Alameda Photographer’s New E-book Hails Distinctive Backstories of Mayors Across America

Alameda portrait and business photographer Steve Hathaway, who has shot the likes of Willie Mays and Willie Brown, amongst many different Bay Area celebs, simply unveiled his newest photograph feat—a shiny 183-page, yearbook-style work entitled Mayors Across America: Portraits Outside the Office.

The ebook chronicles the unconventional heaps in life and uniquely human sides of mayors throughout all 50 states, whose backstories got here to life over a interval of seven years as Hathaway tracked down these whom he discovered fascinating, if not eclectic.

A particular signing occasion, that includes Hathaway and 6 mayors or former mayors among the many 90 who made it into the ebook, occurred on March 26 within the ornate Alameda Theatre foyer, hosted by group supporter Kyle Conner, who operates the historic theater.

Included within the compendium of these with singular life experiences is that of Judy Cochran, previous Mayor of Livingston, Texas and proprietor of a ranch on the Trinity River, who set out on a three-year grudge match to seek out the perpetrator that ate her miniature horse. She decided who would pay in September 2018 when, at age 73, she spied a 580-pound, 28-foot-long alligator she believed to be the possible perpetrator. She promptly shot and later stuffed the gator as a testomony to her sense of frontier justice.

Others within the ebook have notable private backstories as properly, together with Karyl Matsumoto, former Mayor of South San Francisco, who was born throughout World War II in Manzanar, the notorious Japanese internment camp; Kent Mitchell of Portola Valley, California, who was an Olympic medalist in rowing in 1960 (bronze) and 1964 (gold); and “Farmer” John Muller, previous Mayor of Half Moon Bay, a U.S. Navy Vietnam veteran who engaged in labeled recon operations off the coast of Russia and is the lately retired proprietor of Farmer John’s Pumpkin Farm, simply off of Highway 1.

The ebook’s genesis, one thing of a narrative unto itself, started again in 1975 when Hathaway, an Alameda native, heard about Alameda’s first elected Mayor, Chuck Corica, now memorialized by Alameda’s Corica Park Golf Course. Hathaway’s brother talked about that Corica was a barber, which he discovered to be of be aware, and the longer term ebook creator thought, “I wonder what other mayors do?”

That informal, fleeting seed of curiosity lay fallow in his thoughts for nearly 4 a long time till an opportunity encounter together with his good friend, Tom Weir, former sports activities columnist for USA Today and one of many ebook’s two co-authors, remarked, “I like your idea.”

Hathaway replied, “What idea?”

The seedleaf in his mind then hit first gentle as Weir advised, “You take the photos, and I’ll write the stories.” And Hathaway’s marathon cross-country quest started.

After touchdown a handful of native mayors, beginning with Farmer John, Hathaway’s first out-of-state gamble was to discover a mayor who ran a on line casino. He drew a number of useless arms at first, then hit the jackpot in Yerington, Nevada, the place he met with Lucky Club Casino proprietor, George Dini, whose grandfather opened the place in 1933. Dini bought it from his father in 2007.

In a tragic flip of destiny, Weir succumbed to ALS in 2023, leaving a batch of partly completed write-ups, and it seemed as if the challenge would by no means see the sunshine of day.

Fortunately for Hathaway and the studying public, nonetheless, Hathaway had one other buddy within the gristmill world, the South Pasadena Review editor in chief, who agreed to take over the writing chore of melding his wordcraft with that of Weir, and the ebook was on its manner once more.

Looking again on his sojourn and achievement, Hathaway values that he and his cohorts may personalize the mayors, carry them to life, and get to know them as distinctive people, as an alternative of officious coverage wonks and bureaucrats.

Reflecting on the numerous journeys as a lot as the final word vacation spot of getting the pictures shot and the ebook written and revealed, Hathaway marvels on the course of. “Imagine someone traveling to all 50 states in the first place. Have you done that? And then there’s having met so many wonderful people dedicated to their communities.”

A library of Steve Hathaway’s work is obtainable on Instagram. To buy a duplicate of Mayors Across America: Portraits Outside the Office, e-mail Hathaway at [email protected].

Larry Freeman is a contributing author for the Alameda Post. Contact him by way of [email protected].