Thought:
Forword
This portion of the website is for me (Paul) a way to make recollections and post them as they come to mind. I can remember as far back as summer of 1947 but those memories are becomming more and more fuzzy as I approach "old age".
Memories come to mind at the oddest times: sometimes in the middle of the night, sometimes in the shower, sometimes in other random places. I jot them down, put in some salient thoughts and then fill them in as I go forward. You will see a mix of finished, partially finished and just started works on these pages. Hence the name, "never ending memorybook".
Who cares? Hopefully my kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids!
When Did I Arrive?
I was born in 1944. It was a cold day in Los Angeles and Mom and Dad had to drive from West Los Angeles to the Los Angeles Country Hospital which was a pretty good drive even in those traffic-less days! Mapquest says 43 minutes with light-traffic! Dad probably planned ahead and remember in 1944, traffic was minimal! I was born at 4:03 in the afternoon.
Today with no traffic, 45 minutes
(Population then was 1,504,277, today it is 4,000,000)
What Was Life Like?
How Much things cost?
Average Cost of new house $3,450.00
Average wages per year $2,400.00
Cost of a gallon of Gas 15 cents
Average Cost for house rent $50.00 per month
Loaf of Bread 10 cents
Old Spice Shaving Soap $1.00
Examples of a couple of Houses for sale
Valparaiso -- Indiana -- Farm 16 acres with 5 room home barn and 3 poultry houses $5,000
Lima -- Ohio --- Darling bungalow 2 bedrooms wood burning stove built in cupboards and attached garage $4,000
Battle Of The Bulge And It Is Still Going On!
The Battle of the Bulge (16 December 1944 – 25 January 1945) was the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II. In December , the Germans attempted to surprise the Allied armies as they traveled through the Ardennes. The German objective was to split the Allies up in a surprise attack.
The battle began on December 16th and continued until late January of 1945. (My Battle of the Buldge began when I turned 60 and has been underway every since!)
As the Allies regrouped to fight back against the German attack, the line of defense took on the shape of a bulge, hence the name "Battle of the Bulge." The Allies were caught off guard in the attack and tens of thousands of soldiers were lost in fierce fighting (estimated up to 100,000 casualties) during what was considered the bloodiest battle of World War II for the United States. Despite the losses the Allies were successful in neutralizing the German offensive and preventing Germany from recapturing Antwerp. As well as massively depleting German fuel and supply reserves.
Other Memories on Our Website
Abbott and Costello
We have several areas on our website that deal with our memories. One of those is a site dealing only with the
1950's
which were the best of times.
DooWop
music was alive and well in the 1950's so please listen to some good old acapella singing.
Old Fashioned Radio
(The Golden Years Of Radio) are our favorites. It is too bad people can't slow down enough, sit back and enjoy when life was simple and fun!
Sue and I still listed to them today on the XM Radio Oldies channel!
Abbott and Costello were always a kick, please
listen to them
and visualize the days when we had NO TV (yeah!!!) and video games were only something in the future according to Popular Science Magazine. We had to use our imaginations. fancy that!