allinthefamily

In my eyes my Father was the most handsome, strongest, smartest man I had ever known. Both my parents were only 20 years old when I was born. Growing up my friends would always say “Wow! Is that your Dad? He is so young and handsome!”. My Father was born in Kansas City, Missouri on April 23rd, 1930. At a very young age, he and my Grandmother moved to Venice, California. My Grandmother got a job as a waitress at a restaurant called Jake’s at the Pier which was right on the Santa Monica Pier. I guess my Father didn’t have much to do, so he would hang out in front of the restaurant were my grandmother was working. The owner of the restaurant didn’t like my Father hanging out in front of the restaurant while waiting for my Grandmother to get off work, so he got my Father a job selling newspapers on the pier and also bought him passes to the Plunge, which was an indoor swimming pool that was right on the pier. The picture of my Father doing a handstand was taken when my Father was around 17 or 18 years of age. Notice in the background of the picture is the old Santa Monica Pier. That Santa Monica Pier has always been such a special place to me. By the way, it was in front of the pier that my Father asked my Mother to marry him.

Trackback URI | Comments RSS