THE BIG MOVE
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Me and my sister circa 1965 - That is the photo Coco thought was a window!
When Dad graduated veterinary school, he decided to get a job in warmer weather. From Colorado we moved to Los Angeles, California. We found a cute little two bedroom, one bath apartment in an area named Anaheim. We were in the big leagues now with a giant place to live. In a real city and, most importantly, no more snow!
This was in the mid 1960's when Anaheim was not like it is today. It was literally acres and acres and miles and miles of flat grassy dairy land. The perfect place for a young veterinarian, and it was affordable.
I have a few great memories about this time and can still envision the apartment to a T. As you entered the front door, you walked straight into the living area complete with a couch, coffee table and television. Next to the living room sat a round four-person table that led into the cute little kitchen. A narrow hallway led to the two bedrooms and one bathroom that we all shared. It was just enough for our family of four, and our boxer Coco, too.
Coco loved the couch and when we left the apartment she would sit on top of the couch and look out the window, waiting for us to come home. The only problem was that there was no window. It was a large picture that we kept finding smudge marks on. She thought it was a window so no one told her otherwise. This was verified by my dad when he walked in one day and caught her nose pressed into the painting.
My favorite part of this apartment was the car port and the driveway leading up to the complex. Dad used to let me sit on his lap, take the steering wheel with my hands, and drive his truck in or out of the driveway, whichever way we were going. I thought I was so big!
Just down the street from our new home was a berry farm. It was a large farm with a yummy fried chicken and boysenberry pie restaurant. We went to this restaurant almost every Sunday. The farm had an adorable strip of restaurants and shops called Fiesta Village, which is still there to this day. One year I had a birthday party there. It also had an old fashioned car ride that circled the entire parking area. This little berry farm has now grown to be the large Knotts Berry Farm theme park. It is amazing how much a place grows in 50 years...
While living in this apartment, another fun place to go was the Nabisco cookie warehouse. The building was gigantic, tall and long. I would love to see it today--it probably isn't quite as big as I remember it! As you walked inside, there were aisles and aisles of boxes and bags of every possible kind of Nabisco cookie available. This warehouse was used to sell all of the damaged cookies, so they cost almost nothing to buy. I remember picking out anything I wanted. YUMMY! A box of cookies was such a treat. Of course Mom wouldn't let me eat them all at once. One man's damaged goods is another man's prize.
I loved this apartment and have been back to visit the area with my kids. My husband and I would take them to the amusement park for fun growing up and I used to tell them these stories of what Knotts Berry Farm used to be.
