A LITTLE SPANISH-STYLED BUNGALOW IN THE SAN FERNANDO VALLEY
I lived in a great little house in North Hollywood with my family in the mid-1950's. It was adjacent to El Camino Real--the King's Highway--which linked the missions developed through California in the 1700's by the Franciscan Order of the Catholic Church. Leave it to my father to find an interesting home for us to live in.
The development of the valley was accelerating mid-19th Century, and two-story apartment houses abutted our place on two sides. There were still many vacant lots in the valley, however, and cities like Encino, Tarzana, North Hollywood and Studio City were distinct places along Ventura Blvd. with orchards or undeveloped land between them.
Here are the only pictures I have of that house and time..
I lived in a great little house in North Hollywood with my family in the mid-1950's. It was adjacent to El Camino Real--the King's Highway--which linked the missions developed through California in the 1700's by the Franciscan Order of the Catholic Church. Leave it to my father to find an interesting home for us to live in.
The development of the valley was accelerating mid-19th Century, and two-story apartment houses abutted our place on two sides. There were still many vacant lots in the valley, however, and cities like Encino, Tarzana, North Hollywood and Studio City were distinct places along Ventura Blvd. with orchards or undeveloped land between them.
Here are the only pictures I have of that house and time..
This was taken at the backdoor on my 9th birthday, I believe. As a nine year old kid would do, I'm proudly showcasing my rabbit's foot which is hanging from a belt loop.
(The damage to the photograph was done by my dog many years later)
We used the structures in the backyard alternately as "The Bank of Bud", and a chemistry lab.
This one, which was probably built and used as a chicken coop, became a puppet show theater.
Our dog Rusty won "The Homeliest Dog" award in a pet contest in Mill Valley a few years before this picture was taken of him in the driveway.
I think I had to pay my eldest brother 25 cents to take this photo (he caught the entrepreneurial spirit at an early age). I wanted a picture to send my grandparents in San Francisco. I combed my hair, donned a clean shirt and put a toy cigarette in my mouth in my best Humphrey Bogart impression.
A family picture (minus the bro behind the camera) taken around my mom's '52 MG. Not long after this, I was living with my grandparents in San Francisco.
I'm nostalgic, so you can imagine how chagrined I was when I visited North Hollywood fifty years later and found that my house and front yard had become a parking lot.
Even so, the backyard, where I spent many hours playing alone and with my brothers, had become a retail sculpture garden.
This is the view from Ventura Boulevard (El Camino Real).
It is a special place to me, and I'm glad that it has been preserved.
