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The First McMansion
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It seems that everywhere we turn these days we are slammed with more bad news about the economy: more jobs lost, more companies going under, more houses lost to foreclosure. It’s enough to make the most optimistic person start to get a little depressed.
Maybe, just maybe, it’s time we pay more attention to those among us who have been here before us. Take Butterfly, for instance. Please, take her! I KID! You would take her only over my dead body!
Just the other day I was cleaning up a stack of papers she left for me that she thought “I would find interesting.” That’s code for, “I have no idea what to do with this stuff.” Tucked in this stack of papers, which included ancient registration papers for her little truck (we’re saving these why?), were some fascinating old photos.
One set consisted of six photos in a brown envelope.
This is the way the photos Butterfly took with her little box camera were returned to her by the developer back in “the good old days”. I was used to seeing pictures of people, but what about these buildings?
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not everyone would see the possilities herein
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Knowing that she was religious about documenting life in general, I removed one and looked on the back.
“March 1946 – contractor shack we made into our first home – PA”
“Oh. My. Gosh.” I thought to myself. “I feel a blog coming on!”
I headed up the hill to Butterfly’s house, pictures in hand, to get some information. The story goes something like this:
Butterfly worked at American Bridge for two years (1943-1944) for $.77/hour (yes, that 77 cents per hour). She got paid every 2 weeks and would use $50 of her hard-earned money to buy a savings bond.
She and Pops got married in 1946, using $500 of her savings to buy the “contractor shack” to be their first home. The first place they planted it was across the street from Butterfly’s mom, who lived on 50 acres and had plenty of room for them.
A year later, in 1947, they bought 4 acres for $1200. There was a little house on it, but that didn’t stop them from moving the “contractor shack” once again.
On the back of this photo it reads:
“Sept. 14, 1947 – Front is house we 1st lived in PA. Moved it down road to 2nd house. Added the 2 together.”
Of course they did! If you haven’t figured it out by now, let me tell you that my father was one very resourceful person. He could build just about anything, out of just about anything. He and Butterfly made quite a pair.
I searched valiantly for more photos to see what this place turned into. Butterfly tells me she had flower boxes under the windows and we don’t doubt that for a minute, do we? I didn’t find any more photos of the house, but I did stumble across Butterfly’s very carefully kept records of what they spent on home improvements. It goes something like this:
Account of Spending on New House – 1947
Jan 8 Sink Trap $4.25
1 Gal Turpentine 2.50
Sink 77.00
Porcelain Cabinet 14.88
Jan 9 Putty .15
Graining Compound 1.20
Jan 16 Elec. Conn. & Auto
Fuze Box 10.67
Glass Cutter .25
Jan 17 (3) Connectors 1.89
Entrance Head .54
Entrance Cable
15’ @ .19 2.85
Jan 18 Qt. Varnish 1.35
Jan 22 Blue Oil & 2 qts
White paint 2.09
Stove paint .25
Feb 10 1 qt shellac 1.50
Stove pipe reducer .20
Feb 18 4 sheets ½ plywood &
70’ ¾ round 12.00
Gross screws .87
Cabinet hinges 1.11
Mar 4 Sanding & Room
Painting 18.00
Mar 13 Load of Slag 8.00
Mar 24 Baby Dresser 15.00
Apr 1 Refrigerator 160.00
Apr 28 1000 cement blocks 170.00
Hauling blocks 10.00
Helper 2.00
May 9 2 – 26’ I Beams 26.50
Hauling Beams 5.50
May 10 Tin Snips 2.00
May 17 Half of Ladder 5.50
July 18 Footers – cement
Sand 60.61
July 21 50 Drain tile 6.00
Aug 8 Lumber 73.00
Aug 10 Chalk line .70
Aug 22 Moving building 35.00
Sept 28 Labor Sonny 17.75
June 18 Cellar Windows 21.36
It went on like this, with lots of entries for “labor”, when they needed help with the heavy lifting. Butterfly had her first child in the midst of all this excitement.
Unfortunately, 1948 proved to be one brutal winter in Pennsylvania. Butterfly and Pops looked at each other one morning, after once again having to deal with frozen pipes, and decided to head to California. No one believed they’d last in a strange state, but they sold their little mansion for $4,000 and never looked back.
They loaded up the little pick-up truck in April of ’48. Butterfly likes to say they were the original Beverly Hillbillies. In the back of the pickup they stashed the refrigerator, the stove, the bed and various other items. In front were Pops, Butterfly, my 10-month-old sister, and the family dog, Ginger. There was no heater. I like to point out they had not struck oil, so they were hardly the Beverly Hillbillies. They were just Hillbillies.
They arrived in Los Angeles with no job, no home, nothing. Pops, who, if you recall, was a jack-of-all-trades, worked as a plumber for a few weeks, then applied for work at UCLA. He got a job titled “Lab Mechanician” – which meant he fixed all their equipment.
At first they rented a garage for $35/month on the Linnie Canal in Venice. They understood that they could fix it up to be an apartment and continue renting it at that rate. Once Pops had it all fixed up, the owners had the audacity to raise the rent to $55/month. They weren’t going to tolerate that and in July bought the back part of an old chicken ranch on Victory Boulevard – 1.27 acres for $7500.
Once again they had to make living quarters out of existing buildings on the property. They turned some old sheds into a house, complete with a white picket fence.
In 1952 they traded 1 acre of the land for a brand new house (complete with a 4-car garage!) on the .27 acres. Nagel Avenue was built on part of the land when a new housing development was constructed.
They left Southern California in 1956, heading for the more rural areas of Northern California. Had to get away from those crowds!
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She made her dress, her veil and her bouquet!
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Who knew what this and a little “contractor shack” would lead to?
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