What makes a ‘home’ are the memories … The memories you take with you when you sell and move … The memories you make when you move some place new:
Contributing author … Sherrill Boller (my mom).
“In the 1930’s when I was a child, ice was delivered to our neighborhood by truck. Most homes had no refrigerators or freezers, but we had an ‘ice box’. Milk was delivered to the doorstep in glass bottles. My grandfather had a Ford two-door with a rumble seat in back. Movies on a Saturday afternoon were double features with a cartoon, a short serial (like Flash Gordon) and a newsreel : for 25 cents. (10 cents for the movie, 5 cents for popcorn), and 5 cents each way for the bus … but we walked…. so we saved that. Kids under 12 years old paid 10 cents, and kids over 12 years old paid 16 cents to get into the movies. A train trip from Los Angeles to Michigan took two days and three nights. In the 1940’s we were in war time. We had no TV then, and there was no internet. We got our news over the radio… like the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Staples were rationed: We could buy two gallons of gas per week. Along with gasoline rationing, there was rationing of butter, sugar and meat. My mother saved her sugar and butter rations for Christmas baking and people traded amongst themselves their coupons. Servicemen on leave got coupons and would bring them home to share. Adult fares in the 1940’s were 50 cents for most movie houses and 75 cents for the big fancy theatres in Hollywood. Those were “big night dates”… along with ballroom dancing with big bands. Costs for Junior college were 6 dollars per semester. UCLA cost 16 dollars per semester. In the 1950’s gas was 18 cents per gallon. Papa’s and my one-bedroom apartment was 40 dollars per month plus 2 dollars more if we wanted a garage. Women went to work and out shopping wearing hats and gloves. Houses (2 bedrooms) could be bought for 15-20 thousand dollars… the cost of some cars today. Kids went to school in a time where girls wore skirts or dresses – no slacks. I guess I have mostly compared prices, but there were big changes in science and medicine and space travel…”
Thank you, Mom …. for sharing your memories with your grandkids… and for creating so many of our most cherished traditions!
*When you are ready to move, call me. I know about moving and taking your memories with you … and I know about opening the door … to what comes next! Vicki Restivo, EWM Realtors, Inc. 305-793-1365*
