Burbank Community Band
Our History
Our Early Beginnings
The Burbank Community Band name was adopted on November 14, 1997. Founded in 1940, the original name was Lockheed Employees Recreation Center Band (LERC).
The Burbank Community Band originated as the Lockheed Employees Recreation Center Band in 1940. The first recorded mention of the band was in The Lockheed Chronicles and The Lockheed Star dated April 19, 1940, in which a rehearsal was noted for April 22, 1940 in the cafeteria of John Muir Junior High in Burbank. From that point forward, the band regularly held rehearsals or performed for employees during lunch breaks at various locations.
By the early 1980s, the band had established its rehearsal home at what is now known as Robert E. Gross Park on Friday mornings. At the time, the ensemble was under the direction of Domenic Chieffo and managed by Anne Boscke, an employee in the Lockheed Planning Department. Ms. Boscke was a dynamic manager who also served as the band’s vocalist.
In February 1993, the Lockheed Corporation relocated from its Burbank facility to Palmdale, CA. The band chose to remain in Burbank, and for several years, it operated under the name “DOMAR Band,” a tribute to Don and Mary Holcomb, who directed and managed the group. Rehearsals were held wherever space was available.
Eventually, Lockheed donated its recreation center and surrounding property to the City of Burbank, with the agreement that the city would continue to support the band by providing rehearsal space. The donated area was then made a city park, named in honor of Robert E. Gross, the visionary Chief Executive and Chairman of Lockheed. To this day, the band continues to rehearse at Gross Park on Friday mornings.
In December 2011, Dr. Don Holcomb retired as director, and Paulette Westphal assumed conducting duties. In 2012, the band established a Board of Directors and was officially incorporated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Our current conductor, Dr. Michael Stanley, joined the band in 2021, and our Manager of Band Operations, Julie Levine, began her tenure in 2013.
Our Friends and Supporters
