Jack Macpherson
Encyclopedia
John Duncan "Jack" Macpherson III (October 20, 1937 - November 16, 2006) was a former mai
lman and bartender in La Jolla, California. According to his Los Angeles Times
obituary, he was a local legend who acquired "a permanent niche in the history of Southern California beach culture".
Macpherson was born in La Jolla, the oldest of two children of an orthopedic surgeon who was also serving in the United States Navy
; the family moved to Hawaii
, where Dr. Macpherson was stationed and where as a four year old, Jack witnessed the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
. The family returned to the States on a Dutch freighter, and Jack and his sister Jill grew up in La Jolla, and later moved to the neighborhood near the local beach "Wind'n Sea", where the best surfing conditions on the California coast still prevail.At that time, however, this was virtually the only place in the mainland United States where surfing was done at all!
One of his sister's boyfriends taught Jack to surf at the age of eleven, and after graduating from La Jolla High (where he also ran track to his parents' dismay), he started hanging out at the beach, with a number of surfers, including Robert Norris Rakestraw (December 8, 1940 - September 21, 1996), commonly known as Bob, and to his friends as "Meda", after a word he used as a swear word. Soon Jack (or "Jack Mac", as his fellow surfers called him) and Bob became fast friends to the extent that they were almost always seen together and would enter the scene to the cries of "Here comes Mac and Meda; they're a walking destruction company."
In the 1960s Macpherson and Rakestraw brought together their friends, acquaintances, and hangers-on into a loose organization they called the Mac Meda Destruction Company, described as "a beer for demolition crew". The group was featured in Tom Wolfe
's 1968 book The Pump House Gang
. Wolfe described them as going "Ooooo-eeee-Mee-dah! They chant this chant, Mee-dah, in a real fakey deep voice, and it really bugs people. They don't know what the hell it is. It is the cry of the Mac Meda Destruction Company. The Mac Meda Destruction Company is ... an underground society that started in La Jolla three years ago. Nobody can remember exactly how; they have arguments about it. Anyhow, it is mainly something to bug people with and organize huge beer orgies with." The group also managed to get Wolfe to be recognized in London, England in the mid-1960s at the Indica Gallery
by sending them a note which read, 'Put this in your window, and Tom Wolfe will come and see you.' (How they ever heard about the gallery is believed to be a mystery.)
Soon the Mac Meda Destruction Company became known throughout southern California, primarily through the actions of Rakestraw, described as the wilder half of the pair—Meda was known for his propensity for destruction—he was known to break anything from windows to park benches—and his novel way of entering rooms—through the door and then out an available window. When they came up with the concept of Mac Meda Destruction, Macpherson stenciled the words "Mac Meda Destruction Company" on tee shirts with red paint and designed a logo depicting a mushroom cloud that appeared on bumper stickers. The fake company even had a fake president—Rakestraw was infatuated with Albert, a gorilla at the San Diego Zoo
; Meda would just stare at the gorilla for hours on end. So "Albert Mac Meda" was listed as the president of the Destruction company, and his name appeared in the LaJolla telephone book. When the group's depredations got out of hand and the local police were called, they would come looking for Albert Mac Meda rather than either Macpherson or Rakestraw.
Though the company was fake—described primarily as an attitude rather than as an organization—a group of Macpherson's friends, including San Diego Chargers
player Pat Shea
, did do demolition of houses for free when Interstate 5
was being built through San Diego. However, the Mac Meda Destruction Company continued on, if only in spirit; at the time of Macpherson's death, his longtime friend Doug Moranville continued producing t-shirts and bumper stickers with the Mac Meda logo at his t-shirt shop ("The Branding Iron") in La Jolla. Stickers have adorned everything from walls to cars to the Galileo spacecraft that was launched in 1990, flew past Earth
and the Moon
and eventually (1995)went into orbit around the planet Jupiter
.
Despite the flow of beer and other alcoholic beverages, Jack Macpherson was known as a natural athlete; he was a champion cyclist who participated in long distance races; he was also adept in volleyball, diving, surfing and skiing. Macpherson was employed by the United States Postal Service
as a letter carrier, primarily working in the Bird Rock area of La Jolla; he worked until his retirement in 1991, when he became a full-time bartender at the London's West End bar at 5157 La Jolla Boulevard in the Pacific Beach section of La Jolla, working Wednesday through Sunday 6 am to 10 am. He died of liver and kidney failure at the age of 69. Both his marriages ended in divorce; he was survived by a son, John Duncan Macpherson IV, two grandsons, and his sister, Mrs. Jill Higgins.
lman and bartender in La Jolla, California. According to his Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
obituary, he was a local legend who acquired "a permanent niche in the history of Southern California beach culture".
Macpherson was born in La Jolla, the oldest of two children of an orthopedic surgeon who was also serving in the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
; the family moved to Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, where Dr. Macpherson was stationed and where as a four year old, Jack witnessed the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
. The family returned to the States on a Dutch freighter, and Jack and his sister Jill grew up in La Jolla, and later moved to the neighborhood near the local beach "Wind'n Sea", where the best surfing conditions on the California coast still prevail.At that time, however, this was virtually the only place in the mainland United States where surfing was done at all!
One of his sister's boyfriends taught Jack to surf at the age of eleven, and after graduating from La Jolla High (where he also ran track to his parents' dismay), he started hanging out at the beach, with a number of surfers, including Robert Norris Rakestraw (December 8, 1940 - September 21, 1996), commonly known as Bob, and to his friends as "Meda", after a word he used as a swear word. Soon Jack (or "Jack Mac", as his fellow surfers called him) and Bob became fast friends to the extent that they were almost always seen together and would enter the scene to the cries of "Here comes Mac and Meda; they're a walking destruction company."
In the 1960s Macpherson and Rakestraw brought together their friends, acquaintances, and hangers-on into a loose organization they called the Mac Meda Destruction Company, described as "a beer for demolition crew". The group was featured in Tom Wolfe
Tom Wolfe
Thomas Kennerly "Tom" Wolfe, Jr. is a best-selling American author and journalist. He is one of the founders of the New Journalism movement of the 1960s and 1970s.-Early life and education:...
's 1968 book The Pump House Gang
The Pump House Gang
The Pump House Gang is a 1968 collection of essays and journalism by Tom Wolfe. The stories in the book explored various aspects of the counterculture of the 1960s...
. Wolfe described them as going "Ooooo-eeee-Mee-dah! They chant this chant, Mee-dah, in a real fakey deep voice, and it really bugs people. They don't know what the hell it is. It is the cry of the Mac Meda Destruction Company. The Mac Meda Destruction Company is ... an underground society that started in La Jolla three years ago. Nobody can remember exactly how; they have arguments about it. Anyhow, it is mainly something to bug people with and organize huge beer orgies with." The group also managed to get Wolfe to be recognized in London, England in the mid-1960s at the Indica Gallery
Indica Gallery
Indica Gallery was a counterculture art gallery in Mason's Yard , St. James's, London, England during the late 1960s, in the basement of the Indica Bookshop co-owned by John Dunbar, Peter Asher and Barry Miles...
by sending them a note which read, 'Put this in your window, and Tom Wolfe will come and see you.' (How they ever heard about the gallery is believed to be a mystery.)
Soon the Mac Meda Destruction Company became known throughout southern California, primarily through the actions of Rakestraw, described as the wilder half of the pair—Meda was known for his propensity for destruction—he was known to break anything from windows to park benches—and his novel way of entering rooms—through the door and then out an available window. When they came up with the concept of Mac Meda Destruction, Macpherson stenciled the words "Mac Meda Destruction Company" on tee shirts with red paint and designed a logo depicting a mushroom cloud that appeared on bumper stickers. The fake company even had a fake president—Rakestraw was infatuated with Albert, a gorilla at the San Diego Zoo
San Diego Zoo
The San Diego Zoo in Balboa Park, San Diego, California, is one of the most progressive zoos in the world, with over 4,000 animals of more than 800 species...
; Meda would just stare at the gorilla for hours on end. So "Albert Mac Meda" was listed as the president of the Destruction company, and his name appeared in the LaJolla telephone book. When the group's depredations got out of hand and the local police were called, they would come looking for Albert Mac Meda rather than either Macpherson or Rakestraw.
Though the company was fake—described primarily as an attitude rather than as an organization—a group of Macpherson's friends, including San Diego Chargers
San Diego Chargers
The San Diego Chargers are a professional American football team based in San Diego, California. they were members of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
player Pat Shea
Pat Shea (American football)
Patrick Beardsley Shea is a former professional American football player who played guard for four seasons for the San Diego Chargers....
, did do demolition of houses for free when Interstate 5
Interstate 5
Interstate 5 is the main Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific Ocean coastline from Canada to Mexico . It serves some of the largest cities on the U.S...
was being built through San Diego. However, the Mac Meda Destruction Company continued on, if only in spirit; at the time of Macpherson's death, his longtime friend Doug Moranville continued producing t-shirts and bumper stickers with the Mac Meda logo at his t-shirt shop ("The Branding Iron") in La Jolla. Stickers have adorned everything from walls to cars to the Galileo spacecraft that was launched in 1990, flew past Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
and the Moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
and eventually (1995)went into orbit around the planet Jupiter
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
.
Despite the flow of beer and other alcoholic beverages, Jack Macpherson was known as a natural athlete; he was a champion cyclist who participated in long distance races; he was also adept in volleyball, diving, surfing and skiing. Macpherson was employed by the United States Postal Service
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the United States government responsible for providing postal service in the United States...
as a letter carrier, primarily working in the Bird Rock area of La Jolla; he worked until his retirement in 1991, when he became a full-time bartender at the London's West End bar at 5157 La Jolla Boulevard in the Pacific Beach section of La Jolla, working Wednesday through Sunday 6 am to 10 am. He died of liver and kidney failure at the age of 69. Both his marriages ended in divorce; he was survived by a son, John Duncan Macpherson IV, two grandsons, and his sister, Mrs. Jill Higgins.