In the “Way Back” Machine: A Look at Our First Ever Conference in San Diego

By Hon. Cynthia A. Norton & Hon. Laurel M. Isicoff, Co-Chairs, 100^th Anniversary Committee

In their July 1964 journal, the National Association of Bankruptcy Referees (“NARB”) announced that, “[f]or the first time in a number of years, over 30 referees located in the Western and far Southwestern part of the United States will be able to host and participate in the annual Conference.” In fact, if you peruse the list of past presidents and their annual meeting locations at NCBJ.org, you’ll see that only once before had the NARB ever held a conference on the West Coast (in Seattle, in 1958). The October 1964 annual meeting was to be held at the Kona Kai Club, in San Diego, California, and the NARB urged that “[t]his Conference should be on the calendar of every Referee in Bankruptcy.” Hotel rates at the exotic Kona Kai Club (pictured below), were an astounding $10/night for singles, and $14/night for doubles. Referees also had to account for the cost of the registration: $30 for referees and $10 “for the ladies.” That $10 provided those “ladies,” however, an all-day program with a visit to La Jolla and Sea World and a trip either around either the San Diego or Mission Bay, plus a visit to the “world-famous” Balboa Zoo. The Women’s Auxiliary of the San Diego Bar Association was in charge of hosting the Referees’ “ladies,” and the $10 registration fee included attending horse races with the gentlemen Sunday afternoon, a Monday morning breakfast, and a trip to Disneyland.

The first San Diego meeting in 1964, of many more to come, was reported “one of the most successful meetings yet held under the auspices of the Association.” More than 81 Referees “half of whom were accompanied by their wives or other [family] members” attended, in addition to more the “125 attorneys, trustees, accountants, credit men, auctioneers and other interested in the improvement of Bankruptcy administration.” The education program would not sound unfamiliar to those who have attended NCBJ conferences, since it included topics such as the tax liens, dischargeability, and the intersection of state and federal law. A “high point” of the meeting was said to be the dinner, at which a “program of entertainment was headed by the world famous Jimmy Durante who insisted on making a brief personal appearance notwithstanding conflicting studio engagements.”

But the nugget that caught my eye in reading the NARB journals was this intriguing report:

Registration commenced the morning of October 4. That afternoon many of the registrants were entertained at the horse racing in Caliente in nearby Old Mexico. For some this was the first visit to Mexico, for others the first attendance at horse races, and for some the first time for either. It is reliably reported that some referees even skipped the later events on the horse racing program to slip out to a corrida at a neighboring bull ring.

Interestingly, one of the two co-host referees was the Hon. Arline Rossi, described in the NARB journals as “the only woman referee” at the time. Judge Rossi (titled “Mrs. Arline Martin Rossi” in the journals) was appointed as a referee in November 1959. Less than five years later, and by the time of the San Diego annual meeting, she was listed as the “Director” for the Ninth Circuit (the NARB’s version of our Board of Governors’ structure today). She had quite a distinguished career (and I’ll write another article solely about her in the future).

A final note about the first ever San Diego meeting: Referee Royal Jackson reported after the meeting that the “selection of the Southern District of California for the meeting of the Association this year was particularly appropriate.” He noted that “[t]his district leads all other districts of the country in the number of bankruptcy cases filed each year” – that number exceeding 20,000 in the fiscal year ending June 30, 1964. Judge Jackson reported:

This district has 15 authorized full-time referee positions, more than any other district. The importance of bankruptcy administration is recognized here and the excellent professional program presented the past two days has, as you have seen, attracted a record attendance of referees and members of the Bar.

Much has changed since our annual meeting in San Diego in 1964; much has not. But what has not changed in the exhortation then NARB President Stephen Chummers gave to the Referees in 1964: “[t]his Conference should be on the calendar of every [Bankruptcy Judge].”

See you in San Diego!