Don Lorenzen
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Donald D. Lorenzen (January 22, 1920 – May 1980) was a San Fernando Valley funeral director who was a member of the Los Angeles City Council from 1969 to 1977.


Biography

Lorenzen was born on January 22, 1920, in
Elgin, North Dakota Elgin is a city in Grant County, North Dakota, United States. The population was 543 at the 2020 census. History Elgin was platted in 1910 when the railroad was extended to that point. The town was originally known as Shanley, but when the Nort ...
, the son of Dr. and Mrs. Frederick C. Lorenzen. His father was a Danish immigrant and was a medical doctor. The younger Lorenzen attended Elgin High School,
Jamestown College , mottoeng = Light and Truth , established = , type = Private university , religious_affiliation = Christian , endowment = $45 million , staff = , faculty = , president = Polly Peterson , p ...
, Glendale City College and the California College of Mortuary Science. He and Virginia Laux of
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, were married on October 2, 1940. They had two sons, David Carl and Jon Robert.Los Angeles Public Library reference file
/ref> Lorenzen was in the U.S. Air Force during World War II; he and his wife moved to the San Fernando Valley in 1946 and to Reseda in 1952. He operated his own
mortuary A morgue or mortuary (in a hospital or elsewhere) is a place used for the storage of human corpses awaiting identification (ID), removal for autopsy, respectful burial, cremation or other methods of disposal. In modern times, corpses have cu ...
and founded a bank. His hobbies were flying his light airplane and motion-picture photography. He died in May 1980 at the age of sixty.


Public affairs


Volunteer activities

Lorenzen was a president of the Reseda Chamber of Commerce in 1957–58 and of the San Fernando Valley Associated Chambers of Commerce in 1961–62. He was president of the Valley-Wide Better Government Committee and was founder and first chairman of the West Valley Little League. He was president of the San Fernando chapter of
Project Hope Project HOPE (Health Opportunities for People Everywhere) is an international global health and humanitarian aid non-governmental organization founded in the United States in 1958. Project HOPE works in five main areas: disasters and health cri ...
. He won the Valleywide Fernando Award in 1963.


City Council

''See also List of Los Angeles municipal election returns, 1969 and after. Lorenzen came from second place in the 1969 primary municipal election to win the Los Angeles City Council District 3 seat in the final vote over Howard W. Speer by 32,387 to 23,888. He beat
Joy Picus Joy Picus (born 1930) is an American politician who served as a Los Angeles City Council member for 16 years, from 1977 to 1993, and was a ''Ms.'' magazine "Woman of the Year" in 1985. Biography Picus is a native of Chicago, Illinois, where her ...
in 1973 in a tight election that demanded a recount; the vote was 27,575 for Lorenzen and 27,027 for Picus. The latter, however, beat Lorenzen in an extremely light vote in 1977, by a vote of 1,148 to 993. Picus said that voters turned against Lorenzen because of the way that the councilman had forced streetlights—and the resulting taxes—upon certain residential districts that did not want them. In that era (1965) the 3rd District covered the southwest corner of the Valley, including Woodland Hills, Tarzana and parts of Encino, Canoga Park and Reseda.


Positions


''Evergreen Review''

In 1969 Councilman Lorenzen asked the city's Library Commission to take copies of the avant-garde '' Evergreen Review'' magazine off the open shelves of the public library because one of his constituents had read an issue and found "a very dirty story" in it. The commission agreed to ban the magazine from public view for thirty days but make it available to adults on request. Later, it was put back on open shelves for branches that subscribed to it, but public demand had grown so large that there was a waiting list at some libraries. Lorenzen's office, which made another complaint to the commission about photos of nude women in the September 1969 issue had to pay a fine of fifty cents a day for the two overdue copies that it kept out of circulation for two weeks.


Secession

As chairman of the Valleywide Better Government Committee in 1962, Lorenzen spearheaded an unsuccessful drive for the San Fernando Valley to secede from the city and county of Los Angeles and form its own combined city-county government. Fifteen years later, as a city councilman, Lorenzen said he favored a separate Valley government and independent
school district A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public primary and secondary schools in various nations. North America United States In the U.S, most K–12 public schools function as units of local school districts, wh ...
, but described a
secession Secession is the withdrawal of a group from a larger entity, especially a political entity, but also from any organization, union or military alliance. Some of the most famous and significant secessions have been: the former Soviet republics le ...
move as "almost impossible."


Central Library

Lorenzen, a lame-duck member of the City Council in his last month there, helped to push through a plan to upgrade the downtown
Los Angeles Central Library Richard J. Riordan Central Library, also known as the Los Angeles Central Library, is the main branch of the Los Angeles Public Library (LAPL), in Downtown Los Angeles. It is named after Mayor of Los Angeles Richard Riordan. It consists of tw ...
instead of building a combined library- retail complex. The plan was developed by architect
Charles Luckman Charles Luckman (May 16, 1909 – January 26, 1999) was an American businessman, property developer, and architect known for designing landmark buildings in the United States such as the Theme Building, Prudential Tower, Madison Square Garden, ...
, a contributor to Lorenzen's unsuccessful reelection campaign."Lorenzen Helps Push Plan to Renovate Library," ''Los Angeles Times,'' June 8, 1977, page E-1
/ref>


References

---- {{DEFAULTSORT:Lorenzen, Donald D. Los Angeles City Council members 1920 births 1980 deaths People from the San Fernando Valley People from Grant County, North Dakota United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II 20th-century American politicians People from Reseda, Los Angeles