Way Back Wednesday ~~ Banjo & Andy

Because I was looking through my moms old "pet album" last week for dog pictures, I came across some of the other pets my parents had back in 1955.

First up is their pet spider monkey "Banjo".
My dad got him from the studio. Apparently the pet show they used to film there often gave away the animals they brought in and my dad was always keen to adopt any that he could.

This picture is kind of fuzzy but its the only one where my mom is holding him.

Banjo lasted a year or so until one day when my mom was trying to put him back into his cage and he didn't want go and bit her on the arms about 20 times. They found him another home after that.

From the same era was their burro "Andy".
Andy was another acquisition from the studio. My mom loved to tell the story of the day my dad brought him home. They lived close to the studio so my dad walked him home but half a block from the house Andy didn't want to go anymore so he sat down in the middle of the road and refused to move. My dad had to leave him there, run home, get some carrots and run back and entice him the rest of the way.
At the time my parents lived out in North Hollywood and had a house with a huge backyard so there was plenty of room for him. When they bought the Hollywood Hills house Andy moved to a local farm.

Back in the day you could send away for a spider monkey through the mail.
I remember seeing this advertisement when I was a kid and WISHING I had $18.95 (and a checking account).
I don't know what I would have told my mom when it showed up but I wasn't thinking that far ahead.
I guess I figured I would worry about that part of the plan once it arrived.

I did, in the other hand, order the seahorses only to have my envelope returned saying there was something wrong with the address.
I was sorely disappointed but never reordered probably because I knew my mom wouldn't be happy with these either.

There was also the story about the time my dad wanted to buy my mom a baby elephant.
(You used to be able to get all kinds of exotics back then).
I have no idea where he thought he was going to keep it or what he was going to do with it once it grew up but I dont think he was thinking any further into the future than I was.
Fortunately my mom found out and talked him out of it.

Happy halfway through the week day!

Way Back Wednesday ~ Dogs of the Past

Keeping with the theme for the week of dogs, I thought I would do some pictures of my parents dogs that they had over the years.

This was one of their first dogs.
Her name was Cookie and she was a pekingese.

Then they got Tuffy who was a toy poodle.

Tuffy had black ears as a baby and when he grew up they turned pure white.

Cookie and Tuffy got together and had a couple litter of puppies.

They included Candy Jane who went to one of my moms best friends:

And Smidgey who they kept until he was an old man:

There were several other puppies (Ting-a-ling, Whitey, Smudge) who also went to their friends.

They took Tuffy everywhere, including all their vacations:

And shared the morning breakfast donut with him:

 When Tuffy was no longer with them, my mom went in search of another dog and found Lo-sten.
They got her out of the pound and the story goes that someone else wanted her to and back then they put the dog up on auction when their were 2 or more interested parties and the dog went to the highest bidder. Because my mother just HAD to have her, my dad kept bidding until the other people gave up. Lo-sten lived a long and happy life and loved my mom with the devotion only a dog can.

They also had a tiny Yorkie Terrier who they rescued from a very bad situation.
His name was Danci and he was already pretty old when he came to be with us.
He lived many years and by the time he passed away he had no teeth and almost no hair.

After Lo-sten and Danci passed away there was a whole other pack of dogs that I grew up with but I will save those for another time!

Have a great Wednesday everybody!!

Way Back Wednesday ~ 1958

I found this picture in an album my mom made for my dad of some of the different crews he worked on over the years.

This was from 1958 on the set for a show called "Ladies Fair".

I have looked everywhere and can't find any reference for it so either it was extremely short lived or it was a one time special. Either way I really love the old camera and everyone's very cool clothes. Notice only one lady in the crew? I wonder if she was hostess.

My dad is sitting on the floor in the white shirt with the arrow pointing to him.

I am assuming it was shot at the KNXT studios on the corner of Sunset and Gower in Hollywood.

Here's an old color shot of the studios around the time the above picture was taken:

I spent so much time in this building. I would often come here after school and watch TV in the make-up room until my dad could drive me home. I remember going up the roof (the tallest one above the CBS logo) and dropping small pebbles onto the sidewalk so people would look up and I would duck down so no one could see me..

Yeah, hooligan in the making.. that was me.

In the course of looking for information it seems they have closed this building down which is sad. I knew every nook and cranny, every shortcut through the soundstages to get to the cafeteria the fastest..places to hide so I could read a book or pretend I was lost in some vast warehouse with no way to get out and evil villains were looking for me.

Another part of childhood gone.

At least I have some pictures to remember it by.

Way Back Wednesday ~~ 1935

I figured in an effort to get back to my weekly picture posts, I thought I would start with something not too complicated!

I found this great picture of my dad and his sister Anita from the mid 1930's.

Looks like it is probably summer time and they are outside near the garden.

My dad is wearing a shirt with a zipper and I don't know what strikes me as odd about that.. I know they had zippers back then.

Anita is sitting on a really fantastic old hobby horse. There's something I would really love to have!

She is holding a little dog that looks to me like a King Charles Spaniel. My dad isn't around to tell me the little guys name but I'm sure it must have been a family pet.

Basically this is just a great picture of a typical day in the Oklahoma sunshine.

I think most people around the country are looking forward to some sunshine and warmth. Hope this winter doesn't last too much longer for all of you. Being out here in So Cal I cant complain as it's going to be close to 80° by this weekend. Please refrain from throwing rocks or sarcastic comments. 

Stay warm if you're cold and don't gloat if you're not!

Way Back Wednesday ~ 1963

The holidays are upon us.

Even if we aren't ready for them to be.

So I thought I would use my next 2 Way Back posts for Christmas pictures.

This set is from 1963 (maybe 64).

My parents are visiting their best friends of the day Don & Jody Remer.

They had a cool little apartment in the heart of Hollywood.

They also had a poodle named Pierre.

Over the years they had several poodles.

Pierre, Pierre II, Pierre III.... You get the idea.

Here are my parents with Don and Pierre who is sporting a handsome Christmas bow.

Don't you love the the silver tree behind them?

And all the cool cards pinned to the vintage curtains?

Love my dad's 50's tie.

I wonder how long it took for my mom to get ready?

That hair style didn't come easy.

She is wearing her mink stole that my dad bought from her from a furrier in Beverly Hills called AJ Lipsey.

It had her name embroidered inside.

I (of course) still have this but unfortunately it didn't fair particularly well through the years and has a split near the top from where it was hanging. I don't really know what to do with it because I would never wear it but it was so special to her that it feels wrong to sell it.

Here are my mom and Jody (and Pierre) holding gifts.

I wonder what's in them? In the first picture my father is holding the gift that Jody is holding here.

If you look closely you can see a rubber fire hydrant under the tree on the left.

Pierre must have been a good boy this year.

My only question is why the photographer felt it necessary to sit on the floor while taking the picture?

Hope your holidays are going well and that Santa is feeling particularly generous this year.

At least that's what Jeffrey said yesterday.

Hand in there..... only 3 more days 'til Friday!

Way Back Wednesday ~ 1960

This is a picture of my dad appearing on The Red Rowe show which ran on CBS from 1959 to 1960.

My dad was huge collector of antiques and some of his favorites were these old Edison phonograph players from the turn of the century. 

He was invited on the show to demonstrate two of his machines which were in pristine condition.

The one on the left has a built in speaker horn under the player and the one on the right has the horn taken off on the counter next to it.

These play old Edison wax cylinder records which he had in the case in the middle.

I eventually sold these machines some years back and they each went for well over $1000. 

I still have several boxes of the wax records.

They are also highly collectible, especially the politically incorrect ones.

Did you notice the huge microphone hanging above their heads? 

It looks like a giant ray gun ready to disintegrate my dad's head.

Knaggs Berry Towne

On Wednesday I mentioned my parents property on Ventura Blvd in Studio City called Knaggs Berry Towne.
My parents bought it in the late 1960's.

It was a small motel probably from the 1940's that had about 8 units each with a double car garage where you could park your car and on the right front corner there was a gas station.

My dad networked with all the prop people he knew until he got together enough wood and facade materials to turn the entire thing into an old western town.

They rented out each renovated motel room to small store owners who sold everything from hand made crafts to old books to small bakery items. The front store on the left was my parents antique store and the old gas station was turned into a hamburger stand called "Billy Goodins".
They also rented it out as locations for movies, TV shows and once for a Playboy photoshoot.

It thrived for several years until they got a few bad tenants and they got tired of hassling with them to pay the rent and keep the place clean. There was also small deli in the back that apparently was selling more than just sandwiches and got shut down by the police.

They closed it down in the mid 1970's and it sat unused for the next 20+ years except for the old hamburger stand that got walled in and made into a Thai food restaurant called the "Thai Spoon".

This place was a huge part of childhood and I have mixed feelings about it.
I spent so many hours there, alone, while my parents worked on it.
I used to watch old game shows on a little black and white TV they kept upstairs above the general store in a small room that was always hotter than Hades because it was uninsulated.
But downstairs they had an old fashioned glass candy counter and I always got to choose a few pieces of candy to take upstairs with me... and we know how great that is for a kid.

I came across some pictures recently....

Here is a shot from across the street

This is the front sign

This is my parents antique shop the called "The Antiquest".
Somewhere I have a close up of the painted sign on the roof line.
Its a mermaid and I have no idea how that relates to antiques, but I guess it made sense to them.

This was one of the old motel units made over into shops. Actually when I look closer, it was one of the car ports that was transformed into 2 plain stores. The motel units actually had a bathroom and shared a small kitchen between them.

This was the "Star General Store" that my parents ran.
It was a popular place for the kids of the day to stop by on the way home from school and buy sweets from the giant glass candy counter in the back.
In it's heyday there were display pieces in those upper windows.

Here the Towne is making a cameo appearance on Emergency.
The firemen are going into "Oil Can Harry's" which was a gay bar and I can proudly say that was where I had my 6th birthday party. Surprisingly every one my kindergarten class showed up.

Yeah my parents were a bit ahead of their time. 

One thing I forgot to mention is that when my parents bought the place it came with an old lady who lived in the very back unit and refused to move. Her name was Irene and she was well into her 80's or older. My parents let her live there rent free for years. She smoked like a chimney and mostly sat in the room (which only had one window in the kitchen) and listened to the radio. As a kid I always felt sorry for her that she was alone. She had no family we knew of. Eventually my parents talked her into moving into an old age home (they paid for it) and it totally transformed her life. We went by to visit her a couple times a month and she was always playing the piano or socializing with the other people. She eventually died but I was happy that the last years of her life she had people around and seemed genuinely happy.

These next pictures are when the shops were done up for a movie that was shot there in about 1972 called "The Christmas Visit".

It starred Marty Allen who was a Christmas Elf trying to help a little boy learn about the magic of Christmas.
A really original theme.
It was made for TV and I believe that you can still buy it on Amazon.

Because my parents were always looking for an opportunity to push me into the spotlight, they got the director to let me be in the parts of the movie that was shot here.

This is a long shot from the sidewalk.
That plastic snow got everywhere and literally years later we were still finding it under stairs and in cracks.

They brought in a horse and buggy which I loved

Some more crew shots

And there's me,  right in the middle, overdressed in the fancy bonnet, red velvet coat and mink muff (I was supposed to be an urchin but apparently it paid better for me than the others).

This was my mom's way of making sure I was seen.

And the piece de resistance was having a bunch of publicity shots taken with the two stars of the show.

Of course my mom showed the photos to everyone and told them how I starred in a movie and she had the pictures to prove it.

Updated to add that the boy (Billy Simpson) who actually starred in the movie found me on Facebook and gave me a copy of the movie so I was able to watch my (15 minute) stellar performance for the first time! It was a real treat I have to say.

So there was my 15 minutes of fame.

Even if it was mostly fabricated.

I guess no one can say I didn't have an interesting childhood.

Jeff and I finally sold the place awhile back and unfortunately it was in such disrepair that the people who bought it tore it all down except the Antiquest building which last time I drove past, was the office for the used car lot that they put there.

It feels a little like a movie where you can see what used to be there in flashbacks but when you look at what it is now, it's very surreal and you can't quite get your head around the fact that it's all gone.

My Dad's Navy Days

I thought I would commemorate Veteran's Day with a few of my dad's pictures from his tour with the Navy.

He was a communications specialist and served at the end of WWII with the Naval Air Technical Training Center in Memphis.

Here he is (on the right) with a couple of his buddies.

And here he is (far right bottom row) with the men he served with.

ARM AR-26 Sec. H

And this last one is a postcard with a photobooth picture slid inside that he sent home thanking the "Folks" (as he called them) for the candy they sent.
He had a real sweet tooth!

Thank you for serving Dad.
And thank you to all who have and are serving to this day.

Way Back Wednesday ~~ 1971

Today we venture back to my 6th birthday party.

My parents owned what was originally an old motel on Ventura Blvd in Studio City.

They fixed it up to look like an old western town and called in Knaggs Berry Town.

(Their last name was Knaggs, it was on Berry drive and it was supposed to be a town).

Across the street from it was a gay bar called Oil Can Harry's.

My parents became very good friends with Bert the owner.

He was a wonderful man and when my parents were looking for a place to have my 6th birthday he offered the use of his main dance floor. The whole place was only open after 8 at night.

My parents, ever mindful of saving money thought it was a wonderful idea so out went the party invitations inviting a bunch of kindergardeners to a fun filled afternoon at the local (gay) watering hole. Apparently not many people were bothered by it because most of my classmates showed up.

The first picture is me on the pool table. It looks like Ive been having a good time already because my stockings were filthy!

The next 2 pictures are of the piñata portion of the program.

The first one is me having a go at the parrot.

And there's my dad with his usual cigarette.

You can also see ALL the way on the right the Pin the Tail on the Donkey poster.

I think I cheated when I played so I could win.

I'm glad I developed a sense of ethics as I got older because I don't think I had any at this age.

This next picture shows my mom placing the blindfold on a little boy whose name I do not remember.

I do remember that he had a lot of really cool red hair and freckles.

You can't see me in this picture but I CAN see Sally who is still my best friend to this day.

As crazy as it sounds, I still have that skirt that my mom is wearing.

 (I think it's the same one that she is wearing in my first WayBackWed post?)

Don't you just dig that retro yellow daisy wallpaper in the background?

And those pink and blue doors were the bathrooms.

I have a whole tray of slides from this day and I think I may break them out soon and show them to my kids.

They may need some color fixing if I go to develop them but showing them on a big screen in the living room sounds like a lot of fun. 

Now if I just find a slide projector that actually works!

Way Back Wednesday ~~ 1948

Today we take you back to the mid to late1940's.

The date is approximate but I know my dad was somewhere in his 20's when he worked here so we are settling on 1948.

Both of these were taken when he was managing a King Cole grocery store  (The Friendly Place) which was either in Oklahoma or Texas. Judging by the products I would say this was around Christmas time.

The first pic he is putting a display together (a carload sale) and holding Softasilk which was a cake mix that had cornstarch added to it. And you could buy it for the bargain basement price of 37¢ each.

Unfortunately everything else is a bit too blurry and even blown up in photoshop I cant make out the names of the other products. But they were all pretty cheap.

In this second picture my dad is hanging up candy canes which could be yours for just 10¢ each. FOr some reason this seems pricey to me considering the prices of the boxed goods. 

The other things for sale include K's Grapeade (It's refreshing!), Lady's sliced Cranberry Sauce, Teaser's Popped Corn and Libby's Tomato Juice which is priced at 27¢ each.

Gotta love that tie my dad is wearing!

I have a couple of other pictures of his time in the store but I will save them for another time.

See you soon!

Way Back Wednesday ~~ 1955

November 22 1955
My Parents Wedding

I don't remember whose house this was at, but I think it was in the valley somewhere.... probably North Hollywood.

My dad looks great in his suit with the padded shoulders and I love my moms green taffeta dress and elbow length lace gloves. I am not sure if I still have that dress in storage. I know she would have kept it but I dont recall seeing it.

Can you totally dig that wallpaper? How great is that with all those leaves?

And that armchair on the left that matches it in a completely clashing sort of way!

I would really love to have that chair with the original fabric!

Their wedding gifts are on the right including that wonderful clock.  I really love old clocks and have several.

I like the floorlamp, another piece that would be fun to have. And also the knick-knack shelf behind them I am sure holds some items that would go great in my cabinet of vintage trinkets I have in the den.

My parents were married 36 years when my dad died. I wish it could have been longer.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Me and my dad ~~ 1973 in our backyard.
I have so few pictures of he and I together.
This one is great because we both look so happy!
Today would have been his 85th Birthday.
I really miss him.
He was taken away far too young.
I was only 26 when he died and I didn't get to experience almost any time as an adult with him.
He loved my kids more than anything and I mourn them not being able to have spent more time with him.
And also for him not being able to see them grow up and get to know what great people they have become.
He never even met my 2 youngest sons.
They will only know him through pictures and stories I tell.
But even my older kids who were only 2, 4 and 5 when he died can only barely remember the man who thought they were the light of his world.
I have a few precious home movies of him but sadly he was already sick when I got the camera so they do not show who he really was.
I have one moment I video taped of he and my mom together about 2 months before he died. My mom asked me to film them so she could always have that memory.
It's heartbreaking for me to watch because you can see in her face that she knows he doesn't have long.
He looks thin and has lost the sparkle that he always had.
Cancer is a horrible horrible enemy and has taken far too many people.

In an effort to lighten this post up, I offer some headshots he had taken in the 1950's when he was actively pursuing an acting career.

But this is how I knew him.... Older, bearded and playing his guitar.

And also like this, with my mom doing make-up at CBS for Connie Chung and Dan Rather.

Happy Birthday Dad.
Wherever you are please know that you are missed more than you know
and I was very honored to have you in my life.

Way Back Wednesday 1939

A day to post old pictures and enjoy the memories.

This is one of my favorites:

This is my dad in Enid, Oklahoma working as a car hop at Frazier's Drug store.

The date is July 4th 1939. He was 13 years old.

He's carrying old time coke bottles and glasses on a tray that  you can see fits on the side of a car.

And speaking of cars,..what a great one behind him!   I would guess (but am not sure) that it is a Chrysler. 

I love those huge white walls.

I see that cigarettes were already big business as shown in the window display.

Here is picture of Frazier's in present day.

Back in the day it had a bowling alley upstairs where boys worked as pin setters.