DOUBLE G & ME
By Jim Jacobson (Double J)

I will miss Gordon Gitlen more than most of you who have taken the time to write about him because I worked at his office from the time he opened it in April 1999, to the present date. I saw him every weekday until he became too ill to come to work, and sometimes on the weekend too, because he sometimes went sailing with me. The only other person present at the building during the entire time that Gordon ran his law office is Gordon’s father, Howard. Gordon and I had a special relationship.

I first met Gordon in 1983, but did not begin working with him until 1998 when he asked me to review a rent increase case that a had been abandoned by a former rent control board attorney who filed many rent increase cases on behalf of landlords, but did not finish them. That case ended up as the favorable published decision of Seacall Development v. Santa Monica Rent Control Board, (1999) 73 Cal.App.4th 201. I was impressed by the speed that he brought the case to trial and because he did not tolerate Rent Board delays by giving them continuances every time they asked for one (they asked for at least one continuance in every case).

When Gordon opened his office building in the spring of 1999, he let me choose one of the offices to be my workplace, so I choose one at the rear of the building, next to his fine law library. He then presented me with a little potted tree, he never charged me any rent and he permitted me to come and go as I pleased.

Gordon not only encouraged me to work on cases for other attorneys, he also proofread many of those documents I wrote for them in addition to those I wrote for him. He valued my opinion, work and judgment, and he gave me his undivided attention so that I did not waste time sitting in front his desk trying to get in a few words between phone calls and other interruptions. He had enough confidence in himself that he was not threatened by my participation in the cases as many attorneys are. He would file the cases as fast as I could write them and we had many successes.

Gordon was good to his office staff and there was always some type of party going on because all birthdays were celebrated and he also took us out to lunch on a regular basis as well. Whenever he went on vacation, (which was quite often), he brought back small gifts for everyone. He was always the optimist, and very brave about the cancer that slowly wore him down. I only got the bad news through the good news. For example, he would announce that it appeared to be limited to areas of his body where I did not know it was present before he announced the “good news.”

The last time we went to downtown to the Central Courthouse was last October. I had to drive, and Gordon could only walk while was using a cane. Although that Courthouse is a big place and although he was walking with great difficulty, he stopped by the Sheriff’s Office to visit a clerk named Evette Johnson. She came to his service at Hillside Memorial Park which was held on Sunday, May 15th and gave one of the speeches in his memory. She then attended the memorial celebration at his office as well. She gave up her Sunday in Memory of Gordon.

As I write this story in the fine office that he gave me, I can’t quite accept that he won’t be coming in the back door any moment and greeting me by saying, “Hey Double J.” Then I would reply, “Hey Double G.”

Gordon opened his office building about the same time as I got my first digital camera, so I became the unofficial photographer and took many photos of him and people who worked this office, but there was only one of “Double G” and me without anyone else included. That was taken at the November ACTION meeting the night before the 2004 Presidential election, and I was disguised as the guest speaker, John FrankenKerry. The camera was only supposed to be a prop, but it captured the last photo of me and “Double G.”

And if you don’t believe it, come to the next ACTION meeting!

DOUBLE G & ME
By Jim Jacobson (Double J)