{"id":314400,"date":"2022-08-19T09:58:25","date_gmt":"2022-08-19T16:58:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/?p=314400"},"modified":"2022-08-19T11:29:14","modified_gmt":"2022-08-19T18:29:14","slug":"the-history-of-la-mesas-porter-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/the-history-of-la-mesas-porter-hall\/","title":{"rendered":"The history of La Mesa\u2019s Porter Hall"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dropping in recently to the \u201cAcrylic and Oil Painting Group,\u201d I had the luxury of eavesdropping on two octogenarians \u2013 standing members of Foothills Art Association. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Anticipating the unveiling of this August\u2019s art exhibit dedicated to our senior members, I could not help but romance the idea of taking a historical perspective for generations of La Mesa\u2019s uniquely developed landmark, Porter Hall\u2014named after the former mayor, Edwards W. Porter (1920-24).<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Cohen\u2019s \u201cDance Me to the End of Love\u201d<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Suddenly, I found myself playing a soundbite of Leonard Cohen\u2019s music (Jan. 2009) in the endearing, official video on my Smartphone, \u201cDance Me to the End of Love.\u201d The painters tolerated my reverie, listening to the song, while I viewed the music video with the artfully, crafted montage of couples depicted across decades of their lives; and figuratively speaking, wearing their romantic vows \u201con their sleeves.\u201d One Canadian artist in Thursday\u2019s group, Margaret Priske, happened to impart a piece of trivia, declaring that Leonard Cohen\u2019s life-like image covers a building in Toronto, Canada (As it goes, Canadians obviously romance Leonard Cohen, too.). While Margaret painted a whimsical giraffe, I got to know a little more about her and her style in artistic expression.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Early 20th Century bronze sculpture stole hearts<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

With the mindset of civic leaders rounding out early history in La Mesa at the turn-of-the century, there was no shortage of talent in the arts. For the brother of Mayor Porter, being an understudy to the creator of Mt. Rushmore, the memorial in the Black Hills of South Dakota\u2014he helped forge a foundation for James Tank Porter\u2019s later works of sculptures (one of those works pictured above) in bronze. Working in Stamford, Conn., James Tank had trained in Gutzon Borglum\u2019s studio, as his assistant and he received his education from Pomona College, Claremont, and Beaux Art School at Columbia University.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

One such display of a trained eye in representations in humanism was rendered as a tribute to philanthropist, Ellen Browning Scripps. Dedicated in 1926, James Tank\u2019s sculpture represented a kneeling boy fashioned out of bronze; however, after almost seven decades, it lost its luster in 1995, when\u2014just outside of the current Museum of Contemporary Art in La Jolla\u2014the piece was stolen. Overlooking the pristine coastal route of La Jolla Shores, since then [See artist\u2019s work in photograph from La Jolla Historical Society], sightseers took the hit.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Born in Tianjin, China, to parents engaged in medical missionary work there, it is not hard to imagine the Porter family ensconced during political tensions with The Boxer Rebellion, named for the 1900 union uprising, in northeastern China. In her book review: \u201cA battle that made the world see red,\u201d Kim Rosedorph (July 2000: Christian Science Monitor) recounts a detailed record of the union workers\u2019 beliefs that their supernatural powers could thwart Christian missionaries and repel swords and bullets, according to author of The Boxer Rebellion, Diana Preston. In sum, James Tank spent the last 18 years of his life in La Mesa, passing away on May 11, 1934, at his home on El Cajon Boulevard\u2014just seven months shy of his 80th birthday.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Porter Hall\u2019s artists still \u201cDance Me\u201d<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Reflecting on our landmark\u2019s own history at Porter Hall, those early turn-of-the-century civic leaders in La Mesa, like James Tank and his brother, Edward William Porter, rekindled for me a narrative, which is not unlike waltzing away to \u201cDance Me to the End of Love.\u201d Leonard Cohen\u2019s melodic tribute to life\u2019s enduring aura is only one step removed from reality. Paying close enough attention to hopeless romantics like the ones I have observed in drafting this article, hopefully I have not stepped-on-any-toes. But, instead, my offering of a caress and shouldered touch of rejuvenation comes couched in this richness calling for a glimpse of the locals and bygones past.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s note: Article author <\/span><\/span><\/span>Marva Leigh Smith taught oral communication and wrote a health column for \u201cThe Daily Aztec\u201d at San Diego State University.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of La Mesa History Center.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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Dropping in recently to the \u201cAcrylic and Oil Painting Group,\u201d I had the luxury of eavesdropping on two octogenarians \u2013 standing members of Foothills Art Association. Anticipating the unveiling of this August\u2019s art exhibit dedicated to our senior members, I could not help but romance the idea of taking a historical perspective for generations of […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":938,"featured_media":314402,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11548","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"Dropping in recently to the \u201cAcrylic and Oil Painting Group,\u201d I had the luxury of eavesdropping on two octogenarians \u2013 standing members of Foothills Art Association.","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"3","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"1","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","show_zoom_button":"1","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"1","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":""},"jnews_social_meta":{"fb_title":"","fb_description":"","fb_image":"","twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":""},"jnews_override_counter":{"override_view_counter":"0","view_counter_number":"0","override_share_counter":"0","share_counter_number":"0","override_like_counter":"0","like_counter_number":"0","override_dislike_counter":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11548],"tags":[12583,12421,13933,13934],"class_list":["post-314400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-la-mesa-courier","tag-artwork","tag-la-mesa","tag-porter-hall","tag-sculpture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/938"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314400\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}