October 1, 2004

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  Images from the “Glendora Folder” from the “Small Town America in Lost Angeles” photo series.

  
  

  
  

  Since my camera is “in the shop” I’m posting some of the images I took earlier in the summer in the foothill town of Glendora, California. The image above was taken through the windshield of my convertible up Glendora Blvd. into the foothills. With the palm trees aligned along the sides of the street, I actually think this is an interesting shot. There are three or four more “versions” of this shot in the Webshots folder. I chose these photos to post because there aren’t that many shots in the folder, yet for some reason I get a lot of hits, 17 views just this week. My parents moved to Glendora in 1971, after I graduated from high school. This move devastated my sister, who was a junior in high school, because she had a lot of friends in Rosemead, where we grew up. My little brother, a freshman at the time, didn’t care. He was glad he was moving to a new town, with a high school where no one had ever heard of me, so the teachers would quit comparing him. (I was one of those popular “sosh” kids who had a 3.86 grade average, participated in a lot of clubs, and got a scholarship to USC)

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  The house pictured here was built in 1905, and is a featured “American Beauty Home”. I love the landscaping in Glendora. All the trees seem to come to a point. With the backdrop of the San Gabriel Mountain Range in sight, on a clear day, the views are stupendous. I lived in Glendora for about three years. In 1972 my Mother had her stroke, and Dad died in 1974, and that’s when I left. Brother stayed in the family home until we had to sell it in order to receive Medicare benefits for my Mom, who was in a convelescent home. I have a few more views of this house in the Webshots folder. (This is just one of the beautiful homes in town, by the way, we didn’t live in this house.)

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  This is a view of the Glendora Florist on Glendora Boulevard. I liked the composition with all the foliage in front of the shop, and it looks perfect for the “Small Town America” series of photographs. I can still remember the feeling when we first drove through town on the way to see our new home back in 71. Glendora is still a “small town” and even though El Monte and Rosemead can be considered “bedroom communities”, they are still close to “the City”, and Glendora is far removed. The smog gets a little bad at times, and I can remember quite a few times during fire season calling my brother from where I worked in Rosemead to see if the house was still okay. Smoke covered the area during a few of the constant hill fires our foothills and mountains suffer every summer.

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  When I was up in town taking pictures, I drove by our old house, pictured above as it is today. The garage door is different. We didn’t have a fireplace, or the bay window, and my Dad had put up a white picket fence, which is gone, but this is the “little” house we sold in 1974 for ONLY $35,000.00 to help pay for my Mother’s stay in the convalescent home. If I could “do it over” again, I would have bought the house, which is probably worth half a million or more today. But I was only 21, and not too smart when it came to the idea of home ownership. I liked my apartment back then. Now, here I am in my fifties, and still renting in SoCal.

  
  

   

  
  

  

  
  

  One last photo. This is the Church where my sister was married. She and her husband chose it for the front steps, which looked real nice in the Wedding Photos. My sister was married right after my Dad died, and she and her husband moved to San Diego. He was in the Navy, and has since retired. We had the reception at the house, and in my Dad’s absence, I managed the reception, and gave the bride away. (At 21 years old, now mind you.) We grew up pretty fast, and whenever I go back to Glendora, these times come rushing back. Good times, bad times, fulfulling times, and sad times. I lived in a “suite” of two rooms behind the garage with my own bathroom, and my own front door and key. If my parents had lived, I would have lived in the house in Glendora throughout college, paying rent to my parents. Fate is fickle, though, and things worked out differently. Hope you like the photos.

  • 8:36 am
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