Los Angeles-Part 2 of My Life

We never had any contact with any family members.  I knew my mother had a sister, Aunt Lil, and she had two boys, cousins Jimmy and David.  I knew her mother, my grandmother Lillian, had died, and she blamed her father Harry.  I also knew that other families had lots of members, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, grandparents, but there was just two of us.

The summer of 1952 I met my grandfather, Harry W. Sheerin, for the first and only time.  My mother took me to his apartment in L.A., and he served me lime jello with bananas.  He and my mother talked.  She ended up crying, and we left. He died in September 1952.  I remember his funeral was at Pierce Brothers in Los Angeles.  His funeral was the first time I remember meeting my Aunt Lil, and cousins Jimmy and David.

In early 1953 we moved to Los Angeles, but between Long Beach and Los Angeles there were a couple of months in Torrance. Not sure about the location, but I remember a few things from that time. I had a picture taken in a coat that I LOVED! It was wool and reversible. It was red on one side and red and green plaid on the other.

My favorite plaid coat, reversible to red.

The other thing I remember is walking to the store with mom. There was a big black shaggy dog outside the store. Mom always said to let the dog smell the back side of your hand before you pet them. I put my hand out, palm down, for the dog to smell, and he bit me! That started my fear of dogs. In fact, I never had a dog until about 1975 or 1976.

Shortly thereafter we moved to Los Angeles.  One of the first places we lived was in an old wooden court on Slauson next to a butcher shop where they raised, killed and sold chickens and turkeys.  I was fascinated with the way they prepped the birds.  I never saw them kill the birds, but they would dip them in hot water, run them through a machine with brushes that would pluck off the feathers.

This was also the place we lived when I had my hair cut the first time.  My hair was so long I could sit on it.  The hair dresser put a rubber band around my hair at the base of my neck, braided it, and put another rubber band at the bottom.  Then she chopped it off.  I'm sure it was cute, but mom and I cried for days.  I still have the braid.  Mom's friend Ed got me a doll for being so brave.

We moved to a court in the 100 block of West 39th St. It was on the even side of the street a few doors down from the corner of 39th and Main. Mom was with a man named Chester Pate. I'm not sure how they got together, but they were together off and on for a couple of years. He had a business where he supplied restaurants with records for their juke boxes.  When they were together, I would sleep on the couch.  When it was just mom and me, we would sleep together.  This was always the arrangement until I married in 1965 at 17.  We never had an apartment where I had my own room.

My mother was very protective.  She often told me that if anyone ever put a hand on me she would kill them.    She always tried to make sure none of her boyfriends was getting too close to me.

The 100 block of W. 39th St. was a very short block between Broadway and Main. The next street was Santa Barbara, now Martin Luther King Blvd. On the north west corner of Main at 39th was a little corner grocery store. Mom would send me with a note to buy cigarettes for her. It was summer, and I was about 5.  You could do that at that time.  The street was very ethnically diverse.  Irish, Greek, Mexican, Japanese, black, white, and every color in between lived on that short block.

This is where I met the Christ family. They were a large Greek family with 5 kids, most were almost grown except Kathleen. Kathleen was about a year and a half older than me. She had one brother, George Jr., and three sisters. Helen, her oldest sister, had already graduated from high school. George Sr. had a vegetable truck. It was open with an awning over the top of the truck bed area to protect the fruits and vegetables. He would drive up and down the neighborhood streets calling out that he had fresh fruits and vegetables for sale.

Their house was wonderful. Mrs. Christ (Mary) was always cooking or washing clothes or cleaning house. The house was a very big two story clapboard with a big front porch and a half basement. When you walked in the front door, there was a stairway on the right that curved around to the second floor. The foyer had the stairway on the right, a double door to the living room on the left, a door straight ahead to enter the kitchen, and a bench that fit in the curve of the stairway with a coat closet next to it.

The front door was 3/4 glass so you could see who was knocking. Mom had a friend named Johnny who came to the door one day.  Steven, the grandson of the Christ's came running upstairs shouting, "Betty, Johnny is here to see you!"  Mom told him to tell Johnny she wasn't home.  He ran downstairs and shouted, "Betty said to tell you she wasn't home!"

There was always a lot of noise and smells of good food cooking. The oldest daughter, Helen, had a baby, Steven Green, so there were also a lot of baby things going on. The family was Jehovah Witness, and attended lots of meetings. In 1954 mom and I rented one of the upstairs bedrooms.

I was almost 7 when we lived with the Christ family on W. 39th St., I went to meetings at the Jehovah Witness hall. I would go door to door with the family with the Watchtower and Awake magazines. I felt guilty about doing the Pledge of Allegiance in school. This was during 2nd grade.

It was during this time my mother checked herself into Camarillo State Hospital to rehab for alcoholism.  She was there for just under 4 months.  I can remember the panic, crying, and devastation I felt.  The wave of that feeling still comes over me when I think about that time.

We rented the upstairs bedroom on the southeast side of the house. We shared a bathroom with all of the family except Mr. and Mrs. Christ. There was a large sun room at the back of the house next to our room. The grandfather had that room. Helen, the oldest daughter with her son, had the front room facing northwest. AND she had a wonderful ROUND bed! She also had a new Ford Fairlane convertible!

Remember, this was the early 1950's and things were different then. Kathleen and I would play dress up with her sister's crinoline petticoats. They had them in all colors. There was an old swing set out back, and in the summer there was a small square pool for us. The wringer washer was in the basement, and we got to play down there when it got really hot in LA.

Grandpa had a candy vending machine business. Kathleen and I would sneak into the garage and pilfer a couple of Hershey's or Mr. Goodbar's.  We each had a cat.  Mine was named Blackie, and I can't remember her cat's name.

Kathleen Christ and me in her backyard.

Kathleen Christ and me in her backyard with our cats.

Kathleen Christ and me at her back door.

Kathleen Christ and me 56 years later

About this time Mr. Christ decided to switch careers. Electrolux vacuums were being sold door to door, and he was a pretty good salesman. In addition to his pay, the company gave out lots of prizes. He got 2 big sets of Melmac dishes almost immediately.

They also got a TV. This was a very big deal. It was black and white and sat in the corner of the living room. Kathleen and I would sit on the floor in the afternoon watching American Bandstand and The Mickey Mouse Club. Oh how I loved Annette Funicello! We would also watch Lawrence Welk. Janet, the youngest Lennon Sister, was also one of my idols. I wanted to be just like both of them. They could sing and dance, and they seemed like such nice people.

We went to West Vernon St. School. Kathleen and I would walk to Broadway, turn left then walk down Santa Barbara St. (now Martin Luther King Blvd.), and go through the walking tunnel under the newly constructed Harbor Freeway. I was in 2nd grade, and Kathleen was in 3rd. Sometimes other kids would join us, Billy Campbell, Buddy Levins, Gloria. Once the school wanted us to experience farm life, and they brought in a cow and let us take a couple of turns milking.

My teacher at West Vernon St. School selected me to be part of a program sponsored by the Shriners. It was close to Christmas, and a bus took us to the Shrine Auditorium in downtown LA. There was a short play, lots of Christmas carol singing, and then we walked on stage to see Santa. We were each given a brown paper bag with handles with toys and books. Mine had a Mr. Potatohead game, a Betsy Wetsy doll, jacks, and the most wonderful dictionary ever. The dictionary had colored pictures, and lots of them. I would sit and read everything I could.

From 1953 to 1955 we moved frequently. It would appear we were one step ahead of the bill collectors, but that is just a guess. We lived on W. 39th St., Magnolia St., Estrella St., Hoover St., Oak St., 101st St., 102nd St., Slauson, Main St., and probably some I can't remember.

Sometimes it was just mom and me, sometimes Chester was with us.  Mom and Chester ran a small cafe and gas station called the Chief Cafe. I am pretty sure it was on Central in LA.  There was always lots of smoking and drinking going on.  Mom smoked Pall Malls and drank Seagrams 7, her drink of choice for years.

At some point mom met a man named George Neff. He was a cement finisher, and an Indian. He lived in an apartment on Main St., next door to Arden's milk/ice cream distributors. They became friends for years. He had an ex-wife who was very jealous. Her name was Hannah Broken Leg. When we moved into the apartment building on Estrella, guess who we found out lived on the floor below us? Yeap, Hannah Broken Leg. We had to peak around the corners every time we entered or left the building to make sure we didn't run into her. One day we were out back hanging clothes on the clothes line, and guess who showed up to hang clothes! Mom was ducking behind clothes to hide, and held up the basket to hide her face as we almost ran back to the building.

We lived in a boarding house on Oak St. where one of the boarders was diagnosed with TB. We all had to go for TB tests, and we were quarantined for several weeks. From that time on I always tested positive for the TB skin test, but negative in the xray. During our time here several of the women reported they were missing underwear. It was reported to the police, and one of the boarders was arrested with a mountain of women's underwear in his room.

Also, while we lived there I played behind an old wooden church with a tall steeple. There was a huge vacant field in back. It must have been spring time because there was lots of moist, tall, very green, and wonderful smelling grass. There was also a small wooden house/shack in the field. The windows were mostly gone, but it made a great playhouse for the neighborhood kids.

I remember coming home for lunch, watching Sheriff John and Engineer Bill. Cecil and Beany was my favorite cartoon. There was a community room in the boarding house that had a TV. I remember watching Sheriff John on my birthday, and crying because he didn't call my name. Mom used to fix me chocolate milk with Ovaltine, and I would do the "red light/green light" game with Engineer Bill.

When we moved to all these places, I went to the schools whose names usually matched the name of the street where we lived, Oak St. School, Magnolia St. School, etc. Mom never walked me to school. We usually lived pretty close to the schools. She would take me out to the sidewalk and point me in the direction of the school. We talked about that later on, and she said she wanted me to be independent. She said she was such a momma's girl, that it caused a lot of problems when her mom died. We will talk about that in a blog devoted just to mom.

The other thing was church. Mom insisted I go to church. As it turned out it was just like the schools, whatever church was in the neighborhood was where I went. I went to Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, Jehovah Witness, Catholic, Seventh Day Adventist, Synagogue, Church of Christ, and some I can't remember the specifics. One of mom's friends, I can't remember her name but she was very short, maybe 4'8" or 4'9", took me to St. Vincent's in LA. It is a beautiful, big  Catholic church. I loved the sounds and the smells. She gave me a St. Christopher I had for years. When my first husband, Garry, and I divorced, I left a little pink jewelry box up in the attic of our house on San Francisco Ave. in Long Beach, and that St. Christopher was lost forever.



There were a lot of things going on at this time, but I'm going to put them into another chapter.