Huntington Beach Centennial

 
 

 

 

Lastra-Perez Family Story
 

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.