The Lastra-Perez family may be the most unusual family
in Huntington Beach. Carmen Lastra has been here for 40
years; her cousin Merida Perez has been here for only 5.
Both are Cuban refugees who have found much better lives
in HB.Carmen, a
practicing attorney in family law and estate planning,
is proud of her two grown children, son Lu and daughter
Carmen. Lu Lastra is a Command Master Chief Navy Seal
and a world record-holder in skydiving. Carmen Eccles,
an attorney like her mother, works for the State
Compensation Insurance Board. She is married to a
Beverly Hills firefighter.
Merida is equally proud
of her son Emanuel, who is in tourist management at the
Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas and daughter Nadine, a student
at Golden West College.
When Carmen was a law
school student, she used to go to the beach almost daily
to study. Today she is still a regular at the beach. But
instead of studying law books, she is likely to be
toting roller blades. Merida and she skate at the beach
and ride bikes on the beach bike path. At one time
Carmen used to ride 20 miles/day and was an active
bicycle racer.