JERRY PERSON -- A Look Back

At one time in Huntington Beach history, the name of Mollica was as

well-known as that of Talbert, Bartlett or Terry. There was Lawrence

Mollica, who had the shoe repair store at 311 Fifth St. There was Anthony

“Tony” Mollica, who worked for the Huntington Tile Co. in Santa Ana. And

there was Ange Mollica, our Look Back subject for the week.

In a hot and dusty island off southern Italy lies the small town of

Malfa, where Angelo Bartolo “Ange” Mollica was born on Oct. 9, 1909, to

Bartolo and Nancy Mollica.

In 1914, Bartolo Mollica came to Huntington Beach, leaving his family

to stay in Italy until he could send for them. He opened a shoe repair

business on Main Street, but because World War I was being fought in

Europe at the time, he was unable to send for his family until after the

war ended.

In 1917, Ange Mollica arrived in America with his mother and two

brothers, Lawrence and Anthony, and two sisters, Mary and Josephine.

Because Ange didn’t speak English well, he was placed in the first

grade in our elementary school. With a tremendous effort in math and

English, he soon managed to be placed with students his own age in the

fourth grade.

Ange attended Huntington Beach High School, where he majored in

sports, earning 13 out of a possible 16 letters during his four years.

In 1928, Ange graduated Huntington Beach High and went to work for our

local newspaper at the time, the Huntington Beach News. After a short

time, he went to work at Sol White’s Laundry, and then at Sam Bowan’s oil

tool company on Lake Street a short while later.

He then went to work at the same elementary school that years before

had placed him in the first grade because he didn’t speak English well

enough.

In 1931, Ange met and married Hazel Rardin, and the two moved into

their home at 409 Alabama St., where Ange would live for the next 50-plus

years.

In that family home, their son Don Wayne was born in 1933.

When World War II came to Huntington Beach, Ange served overseas in

New Guinea and the Philippines. After the war, he went to work as manager

of the old municipal golf course out on 17th Street for the next four

years.

Ange Mollica returned to work for his old employer Sam Bowan, and in

1957 he left Bowan to work as a salesman for D.C. Terry on 5th Street.

He left his Alabama Street home in June 1989 to live in Menifee, now

with a new wife, Mary Ellen. Ange’s health deteriorated after suffering a

stroke, and his eyesight was failing.

Ange Mollica surrendered his driver’s license to the DMV in November

1990. He depended more and more on Mary. He passed away a few years

later.

* JERRY PERSON is a local historian and longtime Huntington Beach

resident. If you have ideas for future columns, write him at P.O. Box

7182, Huntington Beach, CA 92615.