Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

Thank Goodness Its Friday (TGIF)

Cousins are those childhood playmates who grow up to be forever friends.

OK!  It’s Friday and time to rest up for a wild weekend.  I missed  my 8:00 AM call to Lisa because may ugly carcass was NOT up at 8:00 AM…stayed up too late working on the Disneyland website. On the way to bed, my eyes were alerted to the fact it was 2:00 AM.

After Sue and I sat for a while and talked, I headed to the garage to checkout my new Makita Vacuum System and while out there, I went through some old photos.  This one is seventy  years old and in pretty good shape. 

Old Photos
1948 Was A Good Year,,,Paul & Tom riding the range keeping the neighborhood safe!

Old Photo Time:    There we are…riding the range in my backyard on Comey Avenue in Los Angeles,  The other handsome guy is Tom Hale who left us two years ago.  Sue and I miss him every day!  Tom and I were great cousins and shared good times together. 

In this picture, he is sitting on my Merry-Go-Round…yes, I had a Merry-Go-Round in my back yard!  Directly behind us is my Mom’s parakeet and canary “cage”…it held 100+ birds and Mom took care of them for years.  I had a Hopalong Cassidy Cap Pistol which I used to protect the neighborhood from the bad guys!

We rode the range  in that yard and had super times…Often these images come to mind and I wonder what happened the the intervening time…guess it is called life!

Tom and I went to Hoppy Land, courtesy of Mom and Dad, which was a kids amusement park down near the beach in Venice. We went there many times and always wanted to ride the most scary roller coaster in the world…I’ll bet the thing was not over 20′ tall!

Los Angeles Examiner (1903-1962) is certainly dated!

Did You Know?   Charles Lorman instead announced plans in May 1947 for a $2.5 million park to be built on a 80 acre tract at Dell Avenue and Washington Street. He obtained a ten year lease. His Ocean View Amusement Park would include the 30 acre Lake Los Angeles (location of the present Marina del Rey harbor) to be developed as an aquatic sports center. The park would have an elaborate midway, roller coaster, merry-go-round, children’s rides, bowling alley and skating rink. A shortage of building materials prevented them from immediately starting construction. Lorman was soon replaced by Earle Charleton who scaled down the project significantly.

Eventually Earle Charleton’s Venice Amusement Park, Inc. developed Venice Lake Park on the site in 1950 with 15 acres devoted to amusement rides. The kiddie park featured a 35 foot high Philadelphia Toboggan Company Junior roller coaster called the Little Dipper, John Kissane’s two train, mile long miniature railroad that circled the park, several pony tracks, a lagoon boat ride in motor-driven boats, Zeppelin and Whirlwind aerial rides, a Tilt-a-whirl, Octopus and Skooter rides. The lake featured a water skiing show with a legless skier. Free evening dancing centered around the large turn-of-the-century merry-go-round on the main midway, The Venice Wrangler’s furnished western style music.

In 1951, William Boyd, better known as Hoppalong Cassidy, was brought in as a business partner, and it required only a $55,000 investment to retheme the park. Hopalong Cassidy, the white-haired paragon of Western Virtues had parlayed a 66-film screen career into the role of America’s first true TV hero. Children adored him, watched his western TV show every week, and ofen bought Hoppy black-colored western wear, and cap pistols..

The new and improved 80 acre park opened as Hoppyland on May 26, 1951 and included picnic grounds, baseball diamonds, horseshoe pitching lanes, and a lake for swimming and boating in addition to nearly twenty thrill rides. There was a special kiddie land area featuring a miniature merry-go-round, Ferris wheel, sleigh ride, airplane, pony cart and auto rides. Velare’s Double Ferris Wheel, previously on the Ocean Park Pier, was added to the adult lineup.

Andy Clyde (as California) with William Boyd (Hopalong Cassidy)

We dined on left-overs which were over running the frig…we had to do something. We checked carefully and non had become a science project…yet! The light bulb went off and mine legs scampered into the back yard and with a mighty “wack” two ears of corn fell from the sky directly into my hands…what could I do except carry them into the house. Carefully they were undressed, I think it is called shucking. Wrapped up in two layers of wax paper, the magic of microwaves did the rest of the work!

Two minutes later and we were doing the typewriter things on fantastic (and certainly fresh) corn. Butter was used at a minimum because the corn was so sweet!

I checked it before bringing it into the house!

Note to self: Go to H&H tomorrow and get some additional corn!

After the corn meal, certainly a play play on words, it was back to the back yard and a mess of blackberries (a mess is a group of blackberries) suddenly ended up in my hands. Blackberries, meet your new best friend…CoolWhip dessert.

Did You Know?  Cool Whip was introduced in 1966 by the Birds Eye division of General Foods, now part of Kraft Heinz. Within two years of introduction, it became the largest and most profitable product in the Birds Eye line of products. Cool Whip is now the most consumed brand of whipped topping in the U.S.

Cool Whip is a brand of imitation whipped cream, referred to as a whipped topping by its manufacturer, Kraft Heinz. It is used in North America as a topping for desserts, and in some no-bake pie recipes as a convenience food or ingredient that does not require physical whipping and can maintain its texture without melting over time.

Cool Whip is sold frozen and must be defrosted in the refrigerator before being used.[citation needed] It has a longer shelf life than cream while frozen. On the other hand, it does not have the same flavor and texture as whipped cream, and there is nearly a 50% added cost.

 

Being a sucker for signs and while looking through our upcoming Amazon deliveries, this sign popped up and became a mandatory purchase. It is properly mounted and drawing some questions from the neighbors. Yes, I have our security system making sounds like an octopus when the gate is opened! The sign is aluminum and is painted to look weathered…out to last for years!

The neighbors are careful now when they enter our yard!

Tonight is Garden Grove Elks where we put on a dancing display for the audience…they all like a good laugh!! We had a table of twenty just for our group! We were proud to be Elks when we drove up and saw the lodge!

Magnificent!

We were so happy to see Ed and Kathy out and about. Kathy has a rare form of brain cancer and is undergoing treatment but she is fighter and it is always great to see her and Ed.

Rockin’ and rollin’

The gang talks and dances and then dances and talks…everyone else is on the floor dancing! We love our friends!

Vicky, Donna, Kathy, and Irene (in fornt)
Del, Ed, and Bob (in back)

We are so blessed to have such great friends…it’s a built in support group! Tomorrow we will see others in our group at the Santa Ana Elks.

Catching our breath between dances!

9:30 PM and we are done…time to head the Silver Ghost up the freeway to our home. The Ghost knows the way be heart…or whatever organ it uses? We just turn on the GPS to have something to watch. Fourteen minutes and we will be sitting at home!

GPS shows the way!

We are home and the oven instantly snaps to attention setting itself to 350 degrees and expecting to be fed tookie dough. We did not disappoint Mr. Oven.By 11:00 PM we had our cookies and was ready for one more episode of Gilmore Girls.

About Paul

Just an old retired guy trying to finish out my last years on this planet. I lost my best friend and wife in early 2020. I was blessed again by reconnecting with Dr. Mary Côté, a long-time friend. Mary and I got married July 28th, 2021, and are enjoying life together and plan to spend the rest of our lives being a blessing to our friends and family.
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