CALIFORNIA DIARY - 1951
CALIFORNIA DIARY - 1951
SUNDAY, 8/19/51: Went to Grandma's at 7PM, met Jimmy, and sat and talked 'til 11PM. Slept in Edward's bed with Jimmy---at least I TRIED to sleep. I heard the clock in the dining room strike eleven times and then the half hour. Helen and Jimmy got to bed as the clock struck twelve. Again it struck the half hour and once more---one o'clock. I dozed off only to awake to hear the clock chime three, then, infinitely later, the half hour struck, and then the alarm rang and I scurried over the bed to shut it off. So began the first part of a promising trip to California.
MONDAY, 8/20/51: Up at 4AM, eat 4:30, leave at 5AM. Very dark. Helen and I started in the '47 Pontiac. Jimmy and Jim in '51 Buick. Trip uneventful until it got light at 6:30AM. Went west through various small villages that were still asleep. The things that impressed me most were the number of birds, cows, bulls, chickens, ducks, geese, pigs, sheep, horses, dogs, and roosters I saw. Also the very beautiful buildings from the ornateness and sheer massiveness of the palatial residences on the outskirts of towns to the fantastically beautiful and colorful modernistic homes with windows for walls, marble for shingles, and beautiful flower arrangements on the exceptionally green lawns to the Baroque grotesquery of the town halls and courthouses and meeting places of various communities. We detoured three small times, had lunch at a roadside park, passed over the Mississippi and viewed Bowling Green University with its breathtakingly rose beauty. Got here and ate in Bishop's cafeteria, wonderful, and bed. DIARY: Trip rather nauseating. At 8:30 Helen asked me to look through about ten maps to find the best route, what villages to go through. After looking through all the many maps in the glove compartment and finding absolutely nothing pertaining to the Indiana route, I was thoroughly sick and dizzy, and I felt as though I would vomit at any minute. That, I think, ruined my entire day because I was too dizzy to enjoy the scenery. Et ost pecunoribusque. END: Cedar Rapids, Iowa. At the Roosevelt Hotel, Room 1210. Nice room, double bed---got souvenirs from the room---'bout stripped it bare. Went to bed at 10:00 up at 4:00. Slept pretty good.
TUESDAY, 8/21/51: Roosevelt phone rang at 4AM as we ordered and we arose and started another day of our trip. The beginning was uneventful; the hills leveled into the Great Plains and we crossed the Missouri and went from Iowa into Nebraska (Omaha) and thence to Boy's Town from there. DIARY: Boy's Town outside of Omaha Nebraska. A very beautiful place. The houses were big but spic-and-span and the schools and shops and gyms and monuments looked newly built in spite of the bird's nest peeping out behind the letters on the entrance monument beautiful and neat. We visited the shops and display rooms and I got the surprise of my life. There were the usual displays of souvenirs and crafts but in the inner room was the town's stamp collection. In huge glass display boards arranged solidly packed on a wall like pages of a book were first day covers, blocks of the first US issues, double SHEETS of the Farley imperfs, COMPLETE sheets of ALL kinds, Famous Americans and sheets and blocks. All the regular and airmail stamps ever issued. A really IMPRESSIVE collection. I got tired (slept only 6 hours) and went to sleep at 1:30PM after lunch under a tree in the Pontiac and slept 'til we got to Bill Cody's place and took pictures by the oxen. The country got awfully level then hilly again. We arrived in North Platte Nebraska at 7:30PM, wandered around town, bathed, and slept. DIARY: Rather boring trip today. Nothing much. Boy's Town very beautiful and the beginning of the first hills rather exciting. Late to bed again even though we got in early. The three took their baths first. END: North Platte Nebraska at the McCabe Hotel, Room 418 on the 2nd floor: one room with 2 double beds and one bath---mine last. Got to bed at 11PM, up at 4AM.
WEDNESDAY, 8/22/51: I hope we never get one room again--things go so slow when all four want something but have to take turns doing it. Today was interesting, I wasn't sick at all. DIARY: I saw God [impressed by Wasatch Mountains]. END: Salt Lake City, Utah, Hotel Utah, Room 1004, the best in the city, overlooking Mormon Temple and the Starlight Gardens (night club). To bed at 11 and up at 6. (Finally some sensible timing)
THURSDAY, 8/23/51: I felt sort of good today---Jimmy is a bad boy though. Saw Reno "The Biggest Little City in the World"---it really is. Never saw so many slot machines in my life. Won a bit, then lost a bit, came out about even. Reno, Nevada: I have heard many accounts of the things of Reno but never did I expect to see what I saw. I'll bet I saw over 1,000 (no exaggeration) slot machines along the main street. In grocery stores, clothing stores and cafeterias there they were, from five cents to silver dollars, lined up along the wall. Harrod's Club's exhibit was really something to see. The guns, weapons, stagecoaches, swords, armors, knives, animal heads and the other items were wonderful. And at night I never saw so many neon signs and lights in such a concentrated area. The whole street appeared as light as day at 10:00, when I went to bed, and so on all through till the dawn. END: Reno, Nevada, St. Francis, Room 10, a nice---though little---hotel. To bed at 10 (early) and up at 6---8 hours sleep---boy!
FRIDAY, 8/24/51: DIARY: California: Saw first palm trees and found that California is a sort of conglomeration of the scenery of all the states. It has the hills (Sierras) of the Rockies (like them!) and it really has some plains to talk about. Weather was still good (no 103 in Sacramento) and finally got to San Francisco, crossed the longest bridge in the world and saw Telegraph Hill and Alcatraz in the distance. I might have seen the ocean but I don't think so. Passed through it very busy and finally on the home stretch. Monterey County came next and then finally Salinas City and finally home at last. The house is very nice and it feels good to sit down in a seat and not have the feeling that it is moving along under you. It's good to be in California. DIARY: "Home" at last, the neighborhood and house is beautiful. Helen and Jimmy don't seem, though, to spare us from any work. The very first day we spent hours fixing the lawn. But that is to be expected though, and considering how much extra work they have with us we are really well off. All in all, I think, aside from homesickness, that this is going to be a nice trip. END: Salinas, California. Helen's: a very nice room in one corner of the house. A very comfortable divan can be made into two extremely soft, though rather low beds.
SATURDAY, 8/25/51: Same place now, and, as far as I care, forever, Amen. (Some time now I expect to go to school, and my amusement and stopping place will be S.U.H.S. (Salinas Union High School), Salinas, California. I decided on the 30th that keeping an account of my purchases would be practically impossible as I can't really remember at the end of the day all I bought.
SUNDAY, 8/26/51: Fort Ord: From the number of people I hear talking about Fort Ord I would imagine it a big place. It was! It had three theaters, 5 churches, and a hospital area covering about 10 blocks with approximately 40 buildings to it. At 3PM we went to the soldier's club and caught a few acts there. An imitation, I think of Groucho Marx, singers and an Italian torch singer that "the boys" went mad about. For the first time, if you don't count going over the Oakland San Francisco bridge (where I saw Alcatraz), I really saw the ocean, the tide was coming in and I stood watching the beautiful waves and beach for about ten minutes; it was fascinating. The same day we drove over to Monterey and saw the Bay. Monterey itself, outside of its historical buildings, was dull, but the bay was interesting. We drove out along one big pier, got out of the car and walked along to the edge. The fishing fleet was in and so, it seemed, were all the sea gulls along the coast, including one huge, rather ungainly, (rock) pelican. We saw a twenty-pointed starfish and tried to get him in the car (he has 19 points now); failed. Very many boats, very great smell, very interesting all in all. Went along another wharf and saw the fish markets (fish sections reminding me of a side of beef---huge), and the souvenir shops. Saw lobster, albacore tuna, shrimp, clams and other unnameable fish. Home at 6PM, very tired. Wonderful day.
WEDNESDAY, 8/29/51: Science Museum: Jimmy had business in San Jose, so we went later and saw the Rosecrucion (Amorc) Science Museum. Saw seismograph (no earthquakes), uranisphere (moon-sun-earth relationship) and spectrum and many other scientific exhibits. Saw my first planetarium. I was rather disappointed. I expected a huge tableau of a trip to Mars or the end of the world but only got an explanation of the stars we see overhead at night and a rather interesting machine that recorded cosmic rays and also detected radioactivity. (Fact: lead does NOT stop radioactivity, only shields it a little bit.) On the same grounds was an Egyptian exhibit with many beautiful buildings for "students only." We wuz robbed. All nice though. Egyptian exhibit: No cameras allowed; humph! Got in pretty late saw everything fast. Reproduction of an Egyptian temple, very pretty. Couldn't see much in the simulated dawn but the architecture was imposing and the statuary was very Egyptian. Another part of it was an exact replica of an actual tomb discovered in the Valley of Kings, Thebes. Many turns, lowness, and roughness was the general appearance. The tomb itself was sealed in and it WAS informing. We also saw real mummies, sarcophaguses, shrunken heads, models of the tomb of Tutankamen and the pyramid, samples of inscriptions, obelisks, examples of early Egyptian sculpture and art and other items that was very informing and a very VERY good exhibit. PS No charge. I would recommend it to anyone to see. Before coming to the Amorc place we saw the World Famous Rose Gardens. The place deserved its famousness. As far as you can see when you were under the entranceway are neat, well-weeded, orderly rows of beautiful roses. They were not entirely in bloom the time we were there, but those that were there were beautiful and more varied than I have ever seen. A fish pond, empty, was situated in the center and the labeled rows of different roses ran like spokes of a wheel from the center hub to the tree-lined borders of the park. The gardeners gave us information on the roses and said good-bye cheerfully as we went out through the iron gates. San Jose State: The things that impressed me most about the college was the variety of trees and the numerousness of the buildings. The grounds were beautiful despite the temporary barracks put up for the over 7,000 pupils that go to a school built for 5,000. The gardens were bright with color and almost every kind of palm I have ever seen ran riot through the campus: date, fan, date-fan and many others that I can't recall. Also huge pepper trees with trunks, I judge about 10 feet in diameter. The buildings are rather new and with the ivy covering some of them they make a college that I think anyone would be proud to call their Alma Mater.
SUNDAY, 9/9/51: Santa Cruz: Started at 1PM; got there at 3PM. Very nice park; saw swimming pool and casino and outdoor concert. Then went on roller coaster (the first time I couldn't find the safety belt, I went without it. I nearly got killed)! Three or four times on an octopus (fast and dizzying) then in fun house with Jim (Uncle Bill was super), then in another fun house with rolling barrel, huge sliding board and "waves." Went on turning Ferris wheel, but frankly I didn't have the courage to press the lever that would let me go upside down. I was really scared after I got on. Jimmy didn't want to go on anything. Oh well. Helen and Jimmy just sat on the beach and watched the three-foot waves come rolling in. Hardly anyone was swimming; all sunning, and soon the fog came in really thick and it got cool and soon we were off for home. Nice park, though.
SUNDAY, 10/7/51: Lobos Point: Left Sunday morning at 11AM; got there at 12PM. Saw the stand of Monterey cypress and saw the most beautiful meeting of land and sea in the world. The tide was rather high and the waves, on a little beach we discovered covered with millions of smooth beautiful stones, were huge. The undertow, I went wading, was tremendous. I went down to the very edge of the point and jumped across a little stream onto an isle of rock. A tiny stream separated the isle from the point and it was very clear; it was BEAUTIFUL; there were hundreds of half-open clams and living sea shells and very beautiful green algae in the green water---VERY beautiful. The seals were barking and we saw a large whale skeleton. The sea was wild and when I was on the isle I was so close as to be terrified by its rushing and deep-driven chasms in stone.
SUNDAY, 11/11/51: Big Basin: Left home at 1PM and went through Santa Cruz, past it, and into the mountains. The road going was as thrilling as Big Basin itself. Some of the tree's leaves were red and yellow and the road looked as if it might fall into the deep, narrow canyon below at any minute. Got there at 2PM and ate lunch and went on the clear trail to see the huge redwoods that we wanted to see. They were huge and you were dwarfed beneath them. Looked at the sky-high prices on their souvenirs: got a free folder with descriptions of the sights and got home at 5PM. The day was very cold and damp, and in the woods it was even more so. But I think it was worth it, even the breathtaking trip up the mountain. I think I got a cold from the day, though.
WEDNESDAY, 11/28/51: Berkeley: One of 100 C.S.F. members to leave on buses (2) at 9AM. Crossed the Oakland Bay Bridge at 11AM and arrived at 11:15. Saw the Campanile and then had a conducted tour after we ate lunch. Others bought theirs ($1.00). I was smart and packed mine. Saw many interesting exhibits---prehistoric, metallurgy, models and huge machines. At 3PM I wandered off myself in the Science Building---saw rats, mice, dogs, cats, rabbits, and guinea pigs that they operated on. Left beautiful campus at 4PM and traveled steady until 6PM. Ate at San Jose. I didn't feel too well, but after we ate we sang songs, and when I got home I was hoarse. Lots of fun. Got home at 10:30PM very, very tired and got out of studies though, hahaha.
SUNDAY, 12/16/51: Carmel-by-the-Sea: Left 2:30PM---late, but was surprised---it was a very beautiful place, with the homes bordering on the palatial. The fog was just coming in, and the ocean was almost invisible, except where it dashed over the huge shelled and mossy rocks, which led sometimes even to the front porches. The houses were few and far between, partly because of their sheer size and partly of the tremendous landscaping jobs done on them. This was a definitely un-Democratic district, but the folks who opened the ornate doors were quite candid. With splendor on all sides, the day of campaigning passed swiftly, and I almost fell asleep as we wound our way home.