OUR FAMOUS INTERSECTION
From the Re-Echo, December 2007

The SLP street intersection of Princeton and Vallacher will never gain the infamy of Hollywood and Vine or even Hennepin and Lake. Yet, few people realize the fame we could attach to it.

Within 100 feet south on Princeton, and about the same distance east on Vallacher lived two Park folks in the 1950s and ‘60s, both eventually achieving national interest.

In a well-preserved farm house on Princeton Avenue lived the Brown family. Son Charlie Brown attended an art school in Minneapolis. One of his fellow students was Charles Schulz, later to gain fame as the creator of the venerable comic strip Peanuts. As the story goes, one look at his school mate, Charlie, and Schulz knew that he had found the ideal model for the character in his mind. Charlie lived for many years with the identity of Schulz’s Peanuts character. And those who knew him right up to the end of his life recognized the unmistakable likeness - round face and curlique top hair. While both Schulz and Charlie Brown are now deceased, Schulz saw to it that the likeness of “our” Charlie Brown lives on - a reminder to Park folks that it all started here.

On Vallacher, the Riklis family had a neat little rambler. Meshulan Riklis taught Hebrew at Talmad Torah Academy here in SLP. Riklis eventually left SLP and in time, became prominent in the management of numerous large publicly-held corporations. Particularly noteworthy was his rise to CEO of the Rapid-American Corporation, a holding company comprising many firms with household names. In the mid-1980s, Riklis was recognized as the highest paid executive in the US at about $970,000. Ultimately Riklis and his wife, actress Pia Zadora moved to Beverly Hills and bought the mansion formerly owned by Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford - the home known by all the tour guides as Pickfair. Pickfair is, without a doubt, one of the most well known homes in the US. We wonder if Riklis, while living in Pickfair, recalled his earlier days in the modest little rambler on Vallacher Avenue, just off Excelsior Boulevard.

So, folks, there is the tale of a quiet little intersection and its two famous Park residents, Charlie Brown and Meshulan Riklis.

Al Olson
7806 Victoria Circle
St Louis Park, MN 55426
anmolson@wildflower.net

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This information comes from a variety of sources: newspapers, books, yearbooks, phone directories, interviews, etc. Given the varied sources, we cannot guarantee that all of this information is correct, and welcome any additions and corrections. Please contact us with your contributions and comments.