The BLVD CAFE

 

What a great memory!  I remember this cafe.  My memory of it was that it was on the decline or that it was a holdout against modernity.  Nobody that I knew ate here, or at least they never told me that they ate there.  That may not be totally correct.  Someone may have mentioned before that they grabbed a burger and chili there.  But that is it.  I do remember a large avocado tree in the empty lot to the east of this cafe.  I remember cutting through it occasionally to make my way over past the Santa Teresita Hospital and on up to Royal Oaks for my walk home.  I loved that walk.  I never thought of the distance of that walk, only the time.  It would be 30 to 45 minutes.  But I loved that 30 to 45 minutes.  I loved getting lost in introspection, pacing my walk and enjoying anybody who crossed my paths.  Step by step, foot by foot with a cushioned grind of the sand and pebble beneath my tennis shoes.  The sun was never a bother.  In fact, I welcomed it.  I used to walk the trail behind the row of 2-bedroom houses on the north side of Royal Oaks Drive.  This was my path.

Susie Tomasian, BLVD Cafe, 1982.  There was a family named the Tomasians who lived near the southwest corner of Greenbank and Royal Oaks.  When I was in the 5th grade at Valley View, I walked Tammy Tomasian home.  She let me carry her books.  Hey, wait a minute!  I don't know if this woman in the photo is related to the Tomasians who lived on Greenbank.