Family Stories - Places I have lived

Family Stories

Places I Have Lived

   Along with the stories of my childhood, I don't want the places I've lived to be forgotten either.  So tonight, I'll talk about them.

   My parents first apartment was what we would call a studio apartment.  It even had a Murphy bed.  For those who don't know what those are, those are beds that fold up into the wall.  A nice Murphy Bed has a wooden cabinet.  Somehow I doubt my parents first place was that nice.  Mom didn't really like it at all.  But it was their first home and she did her best to make it nice.  I was not born there.

   At some point after the end of WWII, after the economy picked up, My dad's mother, Lucille, and her second husband, Bill were able to buy a piece of property that had two houses on it.  The front house was a 2 bedroom place with a fenced in back yard.  The drive way went all along the side of the house, along the fenced in back yard to the back house.  There was a shed/garage type building that was along the driveway between the two houses.  The front house had what I think was originally a front porch that had been enclosed.  The bottom half was normal wall, but the top was all glass with shades that rolled down.  I can remember (I must have been around 3) standing in that little room staring at the patterns the sun made on the window glass.  The entry way to this room was very narrow.  I think a normal adult would have a hard time getting through.  It was sort of a magical room to me.

   The back house was a small, one bedroom place.  I suspect originally it was a "mother-in-law house."  For my parents it was a cozy love nest where I was created and first came home to.  Lucille and Bill lived in the front house at first.  My mom and Lucille did not get along.  Boy, is that an understatement!    Lucille, probably due to guilt over her own poor parenting skills, thought that Joan (my mom) was not good enough for my dad.  She was very clear about this.  In fact, she was a bitch about it.  Since Lucille had the key to their little house (landlord), Lucille would take her girlfriends to the back house to show what a poor housekeeper Joan was.  And if it wasn't dirty enough, Lucille was known to make it dirty and messy.

  Lucille's behavior was intolerable.  Partly I blame her increasing alcoholism.  My mom complained.  My dad was in a tough spot - mom vs. wife?  Luckily he chose to support his wife.  Dad talked to Bill and a compromise of sorts was made.  Bill and Lucille moved out of the front house and into a house in the new San Gabriel Village part of town.  My parents moved to the front house, since I was now moving towards toddlerhood.  The back house was rented out, and my dad had the responsibility of dealing with the tenants.

   I don't remember living in the back house.  It had it's own fenced in yard too.  I do remember living in the front house.  Some legendary stories happened there, like the Uncle Murray story about him stopping by just to insult my dad.

  But we didn't stay all that long in the front house.  I don't remember the story, but there was a switch, with Lucille and Bill moving the back house (and renting the front house), and us buying their former place on Montecito Road.

   I loved the house on Montecito Road.  It had a long front yard with a jacaranda tree about half way up.  There was a small curing, paved path up the the house, besides the driveway.  I have pictures of baby me in that tree.

   It was sort of Spanish style.  it certainly had the tile like roof.  Steps up to a small tiled front porch (no roof over it to speak of).  The front door entered into the large front room.  Looking to the left from the front door there was a fireplace.  I have photos of our Christmas stockings hung on the shelf above it.  There was a big window along the porch side.  We put our Christmas tree there.  From the front room there was a door to my parents bedroom.

   Going to the right from the front door there was the entryway to the dining room.  Before you to to that though, there was a narrow hallway with dark wood trim.  Most of the wood in the house was dark.  The dining room was pretty amazing.  Another tall window to the east, facing the front yard.  The small Christmas train track usually went below that.  The entire north wall of that room was dark wood cabinets.  Amazing, built in, cabinetry that you can't find today.  The was a small window above that.

     From the dining room, there was a door to the west that led into the kitchen.  That was a long, narrow room that was old fashioned, even then.  It did have a built in ironing board.  Very strange!  About halfway down the room, on the north wall was a door that led to a very small room that had a door that led to the driveway, behind the wall.  I'm not sure what it was for originally.  maybe an entrance alcove?  Or a pantry of sorts?  In any event, it was just big enough to be a small bedroom for me.  I had a lovely wooden hutch for my clothes.  And a day bed.

   As I think about it, that house must have been pretty added on to from the original floor plan.  At the back of the kitchen was a very small room that served as our laundry room and pantry.  My earliest memories of mom washing clothes was on a very primitive clothes washer that had a wringer built into the top.  Once the clothes were clean and wrung out we would hang them up outside.

   The wash room led to the hall way from the front room and to a door to the add on den and a door to the back yard.  The den was one of the biggest rooms in the house.  It was dad's domain.  It included his radios, whatever train layout he was working on, a small tv opposite his easy chair, and a small bathroom that doubled as his photo darkroom.  I remember rushing home to watch the original Mickey Mouse Club Show on the little tv.  That room also had an entry to an odd patio outside.  My parents bedroom was pretty good sized.  Built in wood closets.  And a small, probably added on bathroom.

     The outside was an remarkable as the inside.  There was a wall like structure near the end of the driveway (about equal to the front of the house).  There may have been a fence there at one point.  But beyond that was a driveway area big enough for 2 cars.  And then the garage.

   Tucked in between my bedroom outside door and the door to the den was an almost enclosed paved area that most resembled a castle dungeon.  I wish I had photos of it.  I claimed that area for my own and had many happy hours there, imagining.

   The backyard, despite the den, was big.  We had a grassy area where we kept lawn chairs. On the north end mom usually had a vegetable garden.  She had flowers growing everywhere else, mostly in border areas.  She could grow almost everything except carnations.  It seemed every time she tried either the plants would fail, or someone would run over them (mostly with the lawn mower).  Beyond the grassy area was a decent sized pool intended for fish with a bridge.  I think my Grandfather Bill put that in.  I know I loved it.  We mostly grew algae in it.  We tried keeping fish in it, but the neighbors cats and dogs kept eating the fish.

  Beyond the pond was our incinerator.  By the time I was 4 it was no longer legal to use it, but before that people deposed of their paper waste with it.  The fence was close to that.  We didn't keep that part of the yard all that organized.  it tended to be a bit  of a jungle, especially with the low hanging trees we had back here.  I think one of them was an avocado tree, but it didn't bear very well.  Our back fence neighbors were nice people and I remember conversations with them while burning trash.  My parents put up a simple swing set for me.  And of course, my small, inflatable swimming pool.  I loved it.  I vaguely remember a small cellar type place under the house.  Mom used it for storing canned goods mostly.  There was attic space, but I don't remember ever being allowed to go up there.

   However, my allergies did not love all that greenery.  Since before my first birthday I had been suffering with allergies, eczema, and asthma.  We had finally found a skin doctor who could help me, but I had to cut back on the things I was allergic to.  And high on the list were green, growing things.  So, the summer I turned 8 years old we sold the house and moved to my first apartment.  There were other factors involved.  For one thing, my parents business could really use the money from the sale to buy new equipment and to expand.  And probably the telling argument, the place had termites.  Luckily the man who bought the place was a contractor.  The story was that soon after he moved in the dining room floor caved in.  The new owner did right by the place though.  He solved the space problem by adding a second story that did not detract from the look of the front of the house.  I want to go back there someday and see what remains of the house I remember.

Someone in my family lived in that apartment complex until I was around 23 years old.  But I'll write about that later.