Lloyd Hitt, resident of Sunland, CA, combat veteran of the Korean War in1953, graduated from U.S.C. with a Pharm.D (Doctor of Pharmacy) in 1959. During that year he served as President of the School of Pharmacy and a member of Skull and Dagger. After Graduation he began to manage Hober’s Pharmacy Inc. as chief pharmacist and store manager and continued in that capacity until late 1995.
After retirement he noticed that the local historical society, Bolton Hall Museum, needed help (with a little encouragement from his wife) so he volunteered there. He was successfully involved in local affairs as well as a poetry and writing group. In addition, Lloyd was an influential charter member of the Land Use Committee of the Sunland-Tujunga Neighborhood Council which originally met at Bolton Hall
Soon he became President of the historical society and served as such for over 10 years. During that time he participated in many of the functions and events of the society which included handyman and preservationist. Several local historical sites were saved as historical L.A.Historic Cultural Monuments such as Weatherwolde Castle, Blarney Castle, and the Stonehurst neighborhood of rock houses in Sun Valley which were saved as a Los Angeles .Historic Preservation Overlay Zone.
Part of Lloyd’s preservation issue was his interest in protecting the Tuna Canyon Detention Station (TCDS) from disappearing into a quiet secret. Starting in 2006 with Paul Tsuneishi and the Japanese community he has spent close to 10 years compiling information and advocating for that site. With a contact between the group and the Merrill Scott family collection of photographs the project accelerated. Two years ago Lloyd and the community supported Councilman Richard Alarcon and the Los Angeles City Council who voted to preserve a one acre oak tree site at the former TCDS as a Historic-Cultural Monument No. 1039. Together with a coalition he is working to erect a monument of importance on the site of the Tuna Camp and the creation of a traveling exhibit featuring the Forgotten WWII I.N.S. Detention Station.
Chairman of Tuna Canyon Detention Station Coalition
Author of Merrill H. Scott and Herbert Nicholson biography
Credit: Samuel Nicholson
The site will remind us that civil rights are only as strong as those who have fought to protect them. The Japanese, German, & Italian immigrants and those hostages from Latin America who passed through the TCDS without legal rights and representation can not be ignored any longer.
According to family stories, Lloyd was an independent man who was told that if he wanted something he had to work for it. So he did.. When he was greatly underage he worked in a hardware store until he was found out. He delivered papers, picked orchard fruit during the summer, swept floors, worked in an adobe brick factory, made post cards, played in the Verdugo Hills High School Band. Later, he sold his sax to buy a used Ford to get to school. For a few years, while attending UCLA and USC, he worked for his father, Bill Hitt part time, who was developing the use of Ultrasonic Non-Destructing Testing for flaws without destroying the airplane part. He worked in testing forgings for flaws and used Ultrasonics for measuring sheet aluminum wing skins for jet fighters when they had been chemically milled. In 1955 he was asked to go to London by his father to present a paper to The Society of Licenced Aircraft Engineers. On the way to London he stopped to visit his great uncle in Ireland for a few weeks. William Lloyd Young was the caretaker of secret family remedies passed down for generations. While there he treated several patients for skin cancer taking only donations. Lloyd was amazed at his results as seen in past patients he talked to and patients undergoing treatment. The treatment consisted of cutting a silk patch to cover the cancer & applying a lard paste of arsenic. On returning home he discovered doctors in Australia were using a similar treatment.
Lloyd Hitt is a family man with a one and only wife, two children (above average in every way) three grandchildren (way above average) and one brand new great grandson.