LA, Baby!

After dressing for Sunday, the Daughters Courageous headed out on their first trip in LA - Forest Lawn Memorial Park - which they described as "the most beautiful and the most life inspiring park that could ever be created."  There are not any good pictures of the cemetary in my Grandma's book, but they describe seeing the Little Church of the Flowers, the Kirk of the Heather and Memorial Court, where they saw a stained glass replica of daVinci's The Last Supper.  Apparently at sunset, the disciples disappear from view in the Last Supper, and all that is left is the faint outline of the face of Christ.  The girls were unable to see that window on Sunday, but bought tickets for a return trip on Monday morning at 8:00 am to see the window in an artificial sunset produced with shutters.


Of course, all this sight seeing made the girls hungry, so the next stop was Louis' French Cafe in Hollywood, where they drank coffee from glasses and described everything as "beautiful".  Of course, no trip to Hollywood would be at all complete without a tour of the stars' homes, which they describe as mostly fences and rooftops!  The Hollywood sign then was a bit different than it is now - still saying "Hollywoodland" instead of the shorter version we see today.


Evening took the Daughters Courageous to what was then the oldest street in LA, Olvera Street, sometimes called Mexican Street, which would have looked something like this in 1939:

There they window shopped, and, of course, had their handwriting analyzed by Mr. C.E. Bower.  The journal says that "Peaches" was determined to be "precise, meticulous and domestic."  He couldn't have described my Grandma better!

Following their return trip to Forest Lawn, the girls donned their swim wear and went to Long Beach for a swim in the Pacific.  They describe being thrilled to swim in the Pacific, but not enjoying the salt water at all.  One can only assume that this was the first time any of them had been to the ocean, all being from the Western New York area.  They spent the day there basking in the sun, and then got cleaned up and ready for dinner with some of my grandmother's friends, the Greiners, which will be saved for another day!

Again, no letters home, and not many pictures, even of Hollywood.  While going through this book, I have to keep reminding myself that people really didn't take as many pictures as we do in the digital age.  You waited and found something you really had to capture, and then took the photo.  I am gathering that my Grandmother wasn't overly impressed by this part of the trip, as there are no souvenir cards or brochures or anything from this part of the trip, as there are from places like the Grand Canyon, or other particularly interesting restaurants or stops along the way.  But, there's more to come!

California here we come!

    It seems that the girls were a bit tired after two nights of dancing and sightseeing at the Grand Canyon, and it also seems that they were in need of making good time across the desert and into California.  So, on their next leg of the journey, the stopped in Kingman, Arizona for gas, water, and other necessities for a drive across the desert and set out on their journey west towards Los Angeles.  They left Kingman at dark, and drove through the desert all night, with the car thermometer reading 104.  Before leaving, Grandma took a minute to write home for the first time in a day or two (and it would be another four days before she wrote home again!):

Sat. 6:30


Dear Folks:
   
   We left Grand Canyon about 2:30 this afternoon.  We just had supper here in Kingman, Ariz.  We are now going to cross the desert.  It is about 96 here now. Love, Alberta. 




     There's not much excitement in this part of the trip . . . . crossing the desert at night doesn't lend itself to much, I guess.  I myself, have never driven across the desert for any length of time, but can only imagine the stuffy feeling of four people in a car overnight, and I still marvel at four young women making this trip at that time. They describe their arrival at the state line of California, and how they had to stop at the Port of Entry for an inspection.  This is an interesting concept to me, as there's obviously none of that anymore, but they welcomed the chance to get out of the car and get a cold drink.


    Their trip through the desert ended about 4:00 am, with their arrival in San Bernadino, California, where they pulled over to take a nap and find breakfast.  Between San Bernadino and Los Angeles, they describe seeing lime, grapefruit and orange trees for the first time.  They bought dates from a vendor along the way, which none of the girls had ever tried fresh before.  Once in Los Angeles, they settled in at the Rex Auto Court Apartments and got themselves cleaned up and dressed for Sunday.


    As soon as they were cleaned up and ready to go, it was off to explore LA, baby - first stop on that trip was Forest Lawn Memorial Park.  That's right, a cemetary.  We'll save this exciting day and the rest of their time in the LA area for the next installment - don't worry, it gets more exciting from here!

What does a girl do when she's done riding a Mule to the bottom of the Grand Canyon? Why, Dance, of course!

Alberta Kleinfelder Neilans wasn't, in my lifetime, anyone that you could ever imagine letting loose and cutting the rug.  She owned a radio, a small one, which sat on her kitchen table, and was perpetually tuned to talk radio. There was rarely music in her home.  When she was someplace that music was playing, she never appeared to be particularly stirred by it.  In fact, in thirty eight years of my life, I don't remember her even tapping a toe.  I have one picture of her dancing the obligatory dance with one of her sons at his wedding, and she was barely smiling. Church was the only place that she seemed to enjoy or embrace music at all, singing loudly to her favorite hymns, "The Old Rugged Cross" and "In the Garden".


So, then I read this journal, and discovered that, after a long day of mule riding at the Grand Canyon, the Daughters Courageous cleaned themselves up and put on their dancing shoes.  I thought maybe for a moment that Grandma just went along, but maybe stayed on the sidelines, but, no, she was right out there, dancing with a guy nicknamed Texas.  By the end of the night, Texas was calling her Peaches, and they were planning another evening of dancing the following night.


According to the journal, the girls returned from the mule ride, "dressed in their best bibs and tuckers" and headed to the Bright Angel Lodge for a dance.  Their mule ride added to their "appeal", and they quickly all found dancing partners.  Once the band at the Lodge finished playing at 10:30, the girls took their guys, Texas, Ralph and Herm, and headed to the "Well", which sounds like the local watering hole.  There they taught the boys the Beer Barrel Polka.  The following day they describe as a day of catching up on sleep and laundry, and preparing for their next evening of "tripping the light fantasic" again at the Well.


The group got a late start on the following morning, heading away from the Grand Canyon, but only after "Dr. Texas" helped remove some cactus needles from Miggles' foot.  The Daughters Courageous were on the road again.


There are no pictures in the journal of this day of the trip (hence no pictures on this entry), and Grandma didn't write home to tell her parents of her night of dancing.  No pictures of the guys they danced with, or matchbooks from the Well.  I wish I could have seen my Grandma having what sounds like so much fun.


I have to admit that I enjoy knowing these things about my Grandma.  She always seemed old and wise and stoic, and I always thought she must not have had very much fun in her life.  It's fun to picture her as a pretty, vivacious young woman, letting loose with her girl friends, meeting new people and enjoying herself.  I once asked her if she left any broken hearts along her way during this trip, to which I got the customary "Humph, I don't think so".  Somehow I suspect there was something she wasn't telling me!

Back on the trail

It has been nearly a year since I did any posting here . . . . a year ago I left The Trail of the Gypsy Wagon for the campaign trail.  I managed an unsuccessful but really good for a first try campaign for District Attorney here in Cayuga County.  It was one of those experiences that couldn't help but be a good one, even though the outcome wasn't what we wanted.  After election day, I have taken almost six months to get caught up on projects at home and at work, and am now ready to resume and finish up this project.


In case you have all forgot, I started this blog to go along with the book which contains the journal of my grandmother's trip across America in 1939.  I am hopeful that the book will be ready for publication in the next few months, and plan to pick up the blog posts at the Grand Canyon later this week.  


Thank you all again for reading and following my blog and this journey!  More to come. . . .