Down Memory Lane

While staying near LA we decided to do a little trip down Memory Lane.  We started out the day with a trip to the Los Angeles Temple. 

 

We enjoyed a session in the huge Temple and then visited the remodeled Visitor’s Center.  We saw the ladies as they were taking down the nativity display from the Christmas season so that was a treat for me to see some amazingly beautiful ones.  While watching one video about the building of the Temple there were several spot interviews with John Carmack who was the Stake President when we lived there.  He was the person who actually asked my Dadd when he would be ready to be baptized and my Dadd answered “how about now?” So President Carmack has always been special to our family.  He later became a General Authority and the Director of the Church’s Perpetual Education Fund.

Steve walked over and took this picture of the Temple Apartments where Great Grandma Flossie Guymon lived during the 1970’s and did thousands of endowments. 

We drove to Western Avenue to El Cholos the Mexican restaurant we used to go eat hot tortillas and butter with salsa and drink soda pop after Sunday School on Sunday!  Back in the day when Sacrament Meeting was later in the afternoon and there were no laws against buying stuff on Sunday!! My, my I am old!!

Then we took some pictures of the old Wilshire Ward which now has a sign in the front saying Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Korean as well as in English.  There is a big iron fence all around so we could not get very close.  The neighborhood actually looked still really good and well kept up.

 

Then we drove up to 823 S Citrus where we lived from 1965 until Mother passed away and it was sold in 1990.  I walked up to ask if we could take a picture of the outside and the lady came out and acted like we were old time best friends when I said I used to live in this home.  She asked if I was part of the Stockman family and how much they loved the home.  The front porch that was there when we lived there was gone and the front door was back in the original spot entering directly to the front room rather than into the little room to the side.  The big magnolia tree was gone and the owner explained it had died when they removed the porch and the cement got stacked on the roots.  The tree they had replaced it with had died last summer and they have not decided how to replace it yet.

She invited us in to see “our” home and called her son age 22 or so to give us the tour as she had to leave with her daughter.  The husband/father came home while were still there and was very talkative about the house and how much they loved it.  He is a TV producer and has made an office out of the garage and also made a rather fabulous waterfall feature against the wall on the north side of the backyard. 

The lady is a costume designer for mostly theatre and uses the basement as a sewing space.  They removed the old furnace that took most of that area when we lived there to be replaced by something more modern and smaller.  It was nice to see they loved the home so much even though it was super cluttered and helter-skelter they seemed super happy with it.  The main bathroom that was white tile is now purple tile everywhere.  The kitchen had been updated and a nice big restaurant type stove installed on the wall where there used to be a second door out into the hallway. (that never made any sense)

It was all very nostalgic for me.  I am glad we got to go.

We decided to visit the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library which is not too far from where we were staying near Aunt Karen’s.  It was VERY interesting and we really enjoyed it even though it was super crowded from people still there from the Rose Parade & Game.

Picture made from Jelly Belly Beans which were his favorite candy

 

 

 

There was a lot of interesting history about Ronald Reagan when he was a radio announcer and with the General Electric Company traveling around meeting people at plants all across the country for his job.  He also worked president of the Screen Actors Guild keeping communists out of the movie industry and then Governor of California.  Then there was lots of information about when he was President – the great communicator.  Of course it was all biased in favor of his view of history but it seemed like we could use a little bit of taking responsibility and not putting the government ever further in debt today.

 

 

One of the most impressive things there was the actual piece of the Berlin Wall that was torn down while Reagan was President. 

There was also a life size replica of the oval office set up like it was when he was there.

And a real Air Force One that you could walk through!

 

All in all VERY IMPRESSIVE!

New Year's in California

We arrived at our “in town” RV park next to the Van Nuys airport in the San Fernando Valley and could not believe our eyes at how tight those trailers of all shapes and sizes were packed in there.  You had to unhook right by the office and then the manager hooked on a forklift and maneuvered your rig into the spot he had assigned you. 

 

 It was a little community with a few spots for transients like us.  There were lots of trees and flowers and even all these cool screens between the trailers with murals on them.  See left of trailer.

 

Each vehicle like our pick-up had its assigned parking place.  Nothing like the camping we are used to for sure!

Karen & Tom’s house was just about 15 minutes straight down the main road so that was a great location.  We enjoyed their fabulous hospitality and cute grandkids for New Year’s Eve.  We even used our pick-up to make a run to IKEA to pick up a shelving unit for Karen to store the toys for the grandkids in.  Wow we had to park in a parking terrace and then move into the merchandise pick-up area only when you had your receipt!! Everything is different in the big city.  I was amazed to see at the Home Depot by our trailer park all these Hispanic guys hanging around all of the parking lot exits.  Tom educated me they are waiting for someone to need LABOR to complete the project they just bought the stuff for and then the guy goes home with them and they pay him to do their work.  I have never seen that at the Home Depot in Logan!!

Sue & Ken surprised Steve & I with some extra tickets for the grandstand for the Rose Parade and even tickets for the Rose Bowl itself because they were involved with the Rotary float.  Aunt Karen our normal parade tour guide was happy to stay home because her visiting kids were leaving that day and she had help to put together her IKEA shelf before all of them left.  We had to meet Sue & Ken at their hotel in Pasadena at 5:15 am.  We were so worried about the traffic we got up at 3:45 and then of course got there half an hour early and just dozed off in the truck until they came down.  We did some fancy driving to get the parking garage where we would leave Ken’s car and then some lady picked us up from the parking garage and took us to where we could walk to the grandstand on Orange Ave right where the parade started before it turns to go down Colorado past the TV cameras.  The tickets included the program and all the Krispy Crème donuts, juice, hot chocolate, coffee you wanted.  We were all bundled up in our warm coats and blankets because we had to sit there for an hour to wait for the start of the parade.  The families of the Stanford football players were all sitting up behind us.

The floats always amaze me with their beauty and intricate designs. 

 

All the flowers are just fabulous.

 

The bands are terrific and at this location all were playing as they moved toward the cameras for TV.  I never get tired of seeing the Rose parade although I think I would give up the Donuts for a little more sleep even though you see the parade at the end instead of the beginning.  We did get to see the little boy run out to greet his Dad when he came off the float and surprised his family by winning a contest to come home from being deployed in Afghanistan for a trip to Disneyland for a week.  That brought a tear to everyone’s eye for sure.

There were people everywhere calling folks to repentance often very loudly using air horns. 

 

The freedom of speech was definitely alive and well everywhere you turned.  At the end of the parade many sidewalk preachers with big signs rushed out to start following until Rose Parade officials stepped out to stop them.  At the Rose Bowl the preachers were out in force again.  Ken & I were lucky to have one of them present us with this fabulous card I have scanned for your amusement!

 

 

The football game was amazing as well.  We walked back about a 1.5 miles to the parking garage and took off all our heavy coats and left our blankets and just took our jackets and then got in the LONG line for the shuttle to the Rose Bowl.  Right next to parking structure there were RV’s parked.  Dad & I thought that would be easier – we could sleep in - until we saw the price for two nights $500 or $600 to stay there. 

 

This was my first big time college football game except for BYU back in the day and you really can’t compare the two.  The fans around us were funny, the Wisconsin band was awesome and the Stanford band was ridiculous.  The game was exciting at first but then there were a lot of mistakes.  All in all the spectacle of it was amazing. 

 

Then we got back in line yet again and waited about an hour to get back on the shuttle bus to the parking garage.  I guess we should have left early like everyone else but then we would have just had to wait in line to get out of the parking garage or to get on the freeway.  When there are about 100,000 people there are bound to be a lot of lines.  We got back to our trailer about 10 o’clock pm.  That was an action packed day for old folks like us!!