While living at our first apartment at 4457 Atlantic Avenue in Long Beach I became acquainted with our next door neighbors. Bob and Minnie were a retired couple and he would sit on the porch with me and tell me the names of all the cars going by on Atlantic. Then he would quiz me later to see if I'd remembered them. My favorite was the Crosley. It was a small car that was introduced way before anyone had a concern about miles per gallon.
This 1952 Station Wagon was my favorite of the Crosley's!At that time, I was unaware that Bob had a really cool truck in the garage behind our apartment building. One day, my dad told me that he, Uncle Ben, and I were taking a road trip. We would be delivering something to Uncle Ben's in-laws in Ontario. We needed a truck for this detail and our neighbor Bob had offered to let my dad borrow his truck.
Bob's truck looked something like this one!So, we loaded the truck and climbed in. I was about five years old and sat in the middle of the front seat between dad and Uncle Ben and we headed out Willow Street. We actually drove by the farm lands in east Long Beach where homes were under construction. About a year later we'd be living in one of them!
Once we crossed the Los Angeles-Orange County line, there was nothing but orange groves for as far as the eye could see. Willow Street was now Katella Avenue and we continued for what seemed like the longest time. Upon arrival at the intersection of Katella and Harbor we didn't see Disneyland, just more orange trees and some other crops as well.
I really believed we were headed back to Pennsylvania and I was getting tired of sitting in the truck so I let it out "...are we there yet?" Dad and Uncle Ben laughed and assured me that we were almost there.
Finally we arrived in Ontario and Uncle Ben's mother-in-law had some lemonade and cookies for us. I don't remember much about the return trip to Long Beach ... maybe I just fell asleep!
