Ave. and terminated at a public alley on the west. Single story residences bordered the lot on the north and south. The three-bedroom house was set back 45 ft. from the public sidewalk, and 5 ft. from its southern neighbor. The garage was located to the west of the house with access to the alley.

I suggested that we try to market some of my mother’s small statues. I would be the salesman and Carleton would cast the plaster figures in the garage using piece moulds. My mother, of course, would be the finisher. We started with the Toe Dancer (ballet dancer), Peek-a-boo (a diapered two year old child leaning down with its head on the floorlooking between his/her legs), and Madonna (a nude woman sitting on a short column meditating). All of the figures were 12 inches or less in height and priced to sell. We made up some sales background flyers, and I hit the road in a clean suit and tie. I contacted about 20 or more potential customers and soon discovered that my marketing job would take a lot of time and would probably fail. As I recall, we sold 3 pieces to a gift store in the Farmer’s Market at Third St. and Fairfax Ave.

Dream

My mother had visions of creating larger statues and started talking about a new Adobe Brick Studio in the northwest corner of the lot. Carleton liked the idea because in 1939, he built his house in Torrance of adobe bricks. I suggested a concrete floor hot water gradient heating system to satisfy my mother’s preference for walking around barefoot. Her design concept included a 24 ft. x 15 ft. studio with a large north-facing shiplight and an adjacent 15 ft. x 8 ft. wing containing a bedroom and small bath.

Her dream studio was built in 1948 and was best described in the words of its designer in a notice to sell approximately 20 years later:

Unique studio with small bedroom and bath is located on the rear of a large 60’ x 145’ lot. The site has many large shade trees, flowering bushes and fruit trees (apricot, fig, pear and guava). The grass is Kekyu grass from Guatemala, very good looking and the only kind that will grow under a pepper tree. The adobe bricks used to build this studio were all handmade using a formula that contains oil and other ingredients to make them waterproof and fireproof.

I planned the studio myself, and my two sons built it. All of the doorways and windows are backed with half logs and the rustic log door is hung with large homemade hinges. There is a corner window in the little bedroom, overlooking the garden, and one tall, narrow pencil window in the southwest corner of the large studio. The north window is, of course, very large and sloping.

The ceiling is exposed roof joists and sheathing all painted blue. The studio lighting is by suspended 2’ x 4’ fluorescent lights, providing a daylight environment at night. In the east wall to the alley is a large barn door on rollers that opens wide when removing large statues or other objects. There is a sink in one corner of the studio (most necessary to a sculptor), and a good wood-burning fireplace in another corner. Behind the bedroom is a small room with toilet, tub and lavatory which also opens into the studio room (very handy). The floor level is higher at the entry door to the studio which makes a nice little stage for entertaining. Thirty people can be seated very comfortably and the bedroom serves as a dressing room for the performers.

An added touch which makes a building made of mud and logs modern is the radiant heat in the floor. My son, who is an engineer, installed hundreds of feet of copper tubing in all the concrete floors and hot water is circulated through them to keep the floor warm.

The only reason I must sell my studio is because my eyes and heart gave out, leaving me almost blind. I was making a large picture of the weeping willow tree and a life-sized statue of the Pioneer School Teacher; perhaps I will still get that made.

On the front of the lot is an old 6 room house where I lived for 25 years. It could be used for pupils or practicing music or for quiet writing. The flagstone front porch is covered by beautiful wisteria. If you are really interested in buying this place or perhaps leasing it (but not renting it), please phone me at 8354573, where I am staying at a home for retired people.

Martha Oathout Ayresc/o Carson Manor

345 East Carson

Torrance, California

Drawings

Fortunately we have Martha’s V =1’ scale drawings that were stamped approved by the Los Angeles City Building Department so I do not have to depend on my memory as I describe the following construction details. The adobe soil was obtained by Carleton from some hill in the Palos Verde Estates. He mixed the soil with petroleum oil, straw and other ingredients in a hand-cranked cement mixer. The liquid adobe was poured into 4 x 12 x 18 wood forms at the site. When the adobe was partially hardened, the forms were removed and the bricks were put on edge and left to dry. The foundation under the walls was reinforced concrete spread footings, and the floor was a 3 ^-thick concrete slab on gravel fill. The 12 ft. high studio walls were constructed of adobe brick bonded by adobe mortar. The walls were tied to the foundation and roof by embedded 3-inch steel angles. The studio ceiling was 12 ft. high and the bedroom and bath were 8 ft high. The flat roof was constructed of 2 x 6" rafters at 16 inches on center and roof sheathing, plus waterproofing material. The roofs were also tied to the walls with embedded 3-inch steel angles.

The studio’s north wall contained a 9 ft. wide by 5 ft. high sloping window, bench and sink; the west wall had no windows but contained a 8 ft. x 6 ft. double door for access to the alley; the south wall had a 2ft. wide by 8 ft. high window, and a small open fireplace in the southeast corner; and the east wall contained the stepped front entry. The construction drawings included sections and an easy-to-understand perspective of the studio entry, windows to the bedroom and a projecting fireplace adobe brick flue.

Floor Panel Heating

The radiant panel floor heating system consisted of 5/8-inch outside diameter copper tubing at 12 inches on center. The copper tubing was stapled to sheets of ¼" plywood to hold their places during the pour of the 3 ½-inch concrete floor slab.

I designed the hot water heating system using a storage tank domestic water heater and room air thermostat on-off control of the circulating pump. My mother had me stain the concrete floor green to resemble grass and the flat ceiling between the rafters blue to represent the sky. The front door to her studio was crafted from poles, large hinges, and a door latch. Later my mother added a foot-peddle operated pipe organ and rag torn rugs. She used to brag to her guests about her new studio as she walked barefoot on the warm floor.

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Startled Fawn and Catherine’s daughter, Patty on front porch

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Martha on front porch of her house

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Martha at the front door to her new adobe brick studio.

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Marx, teaching the hula to my niece Marty Yourgionas (my sister Catherine’s second child from her first marriage), in front of Ayres Studio

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Helper, Carleton, and Marx’s feet during pour of concrete floor on top of copper hot water heating tubes.

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Marx sitting on studio copper hot water tubes before pour of concrete for concrete floor slab. Note the narrow window in the south wall behind his right shoulder.

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Marx, helper, and Martha spread concrete on floor of studio.

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Alley view of outside of the southwest corner of the studio. Carleton, Marx, and helper at cement mixer during pour of studio floor slab.

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Floor plan

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Entry Perspective

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Plot Plan and Elevations

2. ADVANCED EDUCATION

LOS ANGELES

After the war I returned to my mother’s home at 1180 S. Berendo Ave, in Los Angeles to rest for a few months before traveling to Lafayette, Indiana and Purdue. My parents had separated and my father (James) was living alone at 1676 E. 76th St. in Los Angeles. I enjoyed this high quality time with my mother (Martha) and my little brother, Dan.

In anticipation of having to relearn some old and new sciences and their engineering applications, I decided to read Friedrich Engels’ book, The Dialectics of Nature. Engles was a sponsor and a financial supporter of Karl Marx, who wrote Das Kapital and the Communist Manifesto. After Karl Marx died, Engles finished the last volume of Das Kapital.

In the early to mid-1800s, there were tremendous advances in the sciences and their practical engineering applications. A conflict arose between the Idealists (believers in God) and the Materialists (believers in the material world and the need to make detailed observations and measurements in order to fully understand natural phenomena). This conflict was stimulated and popularized after the publication of Darwin’s The Origin of the Species. It is amazing that this controversy still continues to this day.

The word Dialectics refers to a process of movement and conflict to resolve conflicts and explain changes. When applied to the material world, it becomes Dialectic Materialism. It refers to the incremental addition of heat, chemical reaction or force that results in a rapid change (a leap) into a new and completely different material or state point.

The dialectical process in nature can be illustrated in numerous ways, but my favorite is the boiling of water. If one fills an open glass beaker with water and places it over a natural gas burner, the heat from the flames will be transferred to the 60 to 70 degrees F cold water in increments. As the water increases in temperature, small bubbles of steam are observed to form at the bottom of the beaker. As this process is continued, more bubbles are produced and they begin to rise to the surface. When the water temperature reaches 212 degrees F, the bubbles of steam virtually break through the surface (leap), to form a mixture of steam and water vapor.

During this period, I also spent some quality time with my father (James) for the first time in my life. I really did not like him. He was always gone and when he was at home, he argued with my mother and even got into a fistfight with my older brother (Carleton)-then 16 or 17 years old. I