We've been scanning more film from our family archives this week.
All of these are of Palos Verdes, California around 1960. The beautiful church is Wayfarers Chapel. The last photo taken from the car is really neat as well...love seeing all the old cars!
We'll be back with more next week!
Most people are familiar with Knott's Berry Farm jams and preserves, but they may not know that there is a real Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California. I grew up visiting the park and eating at Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant. It's now pretty commercialized with huge roller coasters and Snoopy (!), but back in the day it was quite charming. You can read all about the Knott family's story here. It's truly fascinating. If you go to Knott's Berry Farm today, I highly recommend visiting Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant for the biscuits, boysenberry jam and boysenberry punch...preferably before you hit the roller coasters. While you're at it, pick up some extra boysenberry jam from one of their gift shops. It's oh-so-good.
I found these vintage postcards from the famous Chicken Dinner Restaurant and original theme park in Memphis several years ago, and then when I was going through the family film slides, I found two of our own Knott's Berry Farm memories from that same period. Pretty neat stuff.
For the past year, Palos Verdes, California (and the South Bay area in general) has been recurring theme on this blog (the most recent post was this one). PV was my family's home from 1960 to 1973. When my great-grandmother Elsie passed away in 1973, she asked that the house be sold and that her ashes be spread over the Pacific Ocean near PV. Her three children respected those wishes. Both of her daughters remained in California, but neither one lived in Palos Verdes again. As a child, I don't remember visiting PV very much. I think the first trip we made up the peninsula was in 1994, but I remember that it had a huge impact on me. I wanted to visit PV during every vacation, but I think we only visited one or two other times before Joan's death in 2003. After our first California vacation together in 2005, Jonathan and I began spending more time in the South Bay area, and our day trips to PV became highlights. The combination of the natural beauty of the coastline and the pristine mid-century California homes captured our hearts. After scanning so many film slides over the past few months, it became clear to me that we are drawn there for other reasons as well. It is part of our history and our family's story.
La Venta Inn in Palos Verdes, California around 1960.
Palos Verdes, California circa 1960.
Elsie's home in Palos Verdes, circa 1960.
A view of the South Bay - Redondo, Hermosa and Manhattan Beaches -- from Palos Verdes, circa 1960.
Elsie at the beach, circa 1960.
Looking up the hill from Elsie's backyard, circa 1960.
Beautiful mid-century Palos Verdes homes, circa 1960.
A view of Elsie's backyard in Palos Verdes, taken around 1960.
Another view of the South Bay, taken around 1960.
Malaga Cove Plaza, circa 1960.
And just for fun...a recent shot of the same fountain!
Also in Malaga Cove Plaza was the Palos Verdes General Store, circa 1960.
Here's the same building in recent years.
A view of La Venta Inn, looking down over Elsie's house, circa 1960.
Me and Jonathan in that same spot on our first trip to PV together in 2005. Elsie's house is to our right with the skylight.
All of the above images from 1960 are from our family's film archives and were scanned and converted to digital images by Gerald and Joan. If you are interested in having us scan and preserve your family's film slides or images, contact us here. The recent images of California were taken by my mother.
There are few people who have had more influence on my life than my grandmother Joan. She and I shared a middle name as well as a special bond from the day I was born. I arrived during an especially dark period in her life. Her husband and true love was dying of cancer at only 50 years old. When he passed away weeks before my first birthday, the gaping hole he left behind could not be filled, but she found joy in spending time with her only daughter and first granddaughter. I'm not sure if our bond was born from that devastating loss or if it came from something else. Ironically, she shared a similar connection with her grandmother Laura, and it is Laura's name that comes before Fay to make up my middle name. I like to think those names and the relationships that were attached to them served as a starting point for the role they would play in my life. Perhaps they are part of the reason I'm here today, focusing on a business that carries her name and sharing these images from her childhood. I'm in the progress of getting these printed and framed to hang on the family wall in our new house. I have so many pictures that I think we may have more than one family wall, but that's okay because I prefer family photographs to most other artwork anyway. They are so special to me.
Baby Joan in 1934
Joan with her beloved dog, Sandy.
Joan (on the right) with a friend.
Those curls...
Posing with her tennis racket.
With her brother Bob.
With Bob and her older sister Betty.
Baby Joan with Betty and Bob.
With Bob and her mother Elsie.
An adorable Joan (second from right) with her childhood friends.