Two Cardiffs Share More Than a Name

This is a tale of two cities named Cardiff--and of some of the citizens of each who are forging small links between their communities.

Take the case of Irene Kratzer of Cardiff-by-the-Sea and Eileen Younghusband of Cardiff, Wales. The two have developed a cordial transatlantic friendship, based solely on the fact that they live in different places with the same name.

They are also cultivating an informal “twin town” relationship between the two Cardiffs, which are 5,400 miles apart.

Other than the fact that both Cardiffs are on the waterfront, these two communities could hardly be less alike.

“It’s really just the name that connects us,” said Younghusband, of Cardiff, Wales, situated 130 miles west of London.

Kratzer agrees. “We don’t really have that much in common,” she said. “But it’s a fun thing.”

The two women met in June, 1989, when Younghusband was visiting her brother, Dennis C. Roissette, who lives in Carlsbad.

She brought with her a proclamation, addressed to “the mayor or sheriff” of Cardiff-by-the-Sea, from her friend, Christopher Pollard, the high sheriff of South Glamorgan County--in which Cardiff, Wales is situated.

Pollard had heard of Cardiff-by-the-Sea through a tourist organization that was planning trips from Wales to Southern California.

He wrote: “The Lord Mayor of the City, the Councillors and myself, bring you greetings and are proud that a town on the West Coast of California bears the same name as the capital city of Wales. If I can personally, in any way, assist in the forging of closer links between Cardiff-on-Sea, (sic) California, and Cardiff, Wales, I would be delighted to do so.”

Acting as an informal emissary, Younghusband presented the proclamation to the Encinitas City Council--in lieu of an official Cardiff-by-the-Sea governing body.

Then she attended one of the monthly sundowners put on by the Cardiff-by-the-Sea Chamber of Commerce, where she met Kratzer. Kratzer, active in the Friends of the Cardiff Library, then organized a reception by that group for the visitor from Wales.

Their friendship has blossomed since. Last summer, Kratzer and her husband, Dick, visited Younghusband in Wales for three days. They toured their hometown’s namesake, met the lord mayor and cemented the long-distance friendship with Younghusband.

Now, when Younghusband comes to the United States every year or so--to see her son in Texas and her brother in Carlsbad--she also visits with Kratzer and her other friends in Cardiff-by-the-Sea.

In addition to their own friendship, Younghusband and Kratzer have helped establish a partnership between the respective Cardiff libraries.

It helped that Christopher Edwards, development officer for the Cardiff, Wales, library, used to live in North County.

Edwards worked at the Palomar College library in 1986-87 through an international exchange program. He lived in Oceanside, but he made it a point to investigate Cardiff-by-the-Sea.

He now keeps in contact with Kratzer and other Friends of the Cardiff-by-the-Sea Library, and they exchange items through the mail.

In Cardiff-by-the-Sea, the library has a display set up in its community room of items from Cardiff, Wales, including books, brochures, postcards and other artifacts. The Friends of the Library group has also offered to provide addresses to people who want to correspond with people in Cardiff, Wales, said Kratzer.

“Little by little, we’ve pulled this thing together,” she said.

Another piece in the Cardiff connection is Good Morning, a small shop at 126 Aberdeen in Cardiff-by-the-Sea. Run by Darreld Kitaen, the shop is well-stocked with Cardiff-by-the-Sea souvenirs, including T-shirts, jewelry, cards, books and other collectors’ items, many made by local artists.

Since August, 1986, Kitaen has invited visitors from Cardiff, Wales, to sign their names to a yellow legal pad in his shop. So far he has filled three pages with about 100 names and addresses of Cardiff residents. Some of the signatories recognize other names on the list or see a familiar street address, said Kitaen. What brings all these visitors from across the ocean into the same tiny shop just off Highway 101?

“People see the sign out on the freeway, or they see it on the map, and they stop in town and ask around about where they can get something that says Cardiff-by-the-Sea,” said Kitaen. Because it specializes in those items, the visitors tend to get directed to his shop.

The connection between these two distant places started in 1910, when Boston native Frank Cullen bought a large tract near San Elijo lagoon. He had the land surveyed, drew up streets and began selling lots.

Cullen’s wife was of Welsh ancestry, and she persuaded him to name the new town Cardiff, and give the streets their British names--Birmingham, Oxford, Manchester.

In contrast with Cardiff-by-the-Sea’s small beach-town ambience, Cardiff is the bustling capital of Wales. Its vibrant center-city area includes an an old castle, the campus of the University of Cardiff, a large modern soccer stadium and many civic buildings from the Victorian age, as well as more than a dozen shopping arcades and the Brains brewery, which supplies dozens of local pubs. A port since Roman times, the city of 280,000 is a former steel town and shipping center, now retooling for the 21st Century.

When the steel works closed in 1979, 6,000 people lost their jobs. But now Cardiff is attracting foreign investment in light industries, and tourism is becoming an important part of the economy. From the historic center city, it’s a short cab ride into the surrounding countryside, where sheep graze in peaceful meadows.

There’s nothing in Wales like Interstate 5--the roads are narrow and winding, and often bordered by ivy-covered stone walls. But, from Younghusband’s house, a few minutes from downtown Cardiff, the view is of rolling hills and valleys, similar to an inland vista from Cardiff-by-the-Sea. Instead of tract homes, however, the valley is dotted with villages and farmhouses that have been there for hundreds of years. Throughout the region, signs are printed in both English and the ancient Celtic language of the Welsh.

Despite--or perhaps because of--these dramatic differences, people such as Younghusband and Kratzer have seized upon the common Cardiff name as a good reason to correspond. Over the years there have been many school-age pen-pals, and at one point a transatlantic phone call hooked up elementary schools in the two far-flung towns.

Several years ago a street fair in Cardiff, Wales, was staged around the theme of “Americana.” Organizers contacted the Cardiff-by-the-Sea Chamber of Commerce and the Friends of the Cardiff-by-the-Sea Library, who put together a video and historical scrapbook for the event.

And last year--strengthening just a bit more the homespun twin-town bond--a choir from Cardiff, Wales, on tour in the United States, performed in Cardiff-by-the-Sea.