Police Department

Carlsbad’s Police Department began in October 1952, when Max Palkowski was hired as the city’s first Police Chief. Only 32 years old when he assumed the responsibility of being Carlsbad’s one-man police force, he was credited with handling people well and with a sense of humor. He worked many hours of overtime, even placing a siren on top of his own car to convert it into the city police car. When asked why he wanted to work as a police officer, he replied, “ There is no heavy lifting.”

Chief Palkowski put together the nucleus of the police force picking his staff from the police reserves on the recommendations of his regular police officers. In his opinion, exams were the worst way to choose police officers since they didn’t tell you how well they worked with others. The reserve police officers made it possible for Carlsbad’s Police Department to function at a basic level until the city could afford to hire full time officers. Palkowski’s work ethic and personality were so greatly appreciated by the city that he was appointed City Manager from November 1958 through 1959, to combat the low morale of city employees during this time. He resigned the post at the end of 1959 and resumed his job as police chief saying that his time as City Manager was a miserable time for him personally. Palkowski felt that he was not professionally equipped to do the job and that in his heart he always wanted to be a police officer. It was Chief Palkowski who permitted the construction of the Carlsbad Raceway. He was the only police chief in San Diego County who would approve locating the raceway in their town. Palkowski said, “ I don’t think many people realize that the people of professional quality are the heart of the sport.” Chief Palkowski remained in his position until retirement in 1970.

Once Carlsbad started a series of land annexations that increased the city’s borders, it also meant a change in Carlsbad’s police force. An expanded beat patrol meant more officers on the force. Adding La Costa with its specialized golf and tennis championships meant an increase in police protection. In 1952 Carlsbad had one sworn officer, by 1971 it had increased to ten sworn officers, and by 1981there were fifty-four officers.

Every increase in the police force added to overcrowding the office space. The first police department, located in the old Saint Patrick’s Church moved in 1954 to a new building on Pio Pico and Elm, which it shared with the Fire Department and city hall. In 1968, when Interstate 5 was widened, the City Hall was rebuilt facing a realigned Pio Pico and the Police Department continued to share a building with other city offices. As city government continued to grow, office space at this site shrunk. The Police Department was moved into a variety of portable buildings on the grounds of City Hall, while waiting for a new structure to be built in the geographic center of the city. This new facility, known as the Safety Center, opened in 1986 and housed both the Police Department and Fire Departments administrative offices.

The Current Carlsbad Police Department has 100 sworn officers, 38 non-sworn, and 120 volunteers. The variety of volunteer programs that continue to supplement the Police Department, including reserve officers, in- house personal, juvenile justice panel, and the senior patrol all demonstrate citizens involvement in the community.

Fire Department

Carlsbad’s fire service began as a volunteer fire department in 1952. According to one of the volunteers, about half a dozen men met at the old State Forestry Fire Station on the corner of Beech and Carlsbad Boulevard. The volunteers studied fire fighting on the job and attended classroom training in El Cajon. These classes were sponsored by the California State Fire Marshall, and were taught by “ experts.”

The Carlsbad Volunteer Fire Department, or CVFD, sponsored barbecues, dances and other fundraisers in order to raise money to equip the fire department. Volunteers assembled the first fire truck, combining a purchased Ford truck chassis with a tank purchased from the Marine Corps at Camp Pendleton. They also used a pump and hard line with reel from the State Forestry Department, and the plumbing from local stores. One of the volunteers explained how they obtained the peripheral equipment, such as hoses, pry bars and nozzles. One of the early volunteers, Warren Clark stated,“ These costly items proved to be almost impossible to obtain until we came upon the idea that we make ourselves available to roll for assistance to other departments. This was like ordering the fox into the hen house. By hook, crook or con job we usually came home to our station with some new piece of something that we needed.”

Bob Hardin, who worked for the Municipal Water Company, also volunteered for the CVFD. He knew the site of all the fireplugs in town and how much pressure each could give. Mrs. Hardin took the calls for CVFD, sounded the siren that called the volunteers to duty, and logged the information on a blackboard. The system worked so well that insurance rates for Carlsbad homeowners dropped to the same level as those cities with full time fire departments. The CVFD, which was created out of necessity, worked because of the volunteer spirit of the community.

1954 was the year that City of Carlsbad began the city funded fire department. The first fire truck was purchased in March, the first full time fireman, Floyd Hollowell, was hired in October, and in November dedication occurred for the new $19,000 fire department and police station built at Pio Pico and Elm. Many of the firemen for the early fire department were still volunteers. In order to save money for the city, volunteer firemen, police reserves, and fulltime employees did some of the construction and painting for the new building.

Early the next year in 1955, volunteer fireman Bob Hardin was hired as Carlsbad’s first Fire Chief. With an operating budget of $27,000 for the 1955–56 fiscal year efforts of the 21 volunteer firemen were greatly needed and appreciated. Volunteers sponsored and ran the yearly Fireman’s Ball that was held at the Carlsbad Hotel to raise money for uniforms, firehouse furniture, and related equipment. Chief Hardin continually asked the City Council to increase funding for more paid positions.

As the city grew so did the fire department. And one of the earliest causalities of the fire department’s growth was the abolition of the Christmas Scene in 1969. Begun in 1954, the firemen constructed a winter wonderland Christmas Scene in front of their station on Pio Pico Drive. Chief Alex Wolenchuck and Eddie Garcia worked year after year creating the miniature homes and churches used each year for the Christmas Scene.

Seen by travelers from the freeway, as many as 30,000 visitors would stop in Carlsbad to view the display. In 1969, Battalion Chief Alex Wolenchuck announced that due to a combination of circumstances, the Christmas Scene would not be displayed. The Interstate 5 freeway expansion the year before forced the fire department to move from the Pio Pico location thus reducing the number of visitors to 2,000. Additionally, growth of the fire department along with the expansion of the city meant that crews were too busy with their paid jobs as fire fighters to take time each year building and maintaining the Christmas Scene.

In 1972 La Costa was annexed to the City of Carlsbad, thus increasing the responsibilities for the Carlsbad Fire Department. In 1973, the city had two fire stations, one on La Costa Boulevard and Arenal and the other on Elm. The fire department also responded to calls on unincorporated land called “ donut holes”, areas surrounded by the city. Many of the firemen at this time had originally worked as volunteer firemen under Bob Hardin, before being hired on as full time employees. As firemen were hired into the department, a rule was implemented that they had to live within twelve miles of the city center, which was considered the corner of El Camino Real and Palomar Airport Road. As the fire department grew so did its professionalism. Under direction of Fire Chief Jim Thompson, Carlsbad developed a fire sprinkler ordinance for commercial buildings. A noncombustible roof ordinance was also sponsored by Chief Thompson, the first of its kind in San Diego County. Also during this period, an emergency operations center was set up and the emergency preparedness plan was rewritten. Chief Thompson, who served from 1976 to 1992, improved Carlsbad Fire Department services so much that Carlsbad’s fire defenses classification dropped from class 6 to class 4. This reduction in classification meant that Carlsbad residents actually paid less in fire protection insurance premiums. Carlsbad Fire Department crews faced the biggest fire in Carlsbad’s history in October 1996.

This fast moving fire was named the “Harmony Grove Fire,” since it is believed the fire originated in the Harmony Grove area. It destroyed 54 homes. Forty-eight of the homes destroyed had wood shake roofs. After the fire, the City Council adopted an ordinance that prohibited all but class A noncombustible roofs.

Today the Carlsbad Fire Department is an entirely different entity from the one begun in 1952 as a volunteer organization. While this Fire Department does coordinate with other cities in case of fire, it also provides paramedic services, holds fire prevention demonstrations, inspects for fire code compliance, and presents fire safety classes for children. 73 fire fighters and officers are now located throughout the city and staff six fire stations.

Library

Carlsbad has had some form of library service since 1916, when San Diego County established a small county library on one shelf of Simpson's Dry Goods store. In 1926, the county "library shelf " moved to Chase’s Store. By 1931, the Carlsbad Journal offices donated three shelves for county library services. A list of recently received books would appear each week in the newspaper. The library remained in the newspaper offices until 1953, when it was moved to a corner of old Saint Patrick's Church on Harding Street. At the same time, the county sent a librarian to work part time in the Carlsbad branch library. Georgina Cole, the county branch librarian, shared the Harding Street address with the newly formed Carlsbad police department. In 1956, the city established its own library system, appointing Georgina Cole as Carlsbad's first Library Director.

Formation of the library was a community effort. Local clubs and residents donated shelves, furniture, telephones, books and cash towards the new library. Georgina Cole donated a large number of books from her personal library to supplement Carlsbad's collection.

In 1958, the adult collection needed more space and was moved to a section of the Carlsbad Mutual Water Company office building at the corner of Elm and Roosevelt. The children's library was located in a separate building, strapping staff resources as they moved back and forth between the two buildings during the day. Georgina Cole organized a group of library supporters in 1963. Calling themselves, The Friends of the Library, they promoted a successful bond campaign that financed construction of a new library building on Elm Street. In 1967, the spacious library opened, housing a book collection of 47,699 volumes.

Since then the services and resources of Carlsbad's library system have continued to grow. In 1976, the Rambling Reader Book mobile was started. It was used as an outreach tool to provide library services to the newly annexed La Costa area in South Carlsbad. In 1984, a library branch was opened for the first time in La Costa and the Rambling Reader ceased to function.

In 1990, the library received a five-year $40,000 "Federal Partnership for Change" grant. This grant enabled the library to create a program specifically designed to integrate Spanish-speaking residents into the larger community. In 1991, the Centro de Information opened in a Pine school classroom. The program was so successful that it received the Helen Putnam award for outstanding achievement in 1994.

Throughout the 1990s, the library infrastructure was updated and computerized the card catalogue was computerized to provide online research capabilities. In 1999, a new 64,000 square foot library was opened in South Carlsbad. The $22 million facility included an art gallery, children's library, auditorium, and career center. In April 2000, Robert Gartner, donated $100,000 for the purchase of a limited edition Steinway Art Case grand piano for the Ruby G. Schulman auditorium. The same month, April 2000, after the original Elm Street library was remodeled, it reopened as the Georgina Cole library. In addition, to offering the usual library services, the Cole library specializes in genealogical and local history resources. Forty-four years after the Carlsbad library system was established, it was recently ranked 10th best in the nation in the 50,000 - 100,000 population category.

Arts Office

One of Carlsbad's most noticeable community oriented programs is the Arts Office. Established in 1986 by a city ordinance, it was formed to promote and develop public awareness of the arts in Carlsbad. One of the most frequented and well loved of all programs sponsored by the Arts Office is the TGIF jazz in the Parks summer concert series. Every Friday evening from mid- June to mid- August, a jazz concert is held in one of the Carlsbad parks. The program that began in the late 1980s with one park and about 300 attendees now has four venues with an average of 3000 attending. Besides jazz concerts, the arts Office sponsors cultural events as well as public art displays located throughout the city.

Hummel’s Exotic Gardens

When E.C. Hummel, a leading bromeliad grower, moved his nursery to Carlsbad from Los Angeles in 1952, he was quoted as saying” Carlsbad is a place where a nursery might have a few years of life before being crowded out by real estate subdivisions.” Carlsbad’s climate, soil and open space drew the Hummel’s to town in the early 50s, just as it had drawn growers since 1916.

E.C. Hummel was not well known in Carlsbad even though he was one of the leading bromeliad growers in the United States. He concentrated more on his work than on local affairs and became very well known nationally and internationally. His nursery, with hybridization of new euphorbia variations, bromeliads and succulents, became a mecca for the unusual and distinctive. Hummel worked with his wife to develop new hybrids and was a contributing author to university textbooks on the care and growing of exotic plants. Upon his retirement in the early 70s, most of the plants in Hummel’s Exotic Gardens were sold off. The Missouri Botanical Gardens established a permanent display of Hummel’s hybrids and they were viewed as the finest produced in America at that time. Hummel shipped plants to the San Diego Wild Animal Park, Missouri Botanical Gardens, the Milwaukee County Park Horticultural Conservatory , the Sydney Opera House Gardens in Australia and Huntington Gardens in San Marino. Today, the location of Hummel’s Exotic Gardens on Park Drive is now a housing subdivision.