My zeroeth birthday, January 28, 1956. No sign of geekness yet. Obviously thinking deep thoughts.
Sometime in 1956, obviously after being abducted by Martians. Here I admire my Step-Grandfather “Ga’s” stamp collection. Ga’s name was really Harry Lee Davenport, but the first word I said to him was “Ga”, and the name stuck. So did the stamps, after I drooled on them.
This is film of my grandparents’ house in La Sierra near Riverside in 1956. Delbert Alcorn married Effie Truman. They had two sons, William (Bill) and Norvin (my dad) and a daughter Janice. William Alcorn married Louise and they had two kids, Ron and Judy. Janice married Earl Bishop (divorced by this time) and had two sons, Bill and Mike; Bill is the one carrying the dog, Gypsy. I think all of those people are in this film. My mother and my step-grandfather, Harry Lee Davenport (“Ga”) are also there.
Steve, age 1, 1957, probably almost 2. I remember those stacking cups! This picture was taken at the apartment my parents lived in until I was 9 months old.
In October, 1956, when I was nine months old, my parents moved into a house at 5216 El Mirador Drive, Los Angeles, 8, CA. (Yes, that 8 was the postal zone, then.) The phone number was AXminster 3-6916. I lived there until March, 1978, when I married Linda.
The house was designed by my father in the “Googie” style of architecture.
Click for Floor Plans from 1956
In 1988 I remodeled the house, and it was sold in 1989. These are pictures after the remodeling.
Street View.
Pool.
Original neighbors at the end of the street: Lawthers, Hamiltons, Poolis, Heffernans.
Family Room.
Kitchen.
Master Bath.
Master Bedroom.
The appraiser called this a “limited” city view. You can also see it from the top of the chimney.
Back yard.
Back gate.
Film of Christmas 1957:
Here’s film of another Christmas, probably 1960:
The hills behind the house and LaBrea. This is now Baldwin Hills Park. El Mirador means “The Beautiful View”. The house was perched above what is now Baldwin Hills Park. One of my most vivid childhood memories is of watching the water from the Baldwin Hills Dam rush from the broken dam, down into the canyon, in 1963. It was part of the inspiration for the descriptions in my novel Everything In Its Path.
Christmas of 1959, already eyeing the department store Santa with suspicion. Nice hat, eh?
Our pool
The first part of this film is me in about 1960 at Kiddieland / Beverly Park in Los Angeles. The end looks like maybe Jungle Land in Thousand Oaks, but I’m wearing the same clothes!
Ready to go Camping
Parents at costume party
Film of a visit to Disneyland in about 1961:
Linda, ca 1959.