….WAS THE FOUNDER OF TACO BELL, GLEN BELL.
Wildomar Magazine’s editor-in-chief Zak Turango’s life has been filled with odd “run-ins” with some famous people. Sadly, none of the brushes have helped Zak in the least.
For example, going through the U. S. Navy’s Survival School (“SERE”) in 1968, prepping for Vietnam duty at the same time as former presidential candidate and current Senator John Kerry helped “not a bit.”
In fact, my political disapproval of then-Candidate Kerry is likely and greatly a result of Zak (pictured below, circa 1969) having almost nearly spent more time in a U. S. Navy hospital (Marble Mountain Navy Hospital, Danang) in Vietnam than U. S. Navy Swift Boat Captain Kerry spent in Vietnam.
Jeez but Zak digresses. Get over it, Zak.
Back to the taco meister. Bell had built his first Taco Bell in Downey, followed by several more in Long Beach. See www.tacobell.com and click on “Our Company” and then “History” for the entire story.
Zak worked stealthily by cleaning up the fast food restaurant ( working “under the table,” due to being poor, under-aged and desperate for cash) and met Glen Bell when he came into the store on 10th and Alamitos in Long Beach early one morning.
He eventually offered a permanent position at his headquarters to one of my older cousins, David, who turned him down, commenting later to Zak that he didn’t think “this guy would go far.”
Sadly, David’s bad judgment took him to his next job packing valves in boxes of dusty, asbestos-laden filler material in a shipping department with another Long Beach company. His death at 42 from mesothelioma (cancer from asbestos) put a sad exclamation point to his career choice.
Thus, in honor of Glen Bell, Taco Bell and cousin David, Zak is going to cook his own version of homemade tacos for this evening’s fare. Zak’s recipe for tacos is classified but never doubt that corn tortillas, Stater Bros. hamburger (22% fat but Zak drains) and, ironically, Heinz Ketchup, also known as Norwegian Hot Sauce, will be involved.
The irony, for the uninformed, is that Senator John Kerry is married to the Heinz fortune.
Go figure.
Comments can be made to Zak at zakturango@excite.com. Please, no recipes as my taco recipe is a family treasure and, therefore, afforded reverential status and no changes can be made.
