On Saturday, January 14, more than 50 friends, co-workers, and community members braved the pouring rain to gather at the cozy Tom Bergin’s Pub and Restaurant to wish Larchmont Chronicle co-founder and longtime publisher Jane Gilman a happy 90th birthday.
The party was organized by John Lockhart, to benefit the Windsor Square Hancock Park Historical Society (which Gilman also co-founded), along with WSHPHS president Richard Battaglia, and June Bilgore.  During the festivities, which included a buffet lunch and two birthday cakes, attendees shared stories and poems about Gilman and her sixty years of friendship and dedicated service to the neighborhood.
Reminiscences included memories of the iconic Gilman’s more than 40 years at the Chronicle, her involvement with organizations such as the WSHPHS, the Ebell of Los Angeles, the Wilshire Rotary…and many, many more. Buzz co-publisher Patty Lombard also expressed her gratitude to Gilman for her help with photos and research for Lombard’s book Larchmont, which tells the history of Larchmont Blvd. And Gilman’s own local history book, Inside Hancock Park, was also lauded. Here is one of the tribute poems shared by Buzz contributor Laura Foti Cohen:
Tribute to Jane Gilman
Our heroine Jane sprang forth from Rye.
(The village of Larchmont was very nearby.)
Peripatetic, she left it behind
For a career and a life that were both well-designed.
To the City, then Germany young Jane did stray,
Picking up Irwin along the way.
After a stop in the so-called Great Plains.
All roads led her here, and here she remains.
With her ties to the Larchmonts both east and west
Jane wrote her life story, which here is compressed.
In the ‘60s with Dawne came The Larchmont Chronicle
(All who have read it agree it’s iconical).
Her presence was omni, her coverage the best:
Of all local happenings she kept us abreast.
The beloved Windsor Square and the great Hancock Park
She covered without one iota of snark.
After blocking a freeway, Jane’s influence grew.
She birthed LBA, and we all say thank you.
This Society, Hope-Net, GWNC:
Much is the progress Jane helped guarantee.
And now Jane is ninety. Her writing goes on.
We’ll buy her books at Chevaliers and not Amazon.
Written with love by Laura Foti Cohen, January 13, 2023
You look amazing Jane! Happy Birthday and to many more!!