Home Welcomes 26 Northridge Seniors : Emergency relief: Anaheim Meadows retirement center will house elders displaced by earthquake. So far, the transplants like the change of pace, scenery.

By LILY DIZON

Jan. 19, 1994 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

ANAHEIM — A retirement home here opened its doors for free to 26 people left homeless after their Northridge retirement home was damaged by the earthquake.

Jonathan Istrin, president of Anaheim Meadows retirement home on La Palma Avenue, got the call for help at 7 p.m. Monday. A former colleague told him that residents at the Northridge Gardens retirement home needed a place to stay because the early morning temblor had burst a water pipe, causing extensive flooding. The quake also left the retirement home without electrical power.

“They said the residents need help and to come up and help, so I came,” Istrin said Tuesday.

He drove to Northridge, but once there, Istrin realized that he needed more than his van to move the 26 people. Undaunted, he chartered a bus and took his soon-to-be guests to Anaheim Meadows, located about three miles from Disneyland.

“We just want to give people a dry, warm and comfortable place to stay until all the shaking stops,” said Istrin, 32. “It’s not Northridge and it’s not home, so we hope they don’t mind it too much.”

The displaced residents have taken their situation in stride. Tuesday, they mingled with each other and explored their new surroundings at the three-story white building they will housed at for the next couple of weeks. They listened to music in the courtyard. They watched “Dennis the Menace.”

“No, it hasn’t been bad at all,” said 73-year-old Carlo Heckert. “I’ve been loving it here because of the nice ladies tending to us. Some of them are pretty.”

For 86-year-old Bill Ockerman, staying in Anaheim gave him an opportunity to have lunch with his daughter-in-law from Santa Ana.

“It’s quite nice getting away from Northridge every once in awhile,” he said. “Who knows, if they don’t charge very much, maybe I’ll stay here.”

His friend, Gertrude Fellows, likes the Meadows’ hospitality, but said recreation here is a little lacking.

“I used to play bridge at home a lot, and they don’t play bridge here,” said Fellows, 90. “It’s a little quiet, but I guess quiet is very nice compared to an earthquake.”