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cumulative 679 years of experience among them. At 100, John Calcagno (uncle to the Odellos) is the elder statesman of the group and one of the sharpest, most gregarious and engaging centenarians one is likely to meet. "I've had some of my happiest moments with these guys," he says. When asked about his working career, he replies that he was "a banker, a construction worker and a pioneer." Among his civic achievements was the founding of the "Parade of Nations," a still-popular feature of Monterey's annual Santa Rosalia Festival. Calcagno claims that his father was the first to raise vegetables on acreage in Moss Landing. "Where the Moss Landing Power Plant is now was fields of row crops," he recalls. "The population of California then was two million. My dad could grow enough to feed everyone in the state back then." Conversations go in all directions around the table reserved for the guys in the back corner. Topics on a recent visit ranged from the weather to the state of the economy to a philosophical discussion about the intel- lectual differences between animals and humans. But these guys aren't in a cocoon; they're more than happy to strike up a discussion with those at nearby tables. "Just last week, I had nice talks with a couple from Germany and anoth- er from Great Britain," says Doug Forzani, 84. That gentleman was born C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • S P R I N G / S U M M E R 2 0 1 9 231 The group of friends that has met weekdays since 1964 now includes (L-R) John Odello, Fred Crummey, Michael Androsko, John Calcagno, Julian Lopez, Joe Stine and Elio Chiappe (not pictured Mike Odello and Doug Forzani).