October, 1989
Normandie Avenue
We arrived in L.A. at a time when postwar rent-controlled housing was very hard to find. Fortunately for us, my father-in-law, a tailor, made a gift of two suits to our soon to be landlord. Surprise! A vacancy occurred in a bungalow court owned by Mr. Monteleone. The bungalows faced each other across a green walkway.
The little bungalow came furnished with the help of St. Vincent de Paul. We had an 8 x 10 side yard…with ground as hard as the cement driveways on both sides of us. The living room had a pretty 1920’s wall of built ins. I often served dinner for two on a tea cart in this room. This small room had a built in Murphy bed (a bed that folded up into the wall.) My parents slept here when they visited us that first Christmas 1949. When the bed was lowered, tinsel from the Christmas tree tickled the noses of the sleepers.
On the morning of March 15, 1950 Mike said, “I think the baby may come today.” Then after handing me the book I was reading, he went off to work at County General Hospital. After two hours I hadn’t gotten past paragraph #1 because my mind was too busy worrying about other things like the timing of labor pains. We were staying with Grace and Mike. Their dog Pancho had been faithfully sitting by my bed, guarding me I guess. About 1:00 PM Grace suggested she call the doctor. Then she called a taxi and we set off for St. Vincent’s Hospital on 3rd near Vermont. The cab driver said, “Ladies, shall I go fast or slow?” In 1950 the patients were given a sedative before the delivery. I really went out “boom” since I had never had a sedative before in my life. In the delivery room I had a shot in the _____. Dr. Hanley delivered a pretty little baby girl – Kathleen Marie.
The bedroom in our bungalow had enough space for a double bed and a three drawer chest. When Kathleen was born we considered letting her sleep in a drawer but finally found that a small bassinet could be placed atop the bureau. The kitchen had a table and benches that came down from the wall. Pity the person on the far side if the phone was for them! What a quandary …climb under the table or clear dishes etc. to swing the table back up into the wall. The ironing board also came down from the wall.
After 10 months at 1411 ¾ N. Normandie Ave. we moved to one of the larger bungalows and used the dining room as such and as a nursery. I was so proud of myself; I made a large drapery to close off the arched L.R. – D.R. area and lined the nursery side with a bright yellow child’s style print. I remember we painted the worn 1920’s linoleum in the kitchen where I spent many hours sterilizing baby bottles & making formula. It was fun “playing house” with little Kathy. I can remember the elaborate project of bathing the baby. (I had attended a Red Cross class so I’d not be afraid.) After one hectic morning of bottles and baby bathing, my door bell rang. With frazzled nerves I answered only to be confronted by a stranger who reprimanded me because I was not caring for the wild kittens who unknown to me had been born under my front porch!
By this time I had gotten my California driver’s license. If I wanted to use our only car, I had to drive Mike down to County General Hospital and then pick him up again. I’d get in the middle lane of Sunset and pray all the way!
San Antonio? Monterey
When we celebrated the six month birthday of our firstborn, Kathleen Marie at this address, I suspected I was pregnant. The next week we started packing. President Truman decided to send troops to Korea and Uncle Sam wanted Navy Reserve Doctors for duty in the Korean Conflict!
Mike, a Naval Reserve officer, was called back to duty. His orders called for three months orientation at an army hospital in San Antonio. We packed our possessions, bought a port-a-crib for the back seat of our almost new Studebaker car, and headed off to Texas by way of the Grand Canyon, Painted Desert, Carlsbad Caverns and El Paso. We spent a week in San Antonio with cousin Mary Pat Stephenson. Then suddenly new orders back to Fort Ord outside Monterey, CA. The government had sent the majority of their army doctors to Mash units in Korea and decided to replace their state side army posts with Naval Reserve Doctors. So the port-a-crib went back into the Studebaker automobile and we (like Mary & Joseph in the Bible) returned by another route! What a mistake! It was a hot miserable journey.
We spent much of the journey stopping for cold ice cream to ease my morning sickness! THEN the baby got a miserable case of diarrhea. Can you visualize me hanging over the back seat of the car trying to change a most inadequate style of disposable diaper! I vaguely remember getting across the desert in the early a.m. and coming into San Bernardino. I thought, “Thank you Lord, we are home.” But no, it was Mid October; no freeway; no air conditioning; and a million little towns to drive through before we reached 6211 Maryland Drive. Pop and Grace welcomed us to their home and offered to care for baby Kathy while we drove up to Monterey and looked for housing. There was nothing available at Fort Ord so we settled for one-half a Quonset hut…even smaller than our first home. Kathy learned to walk and talk and Mommy Elaine began wearing maternity clothes again.
Fort Ord had a wonderful Officer’s Club where we ate many family meals. Kathy spent her first Christmas in Seaside. Her Daddy dressed up in a makeshift Santa Claus outfit . We enjoyed 4 months in the Monterey area. Then Uncle Sam said navy officers were needed at the Marine base at Camp Pendleton. Once again, we packed up with the help of pre-paid movers this time.
Carlsbad
Our destination – Southern California. We rented a lovely 2 bedroom house on 1/4 acre of land, with avocado trees and a vegetable garden in the sleepy town of Carlsbad. (No freeway passed through it in 1951.) We attended Mass at a very tiny Catholic Church called St. Patrick’s. It was a peaceful, rural (fresh eggs from our neighbors up the block) community. The big excitement in the two square block downtown was watching the Southern Pacific train roar by and snatch the mailbag which was hung on an extended pole. Wow!
Another St Louis friend , Gerry Maguire Johnson called to say her husband had been recalled to the Marines and they’d be living in Oceanside. We each had a small child and were expecting. So things were not too lonely. Our mutual college friend and my Kathy’s godmother came down from L.A. to visit. My parents came out in February. We played the popular card game, Canasta while it rained and rained! The Martini grandparents would often drive down or we’d drive up to L.A. Again, there was no freeway. We discovered this clever back way out of San Juan Capistrano that later became the new freeway to San Diego!
It was here in Carlsbad that we bought our first television set in 1951. It had to have a 30 foot telescoping pole antenna attached by guy lines to the 4 corners of the house. Many a windy night we could hear it swaying. Would the house pull loose?
On June 15, 1951 we hurriedly (with sheets and towels at the ready) drove 20 miles to the Santa Margarita Marine Hospital. Again this Irish girl did not give Grandpa Martini his male heir! I had given life to a beautiful, dark haired little girl whom we named Barbara Elaine. She was baptized at tiny St. Patrick’s Church in Carlsbad. Sadly it has been sold and a new St. Patrick’s Church now serves a much larger town bisected by the freeway. The little house with a second story addition is still there just behind the City Hall at 2992 Elmwood.
St. Louis
When Barbara was 6 weeks old, the Navy sent orders for Mike to join a mine sweeper squadron in the China Sea. Each grandmother watched a baby while Mike and I traveled north to San Francisco, via Yosemite Valley, and we said our good byes. It was to be 16 months before we saw each other again. My mother and I with 16 month old Kathy and 6 week old Barbara traveled by train to St. Louis.
The girls and I shared a bedroom at my folks home. Deja vu: Kathy and her two little girls have lived with us for almost 3 years. Looking back I wonder at my parent’s generosity in sharing their home at 7278 Bruno Ave in Richmond Heights, MO. I now understand why my father left at baby crying times to (ahem) go get the paper!
Mike and I wrote daily letters to each other, I watched a new comedy show on TV called “I Love Lucy” and I enjoyed seeing again my college girl friends. My Dad used to read to Kathy every evening as Barbara watched from her playpen. As soon as Barbara could crawl, she pulled herself and a book over to Grandpa. She still is a lover of books. Having an ice cream cone with Grandpa was a special treat. My cousin, Shirley Stephenson Leetun, also had two girls about the same ages, Linda Jeanne and Barbara Ann.
San Francisco
It was a long separation and when Mike returned to the USA, they would not allow him to use his accrued vacation time for his last six weeks before discharge. Instead, he was assigned to Treasure Island in the San Francisco area. With Mother and Dad coming along to help with the small toddlers, I drove our Studebaker #2 to Denver, Colorado. Mike met us in Denver. Mother and Dad took the train back to St. Louis and as the reunited Martini family of four we completed the drive to San Francisco.
We lived in a 2nd floor motel room with small kitchenette on Lombard St. We were near Mary and cousin Frank Bonura in the Marina area of San Francisco. Our daily long walk was to the Fine Arts park. To pass the weeks, we spent most evenings with the Bonuras watching TV. I felt very ignored and often in anger went out to the car and just drove around thinking. You might say this “bump” in our marriage was caused by my new found independence made necessary by Mike’s long absence. I would never be a 1950’s submissive wife again.
Barbara, now 16 months old found it difficult to accept this strange man in our family. If Mike and I came close to kiss or hug, she’d squirm between us and push him away. It took weeks before she’d let him pick her out of her crib. Kathy, at three years old, was most happy with Daddy. She knew who he was because when his ship would return briefly to Japan, Kathy would talk to him on the phone. Well, maybe those bribes of M&M candies helped!
Wyvernwood
Those long two years apart were now behind us and we headed back to L.A. so Mike could resume his pediatric residency at L.A. General. Hospital. We rented a lovely townhouse with a small fenced yard in an area of East L.A. called “Wyvernwood.” All the six unit townhouses faced out on park-like lawns and connecting walkways with garages around the exterior. It was about 15 minutes from the hospital and many Hospital Resident families lived here, so we made many lasting friendships. (Forty years later the Santa Ana Freeway now edges past this not so savory area.) [Editor’s note: 60+ years later, Wyvernwood has been rebuilt and is marketing itself as the new Wyvernwood Gardens]
We had even saved enough money to buy some real furniture…not family cast offs! Our bedroom set was blonde mahogany – the “in” style of the early fifties. Our living room furniture was Sears Western. When Mike had to work on Sunday, to get to church with our one car, I’d have to rise early enough to attend Mass by 7:00 AM. This was at a tiny Mission church and the service was in Latin and Spanish.
Our first attempt to have another child ended in a miscarriage, but I soon got pregnant again. Despite Mabel (my first and best cleaning lady) helping me with cleaning and child care, I became very tired during this difficult pregnancy. One day I put the girls down for their naps and I fell asleep in my room. They got a bottle of cough syrup down from a high shelf and had a “tea party.” Ipecac syrup had not been marketed as yet, so we three ended up in a city emergency ambulance, siren screaming as we careened through downtown L.A. during rush hour traffic on our way to Hollenbeck Station. The doctor on duty insisted I remain in the waiting room while they pumped the girl’s stomachs. Mike was on call and could not leave his hospital. I alone got to listen to police arrests at the station. One mother, whose son was in a holding cell, kept saying in broken Spanish “Why did you come after me with a jagged beer bottle? I would have given you some money.” After an hour of observation, the doctor allowed me to take my children home. I called a cab and headed home at about 9 PM. The cab driver was a black man and insisted on helping me carry the girls inside. I must admit I was frightened and very tired. To add to the problem we were leaving for a St. Louis vacation next day. I had no dryer and all the clothes on the line had gotten wet again. I suppose I just packed them wet.
Child #3 Mary Eileen wanted to arrive after only 8 months. I was so nervous that I’d deliver her instantly. We had moved temporarily to my in-laws house. At 8-1/2 months Dr. Hanley decided to try inducing labor. Eighteen hours later, Mary Eileen was born. Pop Martini only made small wagers on the masculinity of this child. Yep, that Irish, German daughter-in-law had borne another girl–5 lbs, 14 oz. Mary Eileen was born in March, 1954 and we moved in June to Pacific Palisades and Mike’s new practice in Pediatrics with Dr. Ted Russell. We bought a very small house for $12,000 at 588 Radcliffe.
Elaine's Memoirs 