Sue & Doug Lawrence

I just now read a sad story in the Community News section of the Duarte View, the Duarte newsletter from March-April 2009.  Mrs. Lawrence, Jerry and Kathy Lawrence's mom passed away on February 27, 2009.  I remember Doug Lawrence, her husband, working out in their yard all the time.  Their front yard used to be all ivy.  Then he dug that up and rendered it all dirt.  That's it.  No plants.  They had a speed boat parked to the side of their driveway for years.  Jerry Lawrence was a world-class wrestler.  His sister Kathy was an absolute sweetheart.  In high school, she dated Mike Tenove.  And I don't know what compelled her to do it, but during my senior year as the Cross Country team made our way to the front of the school where the bus was waiting for us to take us to our meet, Kathy ran over to me and gave me a kiss on the cheek for good luck.  I could not believe it.  She was so sweet.  She didn't have to do that but she did.  And I don't know whether she did it because she had empathy for me or that she just liked me or wanted some how to recognize me as someone she knew, someone she knew and lived near.  Maybe she recognized my enduring status as a victim because of my size and my distaste for fighting, but she made my year in that moment.  She was popular and well-liked by so many kids at school.  Her parents were civic-minded and involved in support activities for the school.  But as she leaned to kiss me on my cheek, I saw over her shoulder Mike Tenove watching and waiting for her patiently while she ran up to me and gave me a kiss for good luck.  In review, I cannot believe it.  That was Kathy Lawrence, the beauty with brains and status in Duarte's culture.  In some ways, I am glad that I found this story if only that it makes me think of Kathy, Jerry, their sister Debbie and their father Doug.  But it does show me the erosion of time.  Go to page 6 in this link and read the article on Sue Lawrence, Kathy's mom.  Kathy, if you find this, please accept my warmest wishes and know that as a kid growing up in Duarte, past whose house I used to go frequently, that my one consistent thought of your mother was that she was so energetic and always ready to help people out.  A terrific woman.

The San Gabriel Valley, 1930.

This is from LAPL's San Gabriel Valley collection.  This sloping hill could be Highland Park.  

Statue of Father Junipero Serra, Los Angeles

Statue of Father Junipero Serra on the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Spring Street in Los Angeles.  According to USC libraries, "The statue consists of a metal version of the padre holding a cross at left and a model of a mission at right. He is wearing the robes of a Franciscan friar. The statue is on top of a concrete pedestal with a metal plaque that reads "Frav(?) Junipero Serra Padre of California Missions 1713-1784 presented to the City of Los Angeles by...". Other legible signs on the buildings in the background include, from left to right, "No right turn", "Rozzani", "Coca Cola", "Imported/Domestic liquors", and "Liquor"."

Looking Westbound on Valley Blvd. at San Gabriel Blvd., 1938

This is a great scene.  It's 1938.  My mom and dad were as yet unmarried.  My dad may have been back in Denver courting my mom.  It would be 3 more years before the U.S.'s involvement in the war would begin. And a couple more years after that before Charlen was born and my dad drafted into the Marines and served on Marshall Islands in the Pacific.  I love this scene of San Gabriel, for that is where my dad lived and his family lived.  And I'd always wondered what his days looked like.  Now I know.  In case the photo does not show up below, click this link.  

The car in this photo is driving westbound on Valley Blvd. about to go through the intersection at San Gabriel Blvd.  That building you see at the left, on the southwest corner, is still there despite it having gone through about a dozen renovations. 

 

Duarte Bike Trail, 1924

That is Royal Oaks Drive to the right, and to the left is Royal Oaks Drive North. What this photo does is tell us what that path was back in 1924.  It was a flood channel.  From where though?  From Bradbury foothills I believe, from above the Royal Oaks Manor and then from Mt. Olive basin.  Later it became the path for the Pacific Railway.  I remember those tracks vividly.  When I walked to Immaculate Conception or to Royal Oaks School, I would always step on the track's ties.  It was fun.  And the tracks used to run out to the San Gabriel Riverbed, over the famous train bridge and on out into Azusa and Cucamonga.  The tracks passed behind houses that lined the south side of Royal Oaks Drive into the Fish Canyon neighborhood.  Years after those tracks had been decommissioned, Tom and I hiked back through there all the way out to the riverbed.  We may have taken our family dog, Tommy.



 
From the Alan Weeks Collection.  Pacific Electric car no. 750 is captured under an arched bridge at Highland Avenue in Duarte on the Glendora Line in this image dated September 15, 1951.



That is THE Train Bridge in East Duarte heading west behind the homes on Royal Oaks Drive.  Note the rock quarry behind it to the right.  That's the train bridge.  Wow!  There's no fence.  This shot was taken on March 6, 1951.  It's from the terrific Weeks Collection.

 
 Huntington Drive looking west into Duarte.  Here that Huntington Bridge is a 2-lane highway; today has 4 lanes.  Look at how empty the foothills are; that, and how empty Bradbury is.  I don't have a year for this.  Probably 1930 or earlier.

Banana Company Fire, Duarte, 1958

After the Banana Company burned down, I thought that there was another factory there that worked around the clock, for we could hear the factory from our residence on Elda about 4 blocks away operating late into the night.