Pacific Palisades

March, 1990

Another house, another baby!

588 Radcliffe Avenue was a tiny, one story white colonial style cottage with a white picket fence surrounding a small front yard.   We had a tiny view of the ocean.   In 1987 the house was bought by another owner who remodeled adding a 2nd story.

Now that we were in  Pacific Palisades, Dr. Leslie Spicer became my OB and delivered the magic of a first born son on April 6, 1955.   We named the baby boy Richard, after my only brother, and Michael, after his father.  My brother was his godfather and took his commitment seriously.   He treated him like the son he  never had.  From the time Richard M. was old enough to fly alone on the plane to Houston, Godfather had a ticket for a week’s visit each summer. Pop Martini arrived within minutes of his first grandson’s birth and presented “that Irish girl” with a diamond watch! Dicky was born just two weeks after Eileen’s first birthday, so we call them our Irish twins!

In 1956 we moved to a larger house at 717 Via de la Paz and then added a family room and a girl’s suite. This house had a lovely ocean view and the advantage of walking to town and school.

Dick and Eileen were very  blonde with hazel eyes. They played so nicely together and all through school were best friends.  Some of the neighbor friends were the Fritzsche boys, Billy and Jamie, the Beamish boy Phil, and Eileen’s ice skating friend Mir Mir Alvey.

An elderly Irish lady named Miss Byrnes baby sat for us and when Grandma Grace took over the job, Miss Byrnes began sitting for Dolores Fritzsche. Winnie Byrnes was famous for children’s afternoon tea!

Another house…

We were living at 717 Via de la Paz when James Christopher was born.  He was 9 lbs., 13 oz. and 23″ in length. The OB’s famous words as he delivered Jimmy were “darn these football shoulders!”

I now had 5 children born in 1950, 51, 54, 55, and 59. Baby  Jimmy was too big to fit into any of the little size 3 month  baby clothes, but he ate and slept like a  3 month old.    He was a beautiful child.  His sister Barbara adopted and  mothered him.  To this day he calls her on the phone to check the Sunday crossword puzzle.

Jimmy was dark haired and really looked Italian.    Unfortunately my father-in-law died three months before Jimmy was born. For this was surely “his” Italian grandson! But one time in his twenties Jim grew a beard and it had shadings of dark red.  So I think a little black Irish is a part of Jim.  But don’t tell Pop Martini!

Adventures in the Life of Jimmy

One day his big brother Dick and friend Billy F. were climbing on a 7 ft. trellis gate.       Jimmy, with me about 5 feet behind, toddled toward the gate where the boys were climbing. (Who ever heard of a 5 year old opening a gate when it could be climbed!)

Before my eyes the gate fell forward crunching toddler Jimmy beneath it.   Blood was spurting from his head. I’m no nurse but I guess mothers are made to remain calm and then later become hysterical!   Somehow I got Dicky and Billy off the fallen gate; lifted the trellis; and finally reached poor Jimmy!  I washed off the blood and stopped its flow, then headed up the street to my husband’s office.  Here he received REAL medical care and stitches.

Random Memories:

 

That house on Via de la Paz witnessed childhood diseases and much imaginative play in the large enclosed front patio. I gave many creative birthday parties for the children in that house.  Eileen’s “dress up for tea” party.   Dicky’s party where the boys searched for the treasure by following cardboard footprints.

Neighbor Mrs. Smythe spent many days complaining about her husband … they finally divorced. He could not accept the fact that their little girl was retarded.

We sat on our back stoop and watched Sputnik go overhead.

Jim toddling toward me one night with a jagged broken glass. Stay calm, Elaine…it’s only ten feet before you get to him. Pray God Jim doesn’t fall and scar his face!

Across Via de la Paz the tiny Calvary Church began a building program.  The vacant parking lot where my children learned to ride their two wheel bikes, was replaced by a    large Sanctuary and rumors were that another lot would contain church offices, and a pre school. General Telephone Company put up a large building with an office open to the public, and The Post Office moved from Swarthmore (Mort’s is there now).  I felt it was no longer a “safe” walk to Corpus Christi school, so we started house hunting again.    We found a convenient area – the Huntington Palisades. Our house at 741 Ocampo Drive was a short two block walk to Corpus Christi School and Church, the Palisades Park, the library, the bus on Sunset, and the center of town. I seldom had to carpool. Oh,  but it was…

Another House, so “All Together Now”…. Another Baby.

Almost four years after Jimmy’s birth, a third son was born on April 13, 1963.  I decided never, never, to move again. Joseph Patrick was #6 and the caboose.    He was supposed to be named Mario but one look at this blonde, curly haired son with blue eyes like mine and I said Maximillian, maybe, but not Mario! (Maximillian was my Grandfather Krueger’s name.) Since Joe was going to be  a “large” newborn, Dr. Spicer decided it would be wise to induce labor two weeks early. Even so, Joey at birth was 8 lbs., 13 oz. He is now 6 ft. tall and still has his blonde curly hair and the blue eyes.

I wouldn’t trade any of my children, but will it be safe to move ever again? I can see the headlines now: “Fertile 80 year old woman has baby.”

Let my thoughts travel back to 1963… I now have six children and the house at 741 Ocampo Dr. in the Huntington where we live today (1990.) Here is the story of how fate moved us into this house. We needed a larger home and like many parishioners of Corpus Christi School and Church we wanted to live in “The” Huntington, because of it’s nearness to everything. We went into a 3 month’s escrow on a house in the 600 block of Ocampo.  Unlike our other two smaller houses, it had no ocean view but the breakfast room had a restful mountain view.  The master bedroom suite with connecting bath was what I had always wanted.  We easily sold our house at 717 Via de la Paz to an older couple who had originally bid on the house at the time we purchased it. Now it was near the close of escrow and I was getting the runaround from the real estate woman.  I decided to call the lady who was selling the house to see when she was moving.  I wanted to make moving van arrangements.  She was so surprised and said, “Didn’t the real estate agent tell you about the IRS putting a large lien on the house? This has to be cleared     before the sale goes through!”

Investigation proved the fact that we might be homeless in a few weeks. The sisters at the convent across the street from where we now live jokingly said we could pitch our tents in their backyard.  Many friends were frantically calling with tips.  The new homes were being built up in the hills…very nice houses but that meant car pooling. The sweet couple who had bought our house offered to look for another place for themselves There was a waiting list of Catholics wanting to live in the Huntington area.

Finally in desperation, we bought a 2 bedroom and den home with large rooms and a good sized back yard. Our intention was to knock down the small breakfast room and add on a large family room. We added two bedrooms at the other side of the house, thus doing away with the master bedroom suite.  The architect designed it so temporary walls could come down and we’d later regain our master bedroom. But children keep coming back home. When we retire and move maybe I’ll get my master bedroom suite.

This house proved to be the better arrangement than the original selection because Joe was born and 3 girls and 3 boys would not fit well in a four bedroom house. With our present house temporary walls divided large rooms into small individual rooms. So for a time we had 7 bedrooms. Our neighbors were very nice and many still live on the same block, such as the Norm Serra’s.

Making Best Friends in Pacific Palisades

There was a club of 90 members called the Pacific Palisades Jr. Women’s Club.  It was ideal for us many mothers who cared for our children days. On Tuesday nights, we enjoyed the camaraderie of  friends.  It was here that I met Vonnie Rood Flowers and her sister-in-law, Patricia Rood. Also Norma McLaurie McQuade, Pat Crum,  Gloria Laing, and Andrea Harvey.  Norma, Pat, Gloria and I enjoyed once a week bridge at our homes with the pre-school children playing and fighting in a nearby play area.

Unfortunately, the population of the Palisades has often been a moving one!  Pat and Lee Crum moved to northern CA as their children chose that area for college and to live. Andrea Harvey and her husband sold Marquez Liquor and moved to Dana Point.  Norma and Bud moved to the Zuma Beach area. Later, Norma divorced and  remarried. She now lives in Camarillo. Gloria and Bill Laing moved to Corona del Mar. They fought the marriage of only daughter Connie to a professor older than her father. Gloria and Bill divorced and Bill remarried and moved to Florida.  Gloria finally was reunited with her daughter and got to enjoy her granddaughter for a year prior to her death.

But  the  saddest  loss  was  that  of  my  very best friend Pat Rood. We had our first sons just three days apart at  St.  John’s  Hospital.  Just  a  few  month’s  later, death took my friend Pat. She and John were  relaxing in  Laguna  Beach.  They  were  in  the water when a huge wave tossed Pat onto a rock.  Her pancreas was ruptured and she died within a month. She was only 28. John was left with a 4 year old girl and a 3 month old boy.   Before  the year  was out  he married  Jean. They had 3 more boys and 2 girls.

My golf group all moved on. The newest attrition is due to sale of homes and  retirement to Palm Desert and other areas. But I do have some very nice friends who have continued to live in P.P.