Sunday, December 20, 2015

Saturday Stories 12-19-15

Saturday Stories  12-19-15

Diane and Marie were fortunate to grow up with relationships with both of their grandmothers.  In California Grandmother Ella worked as the director of lunch programs at some Los Angeles schools.  Grandfather Wilce was disabled and did not work.  In Oregon Grandmother Marie lived on a farm outside of SE Portland with her second husband Matt – they had milk cows and chickens. 
In Los Angeles when the girls visited they took day trips on the Red Cars and saw many different areas of the city.  Society was different back then and there was no fear that two young girls would not be safe.  Grandmother taught them a mnemonic for traveling in the city and returning to Figueroa, the major cross street near their grandparents’ home. 

In LOS ANGELES from MAIN we SPRING to BROADWAY and over the HILL to OLIVE with a GRAND HOPE of picking FLOWERS on FIGUEROA.   The capitalized words are the streets in order. 
Favorite places were Olvera Street, Chinatown, and the main library.  They also went to the beach and Grumman’s Chinese theatre, developing a real sense of the city.  Which came in handy for Diane when she moved to Los Angeles after high school and worked downtown. 

#   #   #

No comments: