USS Angeles celebrates 30th anniversary

By Commodore Dave Mason

TORRANCE — The USS Angeles celebrated its 30th anniversary with a fun party at Shakey’s Pizza Parlor, complete with “Star Trek” bingo and the Torrance restaurant’s marquee that said “Welcome Star Truck Club.”

The misspelling at our April 5 event gave us a chuckle. What’s more, we appreciated the kindness behind the restaurant’s welcome as we marked the long history of the club that Janice Willcocks started in 1995.

Janice talked to us about the club and how it started during our gathering of 10 members in a small party room at Shakey’s. And I presented Janice with the Great Bird of the Galaxy award for founding and leading the USS Angeles. In addition to being the founder, Janice served as the club’s first commanding officer and the first newsletter editor. She also came up with the newsletter’s name “Angels Flight,” which is a reference to the funicular track in downtown Los Angeles. (Our away missions over the years have included riding that train up and down its hill.)

Janice started the USS Angeles before the advent of social media. She printed fliers, which she distributed at Creation Entertainment’s Grand Slam convention in Pasadena. I was at that “Star Trek” convention, saw one of Janice’s fliers with her phone number on a table and later gave her a call. 

We met a few weeks later at a “Star Trek” convention in Anaheim, where Michael Dorn (Worf on “Star Trek: The Next Generation”) and Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker from the “Star Wars” movies) were the speakers. Janice and I didn’t know what each other looked like in this age before Facebook and cellphones, so I suggested we each wear two combadges instead of the usual one combadge per person. That allowed us to spot each easily at the entrance to the Anaheim Convention Center in the spring of 1995.

There were just five of us in the USS Angeles initially, but the club quickly grew. Later that year, Janice hosted the first Angeles party at her family’s house in Palos Verdes Estates, which was attended by “Star Trek” fans who came from Los Angeles, Ventura and San Diego counties and as far as France. 

The USS Angeles went on to visit “Star Trek” filming sites, help nonprofit causes such as AIDS Walk Los Angeles and packages for overseas troops, and gather for parties, some with themes related to “Star Trek” episodes.

During the anniversary party at Shakey’s, we reunited with one of our former, longtime members, Lynda Foley. Lynda played a key role in the early decades of our club and hosted parties at her house, including one when we met Robert Herron, who played Kahless in the “Star Trek” original series episode “Savage Curtain.” That was among the gatherings that started our tradition of having actors and others connected with “Star Trek” as speakers at our parties.

For the anniversary party, Lynda and Janice brought a variety of “Star Trek” prizes, ranging from action figures to books and shirts. We won the prizes by playing “Star Trek” bingo on cards created by Janice. Instead of letters, the cards featured spaces for characters such as Kirk or McCoy or other “Star Trek” elements such as phasers or transporters.

In addition, Lisa Sobien picked up a cake that was topped with images of balloons in the traditional colors of “Star Trek” uniforms: gold, blue and red. It read “Happy Anniversary, USS Angeles.”

And Gloria Rodriguez brought life-size cutouts of “Star Trek” actors such as Zachary Quinto and Leonard Nimoy, both dressed as Spock.

Others at our gathering included First Officer Jeremy Kranz, Jackie Freeman, Janice Sobien, Charles Stelzried and Bill Johns.

We had a blast at our 30th anniversary “Star Truck” club party! To misquote Kahless, “Today is a good day to live!”

USS Angeles Founder Janice Willcocks enjoys Shakey’s Pizza Parlor’s official welcome to the club, which celebrated its 30th anniversary April 5 during a party at the Torrance restaurant. (Photo by Lisa Sobien/USS Angeles/Angels Flight)

Dave Mason, commanding officer of the USS Angeles, presents Janice Willcocks with the Great Bird of the Galaxy award for founding and leading the USS Angeles. (Photo by Lisa Sobien/USS Angeles/Angels Flight)

USS Angeles members gather during our 30th anniversary party in a room at Shakey’s Pizza Parlor in Torrance. From left are Janice Sobien, Lynda Foley, Jackie Freeman, Gloria Rodriguez, Jeremy Kranz, Lisa Sobien, Bill Johns and Janice Willcocks. (Photo by Dave Mason/USS Angeles/Angels Flight)

The USS Angeles anniversary cake features balloons in the colors of the “Star Trek” uniforms: gold, red and blue. (Photo by Dave Mason/USS Angeles/Angels Flight)

USS Angeles member Charles Stelzried beams down to the club’s 30th anniversary party. (Photo by Dave Mason/USS Angeles/Angels Flight)