At the time of my birth, my parents were living in Burbank, California, home to film studios and Lockheed Aircraft. Both my Mom and Dad worked at Lockheed — my Dad was a sales engineer, and my Mom checked the updated blueprints for the airplanes. You remember that film called The Aviator when Howard Hughes (played by Leonardo Di Caprio) keeps asking, “show me the blueprints, show me the blueprints?” So, yea they had a blueprint department and my mom worked there. Well, anyway, my Dad noticed her and he would send her little inter-departmental messages, and finally, he got a lunch date with her — and a game of badminton. Eventually, they got married. When my Mom was pregnant with me, she continued working at Lockheed, but surprise surprise, she discovered that pregnancy did not agree with her. She became terribly sick and the family doctor (my Uncle Bill) had to give her I.V.s to compensate for all the barfing — the “hyperemesis gravidarum” (which means “excessive vomiting during pregnancy.”) My mom always told me that she had to take her lunch to work — a brown paper bag with cold pancakes.
My dad worked at Lockheed because he liked airplanes and he had a bachelor’s degree in engineering from USC. He even wanted to be a pilot, that is until he went on one too many check-flights — you see one time he was in the jump seat by the emergency exit, and the door flew open. That was it for him, and he never flew again until I was 18 years old when we took a family vacation to Hawaii. He was a wreck before each flight, disappearing until we boarded the plane. I wasn’t sure he would show up. He had this saying he learned at Lockheed about aircraft repair: “Bang it to fit, paint it to match.” I guess he realized how flimsy a plane can look, sometimes I feel that way when I’m seated in the plane and it rattles and rolls down the runway.
The small Hollywood Burbank airport would later be called the Bob Hope Airport since comedian Bob Hope had a big 5.2-acre homestead in nearby Toluca Lake. He and his wife Dolores lived there from 1930 until Bob died in 2003. He lived to be 100 years old. My parents loved to watch Bob’s comedy acts. Later, when I was married, my Mom became friends with Dolores Hope, and they exchanged gifts during the holidays. Dolores would send my Mom a box of chocolate-covered marshmallows with caramel from Schwartz Candies. As I write this memory, I have a sudden urge for those chocolates — but alas, they are in New York, and shipping during the summer is not a great idea. So instead, I ordered up some Sees Candy — scotchmallows which are about the same deliciousness. Sees is another childhood memory.
My Dad, being a golfer, would take us to the Bob Hope PGA Pro-Am Desert Classic Golf Tournament every February in Palm Springs, California. I loved going every February — and it often landed on my birthday. My Dad admired pro golfer, Billy Casper, and they were friends. Casper won the Desert Classic tournament in 1965 and 1969. The Pro-Am tournament had one day of golf where the amateurs played in a foursome with one of the pro golfers and usually some movie star type. I have a lot of photos from my Dad’s golf days, standing with a golf club in hand, the foursome dressed in their typical golf clothes of the day. The mock turtleneck was a favorite, as was the Izod V-neck sweater in bright colors.
The Leader Board, Bob Hope Classic, Billy Casper in the center, my mom in a white dress to the left with my dad in his mock turtle neck and dark glasses.
My Dad would spend his days at the tournament, and my Mom, sisters, and I would enjoy the pools and mineral springs where we stayed at “The Spa Hotel.” We would walk the entire Palm Springs strip and go into every store. One year, I remember waiting in a long line at this funky little cafe called Louise’s Pantry — and this hippie guy came up and asked me to go to the Falls in Tahquitz Canyon with him. I declined. I was probably 14 or 15 years old — which would make it 1968 – 1969 — but at any age, I would have said “no.” After we got a seat inside at a booth, Mr. Hippie guy came around to the window by our table and peered in at me. Creepy. I guess Palm Springs had an influx of Hippies during those years. Even Jim Morrison went for a swim at Tahquitz Falls.
I can’t remember what they served up in the Pantry, but I seem to recall “home-style cooking” — like macaroni and cheese, potatoes and gravy. Meals in the 1960s were not as creative or as healthy as today. I was a bit of a fussy eater too — I did not like hamburgers or tacos or even pizza. I liked creamy noodles. I guess they were serving up something else at the Falls.
The Agua Caliente Tribe owned the Spa Hotel, and they have since demolished it and are building a museum and mineral springs spa. Some of the people weren’t happy about the demolition of an architectural-historical building, but so it goes. I found some old photos of The Spa and a link to the new construction. You can read that at the bottom of this post.
Louise’s Pantry, Palm Springs, CA
Inside Louise’s Pantry, we were sitting at a booth by the windows.
Palm Springs, CA 1950’s
The Spa Hotel, Palm Springs, circa the 1960s
Movie stars decided to make their home in North Hollywood, Burbank, and in the community of Toluca Lake. Ronald Reagan and Nancy had their wedding reception in 1952 in William Holden’s Toluca Lake home. Bing Crosby moved there as well. And oh yes, we went to the Bing Crosby Golf Tournament in Pebble Beach every January too. No sunbathing there, it was always cold, but we walked up and down the main street in Carmel-by-the-sea, visiting all the stores and bakeries. I don’t know why, but they had some incredible bakeries back then. I remember little pink boxes of petit-fours and other chocolatey tasty morsels. It was a beautiful town, and Doris Day lived there for a long time, also Clint Eastwood.
One year we ducked into this small cottage-like store and bought pigskin gloves. Those were the days when women wore gloves — you know those old Doris Day movies when she wears gloves? I don’t think I ever had the occasion to wear them, but they were divine. I felt very grown-up. Actually, I wore white gloves with my Girl Scout uniform, but they were not the fine leather ones from Carmel. After buying the gloves, we sat down at a restaurant, the waitress greeted us and brought us our water and menus, we looked at the menu, and we could not find anything we wanted for lunch — maybe there was no mac and cheese, so we got up and left. I remember feeling so scandalous, leaving without ordering. “Is it OK, can we really just leave?” We hurried down the sidewalk making our big getaway until we heard the waitress calling after us — gee this was embarrassing — we were caught leaving before ordering! “Miss… Miss… you forgot your gloves!” It turned out we left our gloves on the table, and she was scurrying after us to return them. Even more embarrassing.
Carmel by the Sea, little shops
Shopping in Carmel-by-the-Sea
Sometimes it was raining in Carmel; after all, it was January — the rainiest season for California. We always stayed at the Jade Tree Inn — a motel with Japanese design (now it’s the Carmel Bay View Inn.) But one year, when only my parents went to the tournament, a burglar broke into their room and stole a locket that had belonged to my Mom’s grandma. That was sad, and sometimes I wonder where that heirloom ended up. Who wants an engraved pendant that says to
“To Sussy on her 66th birthday” with a picture of her and him inside. Oh, my mom really cried. She wanted to go to all the fences … I still remember what it looked like because my Mom would let us go through her jewelry box at her dressing table.
The Jade Tree Inn, Carmel by the Sea, CA
Golf was a big part of my experience growing up, and my Dad signed me up for golf lessons with the pro at Oakmont Country Club. I was in 9th grade, and every Tuesday night, I had a lesson at the driving range with the pro golfer named Ted. I remember getting blisters right through my golf glove, and Ted told me I needed to toughen up my hands. My Dad was always there with me, talking about golf with Ted, and I would practice with my nine iron or my seven iron until I could land every shot in about the same place.
One day my Dad included me in a golf tournament as part of the foursome. It was one of those tournaments where everyone shot, and then you moved your ball to the best shot in the foursome — that was perfect for me since I was precise with the Irons but crappy with the Driver. On one hole, I happened to get closest to the pin — my big achievement in golf. I couldn’t believe it, but my ball just flew to within inches of the cup. At the dinner, that night, the master of ceremonies announced my name and success, and I won something, a radio, I think. Portable transistor radios were the big thing. That was the only tournament I played. I kind of lost interest in those weekly golf lessons. Plus, it was uncool to be a woman golfer back in the 1960s. I was always a little embarrassed when a boy asked me to go to a party in 9th grade — “Ah, sorry, I have golf lessons.” It worked out well because there is no way in hell that my Dad would let me go to a party.
In 1955, when I was one year old, my parents were building our home on the other side of Burbank and the Verdugo Mountains in a community near La Crescenta, and Montrose called Whiting Woods.
It was part of the city of Glendale but on the other side of the mountain. We lived here about 10 years, then my parents built our next home just down the street when I was about 11 years old. I lived there until I got married at age 23. Whenever I go back to visit, I either drive or fly into — Bob Hope Airport once again renamed Hollywood Burbank Airport, as of 2017. (Though the FAA is still referring to it as the Bob Hope Airport.) The old comedians — Bob Hope and Bing Crosby are becoming names of the past.
Building my home in the Verdugo Mountains of Whiting Woods, 1955
Preservationists taken by surprise as demolition begins on Wexler’s Palm Springs Spa Hotel
