Carpenters fans touring Downey next week

Kathy Perez, center, accepts a City Council proclamation in honor of the Carpenters. Photo by Claudia Gomez

DOWNEY – Carpenter fans will get the chance to experience Downey through the eyes of Karen and Richard next week.

A special tour has been produced as part of an already existing 50th Anniversary Carpenter’s celebration in Thousand Oaks. While the convention runs from April 24 through 27, a group of attendees will make the trip to the city where the iconic singing duo had their roots on April 25.

Resident Kathy Perez, who has been working as a sort of liaison between event organizers and the community, says that the visitors will be welcomed into Downey with specialty made signs before moving onward to other historical locations.

“Their first stop is going to be McDonald’s on Florence and Lakewood,” said Perez. “From there they will be going by the family home that was on Newville, which is a big deal to Carpenters fans…For Carpenters fans they say it’s like their Graceland, it’s like going to the mecca.”

Perez says that while residents may take some of the locations the tour will see for granted, for Carpenters fans “it’s huge.”

“They just get so excited when they see these places,” said Perez. “For them it’s huge, for them to say ‘Wow, this is where Karen did this, this where Richard did that.’ They are famous places to other people.”

The City has also gotten involved as well.

“Mayor Rodriguez presented me with a proclamation declaring that April 22 was…as Carpenter’s Day,” said Perez.

The day will culminate in a performance by Michelle Berting Brett called “We’ve Only Just Begun: Carpenters Remembered” at the Downey Theatre later that evening, to which tickets are still available.