ROMEO BLOG

ROMEO CLUB .org

This club was initially started back in the spring of 2002 shortly after I (Connie Rapp, founder) retired after 33 years at Emery World Wide (now a part of United Parcel Service).  Several of my co office workers retired a couple of months after me and three of us started to meet for breakfast or lunch every few weeks, just to stay in touch.  When a few more of our co-workers retired and we contacted them to join us we decided about 3 years ago to form our little club and one of the guy’s wife came up with the ROMEO acronym, she claims that she had never heard of the “national organization” prior to coming up with that name. 

Anyway, we are now a group of 8 members which meet on the third Tuesday of each month for lunch.  Usually we all gather at my home in Irvine,CA and then go to some of our favorite haunts both here in Irvine and down in the beach area of Newport and Huntington.  There are times when we will not only meet for lunch, but make a day trip out of it and go to San Diego, or Long Beach or downtown Los Angeles and visit different attractions in those areas.

Several times a year we meet at a members home, usually Tim Hille’s place for a barbeque.  It’s at these types of gatherings that we bring along our ladies to join in the fun.  We do pay dues of $10.00 per month that goes into a kitty to fund our annual Christmas dinner and dance, which we usually hold at the American Legion Newport Harbor Post 291, of which several of us are members.  During this time of year we also take up a collection of clothing and toilet articles to be sent up to the Veterans Hospital in Long Beach.

Some of our favorite restaurants that we enjoy going too are:  El Cholos in Irvine, Tustin Brewery, Tustin, American Legion (Cigi’s Restaurant), Newport Beach, Fred’s Mexican Restaurant in Huntington Beach, B J’s Restaurant in Irvine and Rudy’s in Newport Beach.

Seeing as I was the initial ROMEO of OC I’m sort of the leader of the pack, I’m referred to by the guys on many occasions as “The Commander” due to my interest in the military and having served in the US Army in Vietnam.  Our main meeting place is at the Newport Harbor Post 291 American Legion (www.al291.com).  It is located on the Balboa Peninsula right on the waters edge.  We are very lucky to have this facility and along with the Legion we also have the only American Legion Yacht Club in the world (ALYC).  I also command a Rifle Squad Unit and Color Guard at Post 291, which we assist in the burial of our fallen Veterans and take part in community events.

I believe the oldest member of our group is 70 years old (Bob Colley) and our youngest member is Terry Mankin at a spry 58.  I designed and had polo shirts made up with our ROMEO logo on them; which we all wear to our little get together.  It always seems to draw some attention when we all walk into a restaurant wearing these maroon shirts with the ROMEO Club embroidered on them, the waitresses seem to get a big kick out of it.

If there are any of our fellow ROMEO’s visiting the Orange County area, I invite you to contact me (see info below) and we probably could advise you on some of the venues in the area such as Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm, Angel baseball, Ducks hockey, hotels, motels, etc.

If there is anyone who would like more information about our group please contact me at rappzod@sbcglobal.net  .

(see business card below)

Below we are gathered at some of our favorite restaurant tables for lunch. (click on a picture to expand it and your browsers BACK button to return to this page)